Cost of Living in Oak Park, CA

An Overview of Cost of Living in Oak Park, CA

The cost of living in Oak Park affects the quality of life one can afford in this new location. It allows people to assess whether they can maintain their preferred lifestyle, including housing, leisure activities and dining options. Your total monthly expenditures can varry depending on the area, as well as many other factors. The cost of living in Oak Park is 197, which is 97% higher than the national average. Knowledge of the cost of living can help individuals make informed decisions about retirement savings, investments, and financial goals.

If you prioritize affordability when seeking a new place to live, Oak Park may not be your ideal choice, as it ranks among the most expensive locations in the entire United States. A very small amount of areas exhibit a cost of living at least 20% higher than the national average, and unfortunately, Oak Park falls into this category, which may not align with your preferences for a budget-friendly living environment.

Housing costs make up a big chunk of the cost of living in Oak Park, and they usually eat into a large part of your take-home pay. Unfortunately, in this area, both buying a home and renting one costs 288.5% more than the average city. This includes stuff like home prices, rent, mortgage rates, and insurance.

Goods and services make up 33% of the total cost of living index score and are a large part of your everyday expenses. These items could include things like haircuts, salons, toothpaste, shampoo, clothes, movies, bowling, gym memberships or yoga. In Oak Park, you can expect to pay 16.2% more than average for these items, making it a more expensive place to live.

The substantial and relentless rise in grocery prices definitely warrants some attention. Over the past two years, grocery expenses have escalated by more than 10%. Having said that, the situation in Oak Park is even less favorable, with grocery prices here being 12.2% higher than the national average.

Is Oak Park Affordable?

Is Oak Park an affordable place to live? That's a valid question to ask when you're thinking about moving to a new city. After all, how much it costs to live somewhere can be a huge factor in your decision. Affordability can be broken down into 3 common categories. The cost of living index (we talked about it earlier), housing expenses and income levels all play a big role in figuring out if a place is affordable. For instance, in Oak Park, the median home price is 336.8% higher than what most folks pay across the country, and monthly rent prices are 175.9% higher than the usual rates. Income levels in Oak Park come in at $137,047, which is 147.7% higher than the national average.

What Factors can Influence the Cost of Living in Oak Park?

Healthcare: Healthcare expenditures and insurance premium rates can vary significantly, contingent upon the particular city or state. Factors such as the accessibility of healthcare facilities, out-of-pocket expenses for doctor's appointments, dental care charges, prescription medication costs, and expenses related to specialized medical care can all have an impact on the overall cost of living. In Oak Park, healthcare costs are 7.9% higher than the national average.

Utilities: Similar to the prices of any goods or services, utility expenses can fluctuate widely, contingent on variables such as climate, available energy sources, geographical location and state regulations. Costs associated with electricity, water, heating, and waste disposal can differ in magnitude, depending on the specific city or state. In Oak Park, the utilities index registers at 12.4% higher than the national average.

Taxes: Areas with higher taxes, including sales taxes and income taxes, can contribute to a higher cost of living. Paying more tax for everyday goods and services like clothing and food will result in higher costs, as will paying a higher rate of income tax. The general sales tax rate in Oak Park starts at 7.25% and the income tax rates start at 1%.

Where is the Data From?

The Oak Park cost of living data displayed above is derived from the C2ER cost of living index to provide a useful and reasonably accurate measure of living cost differences in urban areas. The index takes into account data from 300 independent researches, covering more than 60 goods and services across 6 different categories, to create an overall index for each area, with 100 being the average. The C2ER index does not include sales or income tax rates in their data, however AreaVibes does include both income and sales tax rates in the overall cost of living score for each area.