HOVER FOR DETAIL ON SAVING DATA [1] GEO_NAME

Phoenix Tucson

1997 103.1 98.8

1998 101.5 99.1

1999 102.5 99.5

2000 101.8 99.0

2001 100.1 99.4

2002 96.1 97.1

COMPOSITE COST OF LIVING INDEX 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 97.8 98.9 98.3 102.1 101.0 96.6 95.9 96.9 99.4 100.6

2008 101.1 99.6

2009 98.4 99.1

2010 100.6 96.4

2011 96.3 94.8

2012 96.8 95.5

2013 96.0 95.6

HOVER FOR DETAIL ON SAVING DATA [2] GEO_NAME

Phoenix Tucson

1997 100.4 95.3

1998 97.2 94.7

1999 99.2 91.4

2000 102.9 96.1

2001 95.8 94.1

2002 87.3 86.7

HOUSING COST OF LIVING INDEX 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 86.8 93.2 94.4 106.9 101.7 80.3 86.5 88.0 98.1 96.6

2008 100.1 96.3

2009 94.6 95.4

2010 90.2 91.7

2011 86.9 85.6

2012 94.6 83.8

2013 96.9 83.2

chart-main-title chart-axis-header Phoenix Tucson chart-title Phoenix Tucson

Cost of Living Index, Composite | Composite 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 103.1% 101.5% 102.5% 101.8% 100.1% 96.1% 98.8% 99.1% 99.5% 99.0% 99.4% 97.1% Cost of Living Index, Housing | Housing 100.4% 97.2% 99.2% 102.9% 95.8% 87.3% 95.3% 94.7% 91.4% 96.1% 94.1% 86.7%

2003 97.8% 96.6%

2004 98.9% 95.9%

2005 2006 2007 2008 98.3% 102.1% 101.0% 101.1% 96.9% 99.4% 100.6% 99.6%

2009 2010 98.4% 100.6% 99.1% 96.4%

86.8% 80.3%

93.2% 86.5%

94.4% 106.9% 101.7% 100.1% 88.0% 98.1% 96.6% 96.3%

94.6% 95.4%

90.2% 91.7%

2011 96.3% 94.8%

2012 96.8% 95.5%

2013 96.0% 95.6%

86.9% 85.6%

94.6% 83.8%

96.9% 83.2%

LastUpdate SourceLine SourceURL Dataset Description

4/8/14 The Council for Community and Economic Research http://www.coli.org

The cost of living is a factor considered by both companies and individuals when making relocation decisions. All other factors equal, a lower cost of living is a positive feature, but a low cost of living often is associated with a weak economy and/or a subpar quality of life. The ACCRA Cost of Living Index measures the cost of living in communities across the country by gauging the costs of groceries, housing, transportation, utilities, health care, and miscellaneous other goods and services—a typical market basket of goods and services. Taxes are not included. The index is designed for “moderately affluent professional managerial households.” Household income is assumed to be in the top quintile. The data are presented as an index relative to the national average. Participation in this study, which is conducted by local chambers of commerce, is voluntary. An index is produced for each of the first three quarters of the calendar year, with an annual average also computed. Annual averages back to 1997 of the composite cost-of-living index and the index for the housing category are shown on Arizona Indicators for Phoenix and Tucson. Additional places in Arizona participate in the study, but state-level data are not available. Technical Notes While participating chambers of commerce must adhere to published standards, the study involves considerable sampling and the sampling is not done scientifically. Thus, bias is a concern. A confidence interval cannot be calculated because of the reliance on nonprobability samples. The C2ER suggests that differences of 3 percentage points in the composite index, and 5 percentage points in the component indexes, should not be considered to be significant. The list of participants changes each quarter; the national average is determined from the participants in each quarter. Data Source: The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER). While the source maintains a website (http://www.coli.org), the data are available only on a subscription basis. The report is available at many libraries. The data are released about three months after the end of a quarter. The consumer price index for the nation and for Metro Phoenix is produced by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www. bls.gov/cpi/. The monthly data are released about three weeks after the end of the month. The Metro Phoenix figures are available in July and January. Notes on Visual#1

The overall cost of living in the Phoenix area generally is within 2.5 percentage points of the national average — that is, not significantly different from the U.S. average. In 2011 and 2012, living costs in the Phoenix area were from 3-to-4 percent below the average. The cost of living in the Tucson area has generally ranged from just below to 4 percent less than the national average, but was about 5 percent less than average in 2011 and 2012. A weak cyclical pattern exists in Arizona, in which living costs relative to the national average are highest during economic expansions and lowest during and shortly after recessions. The housing category of the cost-of-living index is of particular importance in relocation decisions and accounts for nearly 30 percent of the composite index. The annual housing indexes are volatile and account for most of the cyclicality in the composite index. From 1997 through 2012, housing costs in the Phoenix metropolitan area have followed a strong cycle, from as much as 13 percent below average following the 2001 recession to 7 percent above average at the end of the housing boom in 2006 to 13 percent below average in 2011. Housing costs also have followed a cycle in the Tucson metro area, but have been below the national average in every year, ranging from 20 percent less in 2003 to 2 percent less in 2006 to 16 percent less in 2012.

[1] Guidelines for Reusing Data: Arizona Indicators uses Google Spreadsheets to store raw data in a consistently structured manner that makes it easy to use in a variety of applications. For the greatest user control we recommend that you save the entire workbook in Excel format before importing them into other applications. After a file or worksheet is saved locally --in any format-- you will notice three rows and one column that were hidden from view in Google Spreadsheets. These header rows and key field column provide options for user customization. Header rows of varying lengths are valuable as descriptive text for most database; geographic information system (GIS); and charting & graphing software. The key field --held in the first column-- is useful in most database & GIS software (the Federal Information Processing Standard code for locations is used where applicable). If you do not wish to use the header rows or key column simply remove them before importing into an application or presentation. [2] Guidelines for Reusing Data: Arizona Indicators uses Google Spreadsheets to store raw data in a consistently structured manner that makes it easy to use in a variety of applications. For the greatest user control we recommend that you save the entire workbook in Excel format before importing them into other applications. After a file or worksheet is saved locally --in any format-- you will notice three rows and one column that were hidden from view in Google Spreadsheets. These header rows and key field column provide options for user customization. Header rows of varying lengths are valuable as descriptive text for most database; geographic information system (GIS); and charting & graphing software. The key field --held in the first column-- is useful in most database & GIS software (the Federal Information Processing Standard code for locations is used where applicable). If you do not wish to use the header rows or key column simply remove them before importing into an application or presentation.