Is Living in Sacramento Expensive?
Since Nerds On Call began doing computer repair in Sacramento way back in 1994, we've had a lot of customers, both home and business (Sacramento is a populous city). This is a technology-focused city, and of course, it's probably reasonable to assume that a heavy reliance on technology is both a cause and consequence of affluence. And as you'll find in any affluent city, the cost of living here is not inconsequential!
But how expensive is the cost of living in Sacramento compared to other cities? Here's what the data tells us.
First, the Headlines
According to Numbeo, a global database of worldwide city living, the cost of living in Sacramento ranks thirty-ninth out of 354 cities in the world. It has a cost of living index of 77.55, an index measuring the relative cost of living against New York City (which, of course, is a famously expensive city to call home).
So let's join the dots. The cost of living index is telling us that Sacramento is close to 80 percent as expensive to live in as an insanely expensive place to live. That's not all that encouraging. According to Salary.com, Sacramento is 20.5% more expensive than the national average.
Getting down to those all-important dollar figures, an average four-person family will require just under $3,500 per month to cover the costs of living in Sacramento, not including property costs.
Sacramento is not an inexpensive place to live.
A Few Reference Points to Make That Real
That's a whole bunch of big numbers. For the sake of easier comparison, let's boil that down to a few basic daily expenses we all probably have an intuitive feel for.
In Sacramento:
A cappuccino will set you back four and a half bucks.
A loaf of white bread will cost around three dollars.
The really important one: a mid-range bottle of wine will sting you just shy of a Hamilton (that's $10 in normal talk).
How you react to those figures is probably going to depend a great deal on where you live. If you live in a smaller town, those numbers will feel outrageous. If you live in a big city like New York, you'll probably react with a shrug or possibly a mumbled "whaddyagonnado?".
What About Technology?
Fancy coffees, a loaf of wonder white and a cheap bottle of red are all very well, but what about the important stuff? What about the cost of running tech?
Run of the mill Internet (a basic package of 60 Mbps) is likely to cost you just over $60 per month in Sacramento. Meanwhile, the average residential electricity rate in Sacramento is 12.39 cents per kilowatt. This places it significantly under the average California rate of 15.34 cents per kilowatt. However, it's almost 5 percent higher than the national average of 11.88 cents per kilowatt.
The costs of running a good web-enabled computer in Sacramento are probably a smidge above the US average, but not jaw-droppingly so.
Sacramento is definitely a pricey place to live. The one consolation: it's nowhere as expensive as The Big Apple.
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