Find a Job You Really Want In
As the saying goes, “She works hard for the money,” and these locations in Ohio certainly ensure that hard work pays off.
These are the cities in Ohio where the cost of living is the most manageable, allowing your salary to stretch further. If you have the flexibility to choose where to live in the Buckeye State for your job, considering the cost of living should be a significant factor in your decision-making process.
To make your choice easier, we’ve analyzed the data to pinpoint the cities with the lowest costs for essentials such as food, housing, and utilities. After reviewing the statistics from the 285 largest places in Ohio, we’ve compiled this list of the best value locations:
- Youngstown
- Warren
- Campbell
- Struthers
- Girard
- Salem
- Niles
- Conneaut
- Austintown
- Greenville
Continue reading to delve into the specifics of our analysis because we understand you work hard for your money, and we want to ensure it goes as far as possible.
How We Identified the Most Affordable Places to Live in the Buckeye State
Regardless of where you live in the country, there are basic necessities that you need to purchase. These essentials include:
- Housing
- Food
- Transportation
- Health Insurance
- Utilities
- Gas
By comparing the costs of these essentials across different locations in Ohio, we can determine which cities are the most affordable.
The result is a “Cost of Living Index,” which standardizes the average cost of living to 100, representing the national average. For our analysis, we utilized Sperling’s Best Places index to rank all 285 cities in Ohio with populations exceeding 5,000.
To clarify how the Cost of Living Index works: a score of 100 indicates the average cost of living in the United States. A score of 90 suggests that a location is 10% less expensive than average. Conversely, a score of 110 means it is 10% more expensive. For context, San Francisco has a score of 243, indicating it is nearly 2.5 times more costly than the national average.
1. Youngstown
Population: 67,093
2. Warren
Population: 41,569
3. Campbell
Population: 8,252
4. Struthers
Population: 10,711
5. Girard
Population: 9,940
6. Salem
Population: 12,311
7. Niles
Population: 19,274
8. Conneaut
Population: 12,824
9. Austintown
Population: 29,806
10. Greenville
Population: 13,185
Author
Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.
