Blue State Cost of Living Blues

Hoover Institution research fellow Carson Bruno follows trends in California, mostly unfortunate ones in recent years. See what he wrote a couple of weeks ago for RealClearMarkets about living costs there.

California is an extraordinarily high cost-of-living state. Whether it is the state's housing affordability crisis - California's median home value per square foot is, on average, 2.1 times higher than Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington's - California's very expensive energy costs - the state's residential electric price is about 1.5 times higher than the competing states - or the Golden State's oppressive tax burden - California ranks 6th, nationally, in state-local tax burdens - those living in California are hit with a variety of higher bills, which cuts into their bottom line.

One could wish it wasn't the nicest place to live year-round in the continental U.S., cost of living aside.