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ComparativeDatafor309UrbanAreasVol.44,No.3SingleIssuePrice$82.50ISSN0740-7130AnnualSubscription$165ProducedbyPublishedOctober2011DataforThirdQuarter2011ACCRACOSTOFLIVINGINDEXCOPYRIGHT2011ISSN0740-7130C2ER,P.O.Box100127,ArlingtonVA22210USAREPRODUCTIONOFTHISREPORTISPROHIBITEDABOUTTHEINDEX:TheCouncilforCommunityandEconomicResearch(C2ER)producestheACCRACostofLivingIndextoprovideausefulandreasonablyaccuratemeasureoflivingcostdifferencesamongurbanareas.ItemsonwhichtheIndexisbasedhavebeencarefullychosentoreflectthedifferentcategoriesofconsumerexpenditures.Weightsassignedtorelativecostsarebasedongovernmentsurveydataonexpenditurepatternsforprofessionalandexecutivehouseholdsinthetopincomequintile.Allitemsarepricedineachplaceataspecifiedtimeandaccordingtostandardizedspecifications.Becausethenumberofitemspricedislimited,itisnotvalidtotreatpercentagedifferencesbetweenareasasexactmeasures.Sincejudgmentsamplingisusedinthissurvey,noconfidenceintervalcanbedetermined.Smalldifferences,however,shouldnotbeconstruedassignificant—orevenasindicatingcorrectlywhichareaisthemoreexpensive.INTERPRETINGTHEINDEX:TheACCRACostofLivingIndexmeasuresrelativepricelevelsforcon-sumergoodsandservicesinparticipatingareas.Theaverageforallparticipatingplaces,bothmetropolitanandnonmetropolitan,equals100,andeachpartici-pant’sindexisreadasapercentageoftheaverageforallplaces.TheIndexdoesnotmeasureinflation(pricechangeovertime).Becauseeachquarterlyreportisaseparatecomparisonofpricesatasinglepointintime,andbecauseboththenumberandthemixofparticipantschangesfromonequartertothenext,Indexdatafromdifferentquarterscannotbecompared.Forinflationdata,contacttheUSBureauofLaborStatistics(BLS)at(Weightsforcomponentindexesappearabovecol-umnheadings—e.g.,13.31%forGroceryItems.)PARTICIPATINGAREAS:Areasincludedinthissurveyarethosewhereorganizationshavevolunteeredtoparticipate.Thenumberofrespondentsvariesfromquartertoquarter,andC2ERmakesacontinuingefforttoexpandcoverageofmetropolitanareas.Anymetropolitanareanotrepresentedinthisreportisabsentbecauselocalorganizationshaveoptednottocollectdata.C2ERhasnodataforareasthatdonotappearinthisreport.PRICEREPORTING:C2ERstringentlyreviewsallpricesreported,andattemptstoeliminateerrorsandnoncompliancewithspecifications.Allpricedataareobtainedfromsourcesdeemedreliable,butnorep-resentationismadeastothecompleteaccuracythereof.Theyarepublishedsubjecttoerrors,omis-sions,changes,andwithdrawalswithoutnotice.SPECIFICATIONS:Thespecificitemspricedarelist-edonpageiii.Abbreviatedspecificationsforallitemsarepresentedonlyasaguidetousersofthisreport;farmoredetailedspecificationsarecontainedinthemanualthatgovernspricing,whichmaybefoundat:TheACCRACostofLivingIndexpresentsdataintwosections:URBANAREAINDEXDATA:Thissectionshowseachplace’sCompositeIndexandsixcomponentin-dexes—GroceryItems,Housing,Utilities,Transpor-tation,HealthCare,andMiscellaneousGoodsandServices.Placesarelistedbystate.Withineachstate,placesappearalphabeticallywithiniimetropolitanarea,metropolitandivisionormicropolitanareaintheUnitedStates.C2ERhasadoptedthenewmetroandmicroareadefinitionsannouncedbytheUSOfficeofManagementandBudget(OMB)onJune6,2003.Datauserswhoopttousesuburbanplacesassurrogatesforcentralcitiesshouldbeawarethatlivingcostdifferencescanexistwithinlargemetropolitanareas.Thiscautionisparticularlyimportantwheretherearesubstantialdifferencesinhousingcostsand/orutilityrates.AVERAGEPRICES:Theaveragepricereportedforeachiteminthissurveyisshownforeachplacethathasparticipatedinatleasttwoofthethreepreviouspricingperiods.Placesarelistedalphabeticallywithinstate,withoutrespecttometropolitanormicropolitanstatus.Afterthefinalstatelisting,thissectionpresentsthemedian,average,standarddeviation,andrangeforeachitem.DATAREQUESTS:Pleaseuseourwebsiteat(“ContactUs”).SUBSCRIPTIONS:ThisquarterlyreportisavailablebysubscriptionforUS$165peryear.Subscriptionsbeginwiththecurrentissueunlessthesubscriberspecifiesotherwise.Singlecopiesofcurrentorbackreportsmaybepurchasedfor$82.50e