What Is the Cost of Living Index?Ī cost of living index tracks typical living expenses over time for housing, food, healthcare, clothing, entertainment, childcare and other costs across different regions. These types of costs may not always be top of mind when putting together a monthly budget, but they’ll inevitably have some impact on your cost of living, so don’t forget to include them. The miscellaneous goods and services that factor into a household budget will vary. Other costs in the healthcare category include medical services and supplies and drugs.

Health insurance makes up the largest portion of that number. Healthcare ate up $5,452 of the average annual household budget in 2021-roughly $454 per month. These expenses included public transit and motor vehicle-related costs like auto purchases, parts, fuels, rentals, leases and insurance. Households spent an average of $10,961-or $913 per month-on transportation expenses.

Transportation ranked second in 2021 behind housing for the highest household cost, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Total debt includes your housing debt along with all other forms of debt, such as student loans and auto loans. The 28/36 rule is a common sense guideline that states you should not spend more than 28% of your monthly gross income on housing-either your mortgage payment or rent-and 36% of your monthly gross income on your total debt. This is where the 28/36 rule comes in, which clarifies how much how you can afford. Housing will likely take the largest bite out of your budget, so you must keep your monthly housing costs within certain limits. Some 33% of that-or approximately $1,885-went toward housing costs. The average American household spent roughly $5,577 per month in 2021. Here are some common categories and general estimated costs to factor in when figuring out where you can afford to live. Total annual household expenditures averaged $66,928 in 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). For instance, it’ll cost you considerably less to live in Fort Smith, Arkansas compared to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.Īs you shop for a home in different cities and towns, crunch the numbers using our cost of living calculator to see how your total cost of living expenses vary. Not surprisingly, cost of living varies widely from place to place. Relying on oral histories, photographs, and archival research, Safari Nation engages both with African historiography and with ongoing debates about the “land question,” democracy, and citizenship in South Africa.Whether you’re looking for a fresh start on an opposite coast, heading to a new region for work or moving closer to family, cost of living will play a big role in how much house you can afford while maintaining your desired standard of living.īesides your monthly mortgage payments and other housing costs, being able to afford a home also requires enough money to cover a host of other ongoing expenses, such as food, transportation, taxes, utilities, healthcare, childcare and entertainment. Safari Nation details the ways in which black people devoted energies to conservation and to the park over the course of the twentieth century-engagement that transcends the stock (black) figure of the laborer and the poacher.īy exploring the complex and dynamic ways in which blacks of varying class, racial, religious, and social backgrounds related to the Kruger National Park, and with the help of previously unseen archival photographs, Dlamini’s narrative also sheds new light on how and why Africa’s national parks-often derided by scholars as colonial impositions-survived the end of white rule on the continent. According to author Jacob Dlamini, there is another side to the park, a social history neglected by scholars and popular writers alike in which blacks (meaning Africans, Coloureds, and Indians) occupy center stage. The Kruger National Park is South Africa’s most iconic nature reserve, renowned for its rich flora and fauna. Safari Nation opens new lines of inquiry in the study of national parks in Africa and the rest of the world.

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