St. Cloud Slightly Above Average for First Quarter 2021 Cost of Living Index

(KNSI) – A new survey done by the American Chamber of Commerce Research Association shows the people of St. Cloud experienced a higher than average cost of living in the first quarter of 2021.

According to a press release from the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce, the Cost of Living Index looks at 265 urban areas that look at metrics such as regional differences for the cost of consumer goods and services aside from taxes and “non-consumer expenditures for professional and managerial households” in the top 20 percent. The survey is based on more than 90,000 prices covering 60 different items for which prices are collected three times a year by the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce.

The composite index looks at housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services.

The index for “all items” for St. Cloud in the first quarter was 103.8. Based on a score of 100, that means the St. Cloud survey area was 3.8% higher than the national average.

For the six component indexes for the first quarter, St. Cloud scored higher than average for groceries at 110.1. Transportation costs were also higher at 103.3, as was healthcare at 123.7 and miscellaneous goods and services at 114.3.

St. Cloud has lower than average costs for housing at 85.9 and 98.2 for utilities.

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