By The Star Staff
The Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics released on Wednesday the results of the Cost of Living Index (COLI) for the first quarter of 2024. The data indicate that the urban portion of the Metropolitan Statistical Area (AEM) of San Juan, Bayamón and Caguas is 2.3% more expensive than the national average.
The composite index of 102.3 places the urban area in the 82nd position out of 301 urban areas in terms of overall cost of living in the United States. Nationally, the average cost of living is set at an index of 100, which means that living in San Juan, Bayamón and Caguas is relatively more expensive.
The composite index is derived from six main categories of consumer expenditures. The rankings for the urban area of the AEM San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas are as follows:
• Supermarket Items: Index 112.8, Ranking 14/301
• Miscellaneous goods and services: Index 92.1, Ranking 251/301
• Health Care: Index 69.5, Ranking 301/301
• Utilities: Index 153.1, Ranking 4/301
• Transportation: Index 89.4, Ranking 261/301
• Housing: Index 103.4, Ranking 80/301
• COLI Index: 102.3, Ranking 82/301
The COLI allows the understanding of regional differences in the costs of consumer goods and services. The indices are calculated from data collected quarterly by different entities in each participating urban area. COLI has been calculated in urban areas of the United States since 1968, using the methodology developed by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER).
The Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics (PRIS), together with the network of members affiliated with the C2ER, is responsible for the collection of prices of goods and services established by the C2ER. In addition, it has designed a comparative calculator for the cost of living between the urban area of AEM San Juan, Bayamón and Caguas and the rest of the participating cities in the United States, available at: https://apps.estadisticas.pr/coli/.
The PRIS is an autonomous government entity with the task of coordinating the island government’s statistics production service to ensure that the data collection and statistics systems, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable, and have quick and universal access.
More information can be found by visiting the website www.estadisticas.pr, writing to preguntas@estadisticas.pr, or follow the social networks through the accounts of Facebook (@estadisticas.pr), X (@EstadisticasPR), LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) and Instagram (@institutodeestadisticas).
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