Cost Of Living in Southwest, AZ

The cost of living index is based on a national average of 100. For example, if the cost of living is 90, then it is 10% lower than average. If the cost of living is 110, then it is 10% higher than average. The breakdown for each index is as follows: goods & services (33%), groceries (13%), health care (5%), housing (30%), transportation (9%) and utilities (10%). If the cost of living data was unavailable for this city, estimates based upon nearby cities were used.
Index	Southwest	Mesa	Arizona
Cost of living	102	116	101
Goods & Services	115	115	104
Groceries	103	103	102
Health care	98	98	94
Housing	82	128	97
Transportation	124	124	106
Utilities	98	98	95

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Cost Of Living Quick Facts

The cost of living in Southwest is 1% higher than the Mesa average
The cost of living in Southwest is 2% higher than the national average
Southwest housing is 18% lower than the national average
Arizona general sales tax is 10% higher than the national average
Arizona state income tax is 4% lower than the national average

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Price difference in compared to

Cost of living index
Goods & Services index
Groceries index
Health care index
Housing index
Transportation index
Utilities index

Median Income & Debt-To-Income Ratio

Median Income	Per Year	Per Month	Max Budget (28% DTI)	Max Budget (36% DTI)
Household	$50,441	$4,203	$1,177	$1,513

Arizona Sales Tax

State	General Sales Tax	With Max Surtax
Arizona	5.6%	10.725%

Arizona Income Tax

State	Income Tax (Low)	Income Tax (High)
Arizona	2.5%	2.5%

Goods & Services

Item	Mesa	National avg.	Difference
Haircut	$31.99	$24.26	31.9%
Beauty Salon	$51.63	$45.56	13.3%
Toothpaste	$3.74	$3.70	1.1%
Shampoo	$1.24	$1.28	3.3%
Movie	$12.43	$12.13	2.5%
Bowling	$24.03	$18.00	33.5%

Groceries

Item	Mesa	National avg.	Difference
Ground Beef	$5.75	$5.84	1.5%
Fried Chicken	$1.47	$1.57	6.7%
Milk	$4.84	$4.67	3.5%
Potatoes	$4.54	$4.93	7.9%
Pizza	$13.22	$12.09	9.3%
Beer	$11.37	$10.41	9.2%

Health Care

Item	Mesa	National avg.	Difference
Optometrist	$105.08	$125.68	16.4%
Doctor	$126.58	$135.78	6.8%
Dentist	$108.47	$113.29	4.3%
Ibuprofen	$10.93	$10.65	2.6%
Lipitor	$529.92	$468.60	13.1%

Housing

Item	Mesa	National avg.	Difference
Home Price	$245,500.00	$184,700.00	32.9%
Avg. Mortgage Payment	$2,990.52	$2,346.69	27.4%
Apartment Rent	$1,105.00	$949.00	16.4%

Transportation

Item	Mesa	National avg.	Difference
Gasoline	$4.47	$3.46	29.1%
Tire Balancing	$66.63	$59.92	11.2%

Utilities

Item	Mesa	National avg.	Difference
All Electricity	$193.37	$193.99	0.3%
Phone	$184.32	$192.25	4.1%

Although the cost of living data is updated regularly, this cost of living information is to be used as estimates only as prices can change on an ongoing basis.

Nearby cities with low cost of living

City	Population	Cost of Living Index	National Avg.
Guadalupe, AZ	6,572	90	10.4%
Maricopa Colony, AZ	818	102	2.0%
Phoenix, AZ	1,658,422	106	6.4%
Tempe, AZ	191,607	112	11.8%
Sun Lakes, AZ	14,887	125	25.1%
Mesa, AZ	508,918	116	15.8%

Cities with similar population

City	Population	Cost of Living Index	National Avg.
Sacramento, CA	503,482	132	31.8%
Atlanta, GA	497,642	116	15.8%
Fresno, CA	526,147	116	16.5%
Kansas City, MO	491,158	94	6.2%
Omaha, NE	479,529	96	4.3%
Mesa, AZ	508,918	116	15.8%

Date & Last Updated: This data reflects 2023 and was released from C2ER in January, 2024; this is the most current data available.

Cost of Living in Southwest, Mesa, AZ