Cost of Living in Missouri? There’s Good News & Bad News

It's probably the most common question you'll hear someone ask when they're considering a move to Missouri. What's the cost of living there? Well, there's some good news for sure, but there's some bad news also.

This topic comes up because US News and World Report just released their 2024 states with the lowest cost of living ranking and Missouri fares pretty well - kind of. The Show Me State doesn't top the list, but #15 lowest cost of living in America isn't bad at all.

How did they decide that Missouri has better than average cost of living expenses? US News and World Report said the ranking was "determined using regional price parity data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which measures the differences in price levels for goods and services across states by comparing them to national price levels for a given year".

So what's the bad news for Missouri in this new ranking?

When you factor in all aspects of life, Missouri gets dinged and drops to #35 overall as a best state to live. The two big issues which haunt Missouri are crime and health care. Have you tried to communicate with Missouri Medicaid lately? It's not for the faint of heart. Trust me on that one.

My family submitted applications for health assistance last year and STILL have not heard from anyone in Missouri's Medicaid offices. It's one thing to not have coverage, but the lack of communication is embarrassing.

Let's finish with a smiley face though as Missouri's cost of living is a plus. I've lived in the western states of America and I can tell you firsthand that a dollar here buys a heck of a lot more than it does in cowboy country.