States With the Highest Cost of Living

You won’t get more for your money in these 10 states. With the launch of CNBC's fourth annual edition of "America's Top States For Business," we decided to take a look at the cost of a variety of items in the nation's ten most expensive states. In the CNBC study, states are ranked using a 25-point scale—the lower the score, the higher the cost of living, and vice versa. Interestingly enough, some of these states also had some of the highest scores in the quality-of-life category, so maybe you do get what you pay for. That said, only one of the ten states in the slides ahead managed to rank among the top 10 overall in the CNBC study. Cost of living may not be among the top criteria for a business, but it can be a big consideration for workers. To cover as much ground as possible, we included one item each related to housing, transportation, health, food and entertainment. Here's the average cost of a single-family home, the best-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor, a movie theatre-ticket, a dozen eggs and a gallon of gasoline in the largest metropolitan areas of each of the ten states using data from the ACCRA Cost of Living Index. (Though there is a high correlation with this basket of goods and the study's cost-of-living rankings, the items and prices listed are not the same as those used in the index.) Take a look and see which states have the highest cost of living. Source: ACCRA Cost of Living Index/Bankrate.comPublished July 13, 2010

Photo credit: Kenneth Zirkel|Photodisc|Getty Images Score: 5/25 Providence-New Bedford-Fall River House: $349,000 Lipitor: $141.72 Movie Ticket: $10.60 Dozen Eggs: $1.93 Gallon of Gasoline: $2.75

Photo credit: Gavin Heller|Photographer's Choice|Getty Images Score: 5/25 Boston-Quincy House: $420,600 Lipitor: $141.63 Movie Ticket: $10.70 Dozen Eggs: $1.95 Gallon of Gasoline: $2.72

Photo credit: Hisham Ibrahim|Photographer's Choice|Getty Images Score: 4/25 New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.J. House: $1,130,511Lipitor: $160.24 Movie Ticket: $12.30 Dozen Eggs: $2.49 Gallon of Gasoline: $2.94

Photo credit: VisionsofAmerica|Photodisc|Getty Images Score: 4/25 Burlington-South Burlington House: $415,548 Lipitor: $140.02 Movie Ticket: $8.69 Dozen Eggs: $2.37 Gallon of Gasoline: $2.76

Photo credit: Porter Gifford | Getty Images News | Getty Images Score: 3/25 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford House: $407,353Lipitor: $152.81 Movie Ticket: $10.25 Dozen Eggs: $2.04 Gallon of Gasoline: $2.92

Photo credit: Greg Pease|Photographer's Choice|Getty Images Score: 3/25 Baltimore-Towson House: $452,800 Lipitor: $151.59 Movie Ticket: $10.00 Dozen Eggs: $2.01 Gallon of Gasoline: $2.73

Score: 2/25 Anchorage House: $442,050Lipitor: $142.44 Movie Ticket: $10.00 Dozen Eggs: $2.81 Gallon of Gasoline: $3.26

Photo credit: Driendl Group|The Image Bank|Getty Images Score: 2/25 New York-White Plains-Wayne, NJ (Bergen-Passaic Counties N.J.) House: $506,076 Lipitor: $153.06 Movie Ticket: $10.70 Dozen Eggs: $2.17 Gallon of Gasoline: $2.67

Photo credit: CGIBackgrounds.com|Subjects|Getty Images Score: 1/25 Los Angeles-Long Beach-GlendaleHouse: $596,130Lipitor: $154.09 Movie Ticket: $12.35 Dozen Eggs: $1.93 Gallon of Gasoline: $3.10

Score: 1/25 HonoluluHouse: $681,704Lipitor: $149.25 Movie Ticket: $9.85 Dozen Eggs: $2.79 Gallon of Gasoline: $3.29

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