Our Methodology
Editor's Note: CostByCity processes Regional Price Parities (RPP) from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census ACS data. Every data point traces back to an official source.
CostByCity is committed to providing accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date cost of living data. This page explains how we collect, process, and verify our information.
Data Sources
Our data is sourced from authoritative, publicly available databases: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Regional Price Parities and Census American Community Survey (ACS).
Data Collection Process
- Automated Ingestion — We use automated pipelines to regularly pull data from our primary sources.
- Normalization — Raw data is cleaned, standardized, and structured into our unified database schema.
- Cross-Validation — We compare data points across multiple sources to identify discrepancies.
- Expert Review — Our editorial team reviews flagged entries and applies domain expertise.
Update Frequency
Databases are updated when new BEA releases become available. Each page displays a verification timestamp.
Limitations
While we strive for accuracy, our data reflects the most recent publicly available information and may not capture real-time changes.
Contact
Found an error? Contact us.