About CostByCounty
Making cost of living data accessible and comparable across every US county.
Our Mission
CostByCounty exists to make cost of living data accessible, understandable, and comparable across all US counties. Whether you are planning a move, researching housing markets, or comparing affordability between regions, CostByCounty gives you the data you need in one place — for free.
What We Cover
CostByCounty provides detailed cost of living information for all 3,100+ US counties, including:
- Median home values and monthly housing costs
- Median gross rent
- Utility costs and monthly owner expenses
- Median household income for affordability comparisons
- County-to-county cost comparisons
Our Data
All data on CostByCounty comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates. The ACS is the most comprehensive and reliable source of county-level demographic and economic data in the United States, surveying over 3.5 million households annually.
We use 5-year estimates because they provide the most reliable data for all counties, including smaller and rural areas where single-year estimates may not be available. The data is updated as new ACS releases become available.
Census data is subject to sampling margins of error. All figures should be treated as estimates, not exact measurements. We encourage users to verify important decisions with local sources.
Free and Open
CostByCounty is completely free to use. No account required, no paywalls, no premium tiers. Our data comes from public government sources, and we believe access to it should remain free.
The site is supported by contextual advertising and affiliate partnerships with services relevant to people researching cost of living, such as moving companies and mortgage comparison tools.
Part of the ByCounty Network
CostByCounty is one site in the ByCounty Network — a family of county-data sites that each focus on a different aspect of life in America, all built on free government data:
- TaxByCounty — Property tax rates and estimates
- PropertyTaxByZip — ZIP-code-level property tax data
- CrimeByCounty — Crime rates and public safety
- IncomeByCounty — Household income and earnings
- HealthByCounty — Health outcomes and access to care
- SchoolsByCounty — School quality and education data
- RiskByCounty — Natural disaster risk and resilience
- WaterByCounty — Water quality and safety
- WeatherByCounty — Climate and weather data
- CountyScore — The definitive county report card combining all data
AI-Generated Content
Some descriptive content on CostByCounty — including county narrative summaries and editorial articles — is generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence (Claude by Anthropic). All AI-generated content is reviewed for accuracy and grounded in U.S. Census Bureau data. The raw data, metrics, and rankings are sourced directly from government datasets and are not AI-generated.
For full details on our data sources and content generation process, see our Methodology page.
Contact
Have questions, feedback, or data correction requests? Visit our contact page or email us at hello@bycounty.com.