Interesting link that allows comparison between cost of living in one city,state to another city,state.
Of course this is going to be based on a series of "norms" and I'm not certain there are many "norms" here. I don't qualify as one.
http://www.prurealty.com/CostOfLivingComparison.aspx
Humph.
If you lived in Auburn CA on an annual income of 100k and moved to Waynesboro TN, that shows that you would need less than half of that to live as well.
a) I don't know if we really want them!
b) The surest way to get raised eyebrows here is to say something like "I found unsweetened peanut butter at-take your pick, they both have it--the little Piggly Wiggly or E.W. James."
In other words, shopping is iffy here.
Personally I don't want any more of the CA suburban crowd moving here, even though a couple of my best neighbors moved here from there a number of years ago. They have contributed to some of the local property value increase. Not always a good thing.
And Waynesboro is about 23 percent less expensive than where I call home, Rio Rancho, NM