Most expensive place to live

Manhattan is the most expensive place in the United States,according to a new survey by Runzheimer International in the yr 2006, a Wisconsin-based management consultant. The study considered what a typical family of four earning $60,000 annually spends and compared the costs of maintaining that lifestyle in more than 300 U.S. locations of comparable quality.

In Manhattan, that family would need to spend $146,060, 137.9 percent more than in the average American town. This slice of the Big Apple topped runner-up San Francisco by more than $24,000 to earn the dubious distinction of being the nation's priciest place.

In the top five locations, which also included Los Angeles, San Jose, and Washington D.C., housing costs make up the lion's share of total living costs. The survey factored in local and state income taxes, costs associated with owning two cars (except in Manhattan), public transportation costs, goods and services, sales taxes, and costs to own a 2,500 square foot house (mortgage payment, insurance, real estate taxes, utilities and maintenance.



In Manhattan the survey figured those housing costs amounted to a whopping $100,532 annually and accounted for nearly 69 percent of all living costs. In San Francisco, similar housing would cost $79,156.




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