Silver Spring, Maryland Cost Of Living

Buy Rent

F

Overall 43%

Goods & Services 8%

Housing 125%

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	Silver Spring	Maryland	National
Cost of living	143	119	100
Goods & Services	108	105	100
Groceries	111	110	100
Health care	84	83	100
Housing	225	150	100
Transportation	113	107	100
Utilities	105	105	100

Key findings

The cost of living in Silver Spring is 20% higher than the Maryland average
The cost of living in Silver Spring is 43% higher than the national average
Silver Spring housing is 125% higher than the national average
Maryland general sales tax is 18% higher than the national average
Maryland state income tax is 19% 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	$123,942	$10,329	$2,892	$3,719
Renters	$54,078	$4,507	$1,262	$1,623

The affordability of the housing market in Silver Spring, MD as well as the overall cost of living can be predicted by what percent of the monthly income is spent on housing related costs. This is konwn as the debt-to-income ratio (DTI). The overall rule of thumb is that no more than 28% of your gross income should be spent on the overall costs related to housing and no more than 36% of gross income on all expenses and debts. Among Silver Spring homeowners, the median income is $123,942. This indicates that a monthly maximum of $2,892 should be spent by homeowners on all housing related costs. Renters have a median income of $54,078. This indicates that renters would have a maximum of $1,262 for their rent related monthly costs.

Maryland Sales Tax

State	General Sales Tax	With Max Surtax
Maryland	6%	6%

Maryland Income Tax

State	Income Tax (Low)	Income Tax (High)
Maryland	2%	5.75%

Goods & Services

Item	Silver Spring	National avg.	Difference
Haircut	$26.32	$20.27	29.8%
Beauty Salon	$64.54	$40.39	59.8%
Toothpaste	$2.19	$2.36	7.3%
Shampoo	$0.96	$1.08	11.2%
Movie	$12.17	$10.99	10.8%
Bowling	$17.02	$15.49	9.9%

Groceries

Item	Silver Spring	National avg.	Difference
Ground Beef	$5.18	$4.30	20.5%
Fried Chicken	$1.53	$1.40	9.6%
Milk	$2.49	$2.20	12.9%
Potatoes	$3.30	$3.22	2.4%
Pizza	$11.96	$10.74	11.4%
Beer	$10.97	$9.60	14.3%

Health Care

Item	Silver Spring	National avg.	Difference
Optometrist	$74.77	$109.73	31.9%
Doctor	$96.52	$118.34	18.4%
Dentist	$86.86	$100.94	14.0%
Ibuprofen	$9.92	$9.93	0.2%
Lipitor	$398.89	$469.53	15.0%

Housing

Item	Silver Spring	National avg.	Difference
Home Price	$469,800.00	$184,700.00	154.4%
Avg. Mortgage Payment	$2,757.85	$1,229.62	124.3%
Apartment Rent	$1,491.00	$949.00	57.1%

Transportation

Item	Silver Spring	National avg.	Difference
Gasoline	$2.97	$2.71	9.5%
Tire Balancing	$61.49	$51.86	18.6%

Utilities

Item	Silver Spring	National avg.	Difference
All Electricity	$180.30	$170.84	5.5%
Phone	$194.85	$187.18	4.1%

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	Population	Cost of Living Index	National Avg.
Rose Hill CDP (Lee County), VA	708	90	9.6%
Wakefield town, VA	810	96	4.3%
Cottage City, MD	1,209	108	8.0%
Silver Hill, MD	4,802	111	10.5%
Landover, MD	23,124	111	11.3%
Silver Spring, MD	78,038	143	42.7%

Cities with similar population

City	Population	Cost of Living Index	National Avg.
Kennewick, WA	77,975	98	1.7%
Racine, WI	77,931	86	13.5%
Mount Pleasant, SC	77,907	128	27.6%
Gary, IN	77,858	90	9.8%
Hammond, IN	78,349	94	6.3%
Silver Spring, MD	78,038	143	42.7%

Source: This data reflects 2021 and was released from C2ER in January, 2022; this is the most current data available.