Are you on the move, looking for an affordable state to move to? Then Illinois might offer you the perfect balance of cost of living.
Cost of living depends on various basic factors like housing prices, cost of food, transportation costs, taxes and much more. Amazingly for you, Illinois offers you these basic fundamental living elements at lower costs than the country’s average.
Below is a more detailed overview of the cost of living in Illinois, and how it matches up against the national average.
Cost of Housing
When we think about cost of living, the first thing that comes to our mind is the average housing costs. The value of a normal house in Illinois averages around $241,000, and is significantly lower than the median housing cost of the country, which is $374,000.
Moreover, the national median rent in the United States is around $2,200 per month, but Illinois’ average rent cost is $2,080. So, overall the cost of living in Illinois seems to be slightly cheaper than the national average.
Cost of Food
The yearly mean food expenditure for an adult in Illinois is just over $3,000, while the median expenditure for a household of four is near $8,500. In comparison, the median yearly cost of food in the United States is $9,354 for a household of four and $3,240 for an individual. Which again shows that Illinois offers slightly lower costs in terms of food as well.
Cost of Transportation
Transportation is basically another fundamental human need in today’s modern world, and Illinois offers affordable transportation. The cost of transportation in the state of Illinois is much lower than the national average for single adults, couples and families of four. However, less amount of people use vehicles for travel in Illinois (81%), than the nationwide average, which is 85%.
You might also like to know about the best cities to live in Illinois.
Cost of Healthcare
Cost of Healthcare in the United States vary a lot from one state to another. Unfortunately, Illinois is such a state that has healthcare costs higher than the country’s average.
In comparison to the nationwide median healthcare cost of $4,266 for an adult, the median expenditure of healthcare in Illinois is $4,566 annually. Again, the median yearly healthcare expenditure for a household of four is $13,891, which is almost $1,000 more than the corresponding national median of $12,950.
Cost of Childcare
In comparison to the United States’ average of around $9,000, Illinois’ median yearly cost of childcare is above $10,000, which is significantly higher. This is based on the average childcare cost comparison of a 4-year-old child.
Utility bills in Illinois
Illinois is actually known all across the United States for having one of the lowest average monthly utility bills in the country. The average monthly utility bill paid by an adult in Illinois is close to $95, which is significantly cheaper than the $117.65 national average.
These are the cheapest cities to live in Illinois.
Taxes in Illinois
Taxes are one of the few costs that differ so greatly between the states in the US. When state and federal taxes, along with a variety of other forms of taxes are taken into account, the typical working individual in Illinois contributes $6,458 in taxes per year, which is close to the $6,542 nationwide average.
In general, as you can notice from the factors highlighted above, the cost of living in Illinois is not too far away from the national average of the United States. In fact, in the majority of these factors, Illinois actually provides lower costs for fundamental elements of living.