This Quad City Has One Of The Lowest Costs Of Living In The US
Believe it or not, Davenport is a cheap place to live. Well, in comparison to the rest of the country at least. Ranking website Niche compiled a list of the US cities with the lowest cost of living as of 2016, and our very own QC is number fifteen.
Niche compiled their list by looking at factors like home value and housing costs compared to income ratio, cost of rent, and the Consumer Price Index of gas and groceries compared to the national average.
The median home value in Davenport is $121,200 and average rent is $693 a month. Depending on who you are and how much you pay, those numbers might seem high or low. I am slightly surprised to see rent averages at just $693, as it was difficult for me to find a decent rental for less than $1,000 a month when I moved here. I suppose the key word is decent though, and the not-so-nice rentals might outweigh the nice places.
The Consumer Price Index of groceries in Davenport is lower than the national average at 0.91, but this isn't too surprising considering food items purchased in Iowa are exempt from sales tax. Gas is also priced lower than the national average in Iowa and housing costs are quite reasonable, making Davenport a pretty affordable place to live overall. Who knew?
Davenport was the only Iowa city to make the list. The number one slot went to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and cities like Shreveport, LA, Wichita, KS, and Rochester, MN also made the cut.
Check out the rest of the list here.