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TIM MASSIE (845) 575-3171
CHRISTY HUEBNER CARIDI (845) 575-3000, EXT. 2057
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ECONOMIC SURVEY SHOWS LIVING IN HUDSON RIVER VALLEY LESS EXPENSIVE THAN NYC AND NJ SUBURBS BUT MORE COSTLY THAN CAPITAL DISTRICT
POUGHKEEPSIE -
It's cheaper to live in Dutchess and Orange counties than New York City or the suburban counties of northern New Jersey, but more expensive than New York's Capital District. Those are the findings of an economic report done by a national organization with help from students in the School of Management at Marist College.
Over the past four quarters, the Marist College Bureau of Economic Research has been working with the Council for Community and Economic Research in the collection and analysis of price data for the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The composite index is made up of 60 items that would be purchased by the typical professional or managerial employee. By construction, the national average index is set equal to 100.
In the third quarter of 2009, in the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown MSA, the composite index was 19 percent above the national average. Housing costs were 35.3 percent above the national average and grocery items were 8.7 percent above the national average. The cost for a professional/managerial standard of living in the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown MSA was 44.57 percent below the cost in Manhattan, 32.84 percent below the cost in Brooklyn and 23.86 percent below the cost in Queens.
Over the same time period, the cost for a professional/managerial standard of living in the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens was 114.7 percent, 77.2 percent, and 56.3 percent above the national average.
The cost for a professional/managerial standard of living in New Jersey's Bergen and Passaic counties was 29.2 percent above the national average and 7.9 percent above the cost in the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown MSA.
The composite index in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy MSA at 105.8 was 5.8 percent above the national average and 12.47 percent below the composite index in Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown MSA.
Among the 315 urban areas that participated in the third quarter 2009 ACCRA Cost of Living Index, the after-tax cost for a professional/managerial standard of living ranged from more than twice the national average in Manhattan to almost 16 percent below the national average in Pueblo, Colorado.
The ACCRA Cost of Living Index measures regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services, excluding taxes and non-consumer expenditures, for professional and managerial households in the top income quintile, $100,000 or above. It is based on more than 90,000 prices covering 60 different items for which prices are collected quarterly by chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, and university applied economic centers in each participating urban area. Small differences should not be interpreted as showing a measurable difference.
For further information, call the Marist College Office of Public Affairs at (845) 575-3174.
