The Tax Foundation has an interesting post discussing what a dollar buys in each state using data from the National Bureau of Economic Analysis. There’s quite a bit of variation from Mississippi where $100 of income buys $115.34 worth of goods and services to the District of Columbia where that same $100 is the equivalent of $84.67.
State-levvel differentials in income, prices, and their relative have some interesting consequences. For example:
For example, Nebraskans and Californians earn approximately the same amount in dollars per capita, but after adjusting for regional price parity, Nebraskan incomes can buy more.
In other words the purchasing power parity of income in Nebraska is about 20% higher than in California for just about the same average income. When you add the difference in Gini coefficient (California is much less equal than Nebraska), it points to very different social and economic conditions between the two states. The obvious retort, I presume, is would you rather live in California or Nebraska? The answer is the one I always give when asked that question (and I frequently have been). California is a very good state to live in if you’re rich.
But can you guess in which state of all of the states plus the District of Columbia, $100 of income buys the closest to $100 of goods and services? That would be Illinois ($99.30).
I think it would be a fascinating study, in fact practically a public service, to do the analysis county by county. Eg. Downstate IL isnt Chicago or DuPage or Lake Cty. And you’d have to pay me to live in most parts of Florida. If the question is San Diego vs Nebraska the answer is easy. If it’s the Central Valley vs Nebraska, I’m not so sure.
It’s a lot easier when you realize that there is no life east of Sepulveda.
I agree with Drew about the desirability of county-by-county analysis.
And forget the Central Valley, Drew. Try Antelope Valley instead. Romantic locals like Mojave, or Cal. City, or Boron. You’ll be praying for them to let you back into the Central Valley in less than two weeks!
Real Californians, like my wife, like the desert. Prefer it in fact.
“Real Californians, like my wife, like the desert. Prefer it in fact.”
Heh. Please tell me that means Palm Springs, and not Merced or the places ice cites. Personally, I’d take Scottsdale and just north any day over, say, Florida. The truth is the desert is absolutely beautiful. But I have inlaws in Naples. So that pretty much makes me a Gulf guy. At least I’m escaping the fast-becoming-a-hellhole IL for a place near the Smokey Mountains.
No, she likes the desert. Death Valley, Mojave, Joshua Tree.
Now that IS a real Californian. I once drove right up the gut through the Central Valley to look at a business. That was not the most pleasant of trips. But then, some of the places I’ve been……..
“It’s a lot easier when you realize that there is no life east of Sepulveda.”
Nor west of the Hudson. For those of you who haven’t spent time in the northeast, New Yorkers literally (literally!!) will refer to going to Westchester County places such as S Salem, Chappequa, Katona, to 15 miles past Newark, NJ or my old home of New Canaan, CT as “going to the country.” Not that they are self absorbed or narrow minded or anything………
I hired a young woman who had grown up in NYC, second generation Chinese. Her parents had never left the city. When she moved to join our practice her family asked her if she had to live in a log cabin. (Some of those pre-drilled log houses you can get are pretty spectacular actually.) New Yorkers can be odd. Texans and Californians are just as bad though.
Steve
The only problem with Texas is……there are too many Texans.
My wife’s mother and sister live in California City. Personally I love going for a visit. I would HATE living there.
A few points.
First, some deserts are pretty, and some aren’t. It’s a mix through the Mojave that I’ve seen, and just a few miles can make a big difference.
Second, Schuler, does your wife like driving through and visiting the desert, or does she want to move to Boron? The two things are not the same!
Third, beware if you look for pictures of Antelope Valley. The first several I saw earlier today were all gorgeous – the desert in bloom after a winter/spring rain. That doesn’t always happen. I’ve never seen it, and the Missus only saw a couple, one during an impromptu visit to get away from a snowy Baltimore. Not a normal occurrence.
Drew, when you drove through the Central Valley was it during one of the enforced droughts? I drove though in December of 2009, and it looked worse than the desert. The desert looked like a desert – bleak enough, but natural. That year the Central Valley looked like the Russians had come through and stripped it bare ahead of Napolean’s army. Everything was dead. It was enforced drought to save some snail darter or some such, and the locals were up in arms. Ugly, ugly stuff.
The only problem with Texas is……there are too many Texans.
The Mexicans were the first people to figure that out.
I’m guessing it’s somewhere in between. She speaks glowingly of spending substantial time in Death Valley so I’m guessing not the former.