Savannah, Georgia Cost Of Living

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Overall 6%

Goods & Services 1%

Housing 16%

Date & Last Updated: This data reflects 2019 and was released from C2ER in January, 2020; this is the most current data available.

The cost of living index is based on a national average of 100. For example, if the cost of living is 90, then it is 10% lower than average. If the cost of living is 110, then it is 10% higher than average. The breakdown for each index is as follows: goods & services (33%), groceries (13%), health care (5%), housing (30%), transportation (9%) and utilities (10%). If the cost of living data was unavailable for this city, estimates based upon nearby cities were used.
Index	Savannah	Georgia	National
Cost of living	94	94	100
Goods & Services	99	97	100
Groceries	95	99	100
Health care	106	97	100
Housing	84	86	100
Transportation	95	97	100
Utilities	97	93	100

Key findings

The cost of living in Savannah is equal to the Georgia average
The cost of living in Savannah is 6% lower than the national average
Savannah housing is 16% lower than the national average
Georgia general sales tax is 21% lower than the national average
Georgia state income tax is 59% lower than the national average

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Price difference in compared to

Cost of living index
Goods & Services index
Groceries index
Health care index
Housing index
Transportation index
Utilities index

Median Income & Debt-To-Income Ratio

Median Income	Per Year	Per Month	Max Budget (28% DTI)	Max Budget (36% DTI)
Owners	$54,010	$4,501	$1,260	$1,620
Renters	$27,404	$2,284	$639	$822

A good way to judge both the affordability of the housing and the cost of living in Savannah is by simply calculating the maximum that should be spent on housing, otherwise known as the debt-to-income ratio (DTI). The plan is to avoid spending more than 28 percent of the gross income on costs that pertain to housing and no more than 36 percent on all expenses and debts. Savannah has a median income of about $54,010 for people who own homes. Based on that number, a maximum of $1,260 should be spent on expenses related to housing. Renters have a slightly different median income, which is $27,404. Based on this average, renters should spend no more than $639 on all rental costs if they want to maintain a non-impoverished standard of living.

Georgia Sales Tax

State	General Sales Tax	With Max Surtax
Georgia	4%	8%

Georgia Income Tax

State	Income Tax (Low)	Income Tax (High)
Georgia	1%	5.75%

Goods & Services

Item	Savannah	National avg.	Difference
Haircut	$17.14	$17.49	2.0%
Beauty Salon	$35.50	$38.17	7.0%
Toothpaste	$1.97	$2.32	15.1%
Shampoo	$0.87	$1.01	14.0%
Movie	$11.84	$10.72	10.4%
Bowling	$19.05	$13.86	37.4%

Groceries

Item	Savannah	National avg.	Difference
Ground Beef	$3.71	$3.90	4.9%
Fried Chicken	$1.36	$1.40	2.6%
Milk	$1.97	$1.96	0.4%
Potatoes	$3.26	$3.18	2.4%
Pizza	$9.99	$10.39	3.9%
Beer	$9.84	$9.23	6.6%

Health Care

Item	Savannah	National avg.	Difference
Optometrist	$88.50	$106.34	16.8%
Doctor	$108.33	$115.25	6.0%
Dentist	$119.67	$98.38	21.6%
Ibuprofen	$8.31	$9.26	10.3%
Lipitor	$509.58	$466.47	9.2%

Housing

Item	Savannah	National avg.	Difference
Home Price	$145,100.00	$184,700.00	21.4%
Avg. Mortgage Payment	$773.26	$1,273.32	39.3%
Apartment Rent	$913.00	$949.00	3.8%

Transportation

Item	Savannah	National avg.	Difference
Gasoline	$2.39	$2.59	7.9%
Tire Balancing	$49.80	$48.90	1.9%

Utilities

Item	Savannah	National avg.	Difference
All Electricity	$159.64	$167.60	4.8%
Phone	$179.40	$163.42	9.8%

Although the cost of living data is updated regularly, this cost of living information is to be used as estimates only as prices can change on an ongoing basis.

Nearby cities with low cost of living

City, State	Population	Cost of Living Index	National Avg.
Garden City, GA	8,889	88	-12%
Bloomingdale, GA	2,703	92	-8%
Rincon, GA	9,690	95	-5%
Montgomery, GA	4,222	96	-4%
Thunderbolt, GA	2,606	96	-4%
Savannah, GA	144,717	94	-6%

Cities with similar population

City, State	Population	Cost of Living Index	National Avg.
Metairie, LA	144,772	102	2%
Syracuse, NY	144,350	88	-12%
Frisco, TX	145,646	111	11%
Mesquite, TX	143,771	96	-4%
Naperville, IL	145,789	128	28%
Savannah, GA	144,717	94	-6%

Source: The Savannah, GA cost of living data displayed above is derived from the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) for 2019.