Surprise, Arizona Cost Of Living

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C-

Overall 1%

Goods & Services 9%

Housing 13%

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	Surprise	Arizona	National
Cost of living	101	101	100
Goods & Services	92	105	100
Groceries	92	104	100
Health care	81	98	100
Housing	113	97	100
Transportation	89	97	100
Utilities	133	103	100

Key findings

The cost of living in Surprise is equal to the Arizona average
The cost of living in Surprise is 1% higher than the national average
Surprise housing is 13% higher than the national average
Arizona general sales tax is 10% higher than the national average
Arizona state income tax is 5% higher 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	$65,515	$5,460	$1,529	$1,966
Renters	$51,254	$4,271	$1,196	$1,538

The affordability of the housing market in Surprise, AZ 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 Surprise homeowners, the median income is $65,515. This indicates that a monthly maximum of $1,529 should be spent by homeowners on all housing related costs. Renters have a median income of $51,254. This indicates that renters would have a maximum of $1,196 for their rent related monthly costs.

Arizona Sales Tax

State	General Sales Tax	With Max Surtax
Arizona	5.6%	10.725%

Arizona Income Tax

State	Income Tax (Low)	Income Tax (High)
Arizona	2.59%	4.5%

Goods & Services

Item	Surprise	National avg.	Difference
Haircut	$19.00	$20.27	6.3%
Beauty Salon	$26.27	$40.39	35.0%
Toothpaste	$1.66	$2.36	29.6%
Shampoo	$0.96	$1.08	10.5%
Movie	$11.15	$10.99	1.5%
Bowling	$14.58	$15.49	5.9%

Groceries

Item	Surprise	National avg.	Difference
Ground Beef	$3.70	$4.30	13.8%
Fried Chicken	$1.21	$1.40	13.5%
Milk	$1.44	$2.20	34.5%
Potatoes	$2.35	$3.22	27.1%
Pizza	$12.16	$10.74	13.2%
Beer	$9.71	$9.60	1.1%

Health Care

Item	Surprise	National avg.	Difference
Optometrist	$69.45	$109.73	36.7%
Doctor	$79.45	$118.34	32.9%
Dentist	$77.67	$100.94	23.1%
Ibuprofen	$10.18	$9.93	2.5%
Lipitor	$476.19	$469.53	1.4%

Housing

Item	Surprise	National avg.	Difference
Home Price	$197,600.00	$184,700.00	7.0%
Avg. Mortgage Payment	$1,029.27	$1,229.62	16.3%
Apartment Rent	$1,199.00	$949.00	26.3%

Transportation

Item	Surprise	National avg.	Difference
Gasoline	$2.66	$2.71	1.8%
Tire Balancing	$38.44	$51.86	25.9%

Utilities

Item	Surprise	National avg.	Difference
All Electricity	$273.18	$170.84	59.9%
Phone	$181.87	$187.18	2.8%

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	Population	Cost of Living Index	National Avg.
Wittmann, AZ	361	96	3.6%
Goodyear Village, AZ	253	87	13.3%
Youngtown, AZ	6,563	90	9.8%
Sun City, AZ	39,363	90	9.6%
El Mirage, AZ	33,937	92	7.9%
Surprise, AZ	127,492	101	1.3%

Cities with similar population

City	Population	Cost of Living Index	National Avg.
Topeka, KS	127,472	79	21.3%
Stamford, CT	127,410	158	57.9%
Coral Springs, FL	127,673	121	21.0%
Elizabeth, NJ	128,042	116	16.4%
Concord, CA	126,938	149	49.2%
Surprise, AZ	127,492	101	1.3%

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