THE SHOALS – According to the first quarterly Cost of Living Index of 2015, The Shoals is the second most affordable area to live out of six surrounding areas, including Auburn-Opelika, Birmingham, Decatur-Hartselle, Huntsville, and Montgomery. The Shoals area was ranked at a 90.4 composite index, which places the area 10 percent below the national average.
The Cost of Living Index measures regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services, excluding taxes and non-consumer expenditures, for professional and managerial households in the top income quintile. It is based on more than 90,000 prices covering 60 different items for which prices are collected quarterly by chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, and university applied economic centers in each participating urban area.
The Shoals Chamber of Commerce is the only official organization in Colbert and 
Lauderdale counties to conduct The Cost of Living Index survey, which is published quarterly by C2ER – The Council for Community and Economic Research.
The composite index is based on six component categories – housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services.
Steve Holt
“The Shoals Chamber of Commerce is pleased about the numbers for this year’s first quarterly index update,” says the Shoals Chamber of Commerce President Steve Holt. “These numbers indicate the Shoals is still an affordable place to live, work, and raise a family.”
Among the 265 urban areas that participated in the first quarter 2015 Cost of Living Index, the after-tax cost for a professional/managerial standard of living ranged from more than twice the national average in New York, NY to more than 20 percent below the national average in McAllen, TX.
