[OC] Visualisieren, wie weit Ihr Geld in den US

**Source**:

– U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) — Regional Price Parities (RPP)

– U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) — Fair Market Rent (FMR) Data

– U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) — Regional CPI and Cost Index Data

**Tool**:

– Custom interactive map built with React, Vercel, and Leaflet.js

– Data processing and normalization done in Python (pandas)

**Methods**:

I combined three federal datasets to create a composite **cost-of-living index** for each U.S. metro area:

* **BEA – Regional Price Parities (RPP):** Used the *“All Items”* RPP index to represent the overall price level for goods and services (base = 100, U.S. average).
* **HUD – Fair Market Rents (FMR):** Used the 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent to calculate a *housing factor* by dividing each metro’s rent by the national median rent.
* **BLS – Consumer Price Index (CPI):** Applied metro- or region-specific CPI data to adjust all price indices to current-year dollars (base year = 2020).

These three metrics are combined into a **composite index** using the weighted formula:

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Housing accounts for 33% of the total weight, while other goods and services make up the remaining 67%.

To estimate relative purchasing power between cities:

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This returns the income required in the target city to maintain the same purchasing power as the origin city.

For example, a $100K salary in Lansing, MI (index = 0.95) is roughly equivalent to $187K in New York City (index = 1.78).

All calculations use publicly available government data; individual results will vary by personal spending habits and neighborhood-level differences.

I combined regional price parity, housing, and cost-of-living data to calculate how much income would be needed to maintain the same purchasing power between metro areas. The visualization displays relative salary equivalence and percentage cost difference between origin and destination cities.

**Project**:

You can explore the live interactive version here: [HowMuchAmIWorth.com](http://HowMuchAmIWorth.com)

**(No ads, tracking, or data collection, created for fun and research.)**

Could have just been one image with cost of living percentages. Adding extra steps to make it „interactive“ is just annoying.

ahh great, everything is more expensive compared to where I live

i put in durham, NC near where i live and it seems almost every city is more expensive, which shouldn’t be the case? even fayeteville NC is more expensive. as is winston salem, NC. Also memphis, tulsa, lexington, dayton. something is wrong?

A map highlighting were people want to live, and Alaska.

This is kind of great as it is making my consideration to move to CO from where I currently live easier to convences my wife as it is cheaper over all right now in Denver than Austin.

📣📣Greenville, SC mentioned ‼️

You have some errors right off the bat: Washington does not have an income tax, and the average rent for a 2 bedroom apartment is like $2800.

You should factor in the difference in salaries, otherwise people are gonna make some pretty bad decisions based on this.

Plus, most COL calculations are really really bad. They don’t factor in lifestyle changes or social safety nets. For example, living in a city without a car usually means higher salaries and saving huge amounts on automobile costs, living somewhere with limited food access and no parks usually means an increased reliance on healthcare throughout life. Also, places like Washington give guaranteed parental leave, and have minimal wage without tip déductions and require minimum wage for gig workers.

Generally, disposable income measurements are better, but the best way to really calculate wealth differences is to just look at the median wealth and correct for age.