For the second straight quarter, the Springfield metro area came in as the state’s most affordable place to live.
The Council for Community and Economic Research survey studies costs like housing, food, transportation, utilities and others four times a year. Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce research manager Paul Marsh says Springfield isn’t always the lowest, but it’s usually pretty close.
“Essentially it’s like a snapshot,” Marsh says. “If cost of living goes up across the board everywhere, so let’s say the price of oil goes up, gas is up nationwide, as long as our relative expenses stay about the same with other people, we’ll still stay fairly low in comparison.”
Springfield earned a Cost of Living score of 87.9, which means it costs 12.1 percent less to live here than the average U.S. city.
Marsh says utilities and so called “miscellaneous” costs, such as car repairs, barber shops and dentists visits, pushed Springfield to number one.