From Staff Reports

The Asheville metropolitan area has the highest cost of living in North Carolina, according to the recently released national price data from the Council for Community and Economic Research.

The Asheville metro area includes Buncombe, Madison, Henderson and Haywood counties.

In a May 9 story, the Asheville Citizen Times quoted Heidi Reiber, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce’s senior research director, as saying, “Among the participating metros for the 2020 annual report, Asheville was the highest in the state.”

The CCER report also indicates that the Asheville metro area’s cost of living is 106 percent of the average.

The ACT’s story added, “On the flip side, pay in the Asheville area is lower than the state’s major metro areas and a good deal under the United States average. 

“The latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show Buncombe, Madison, Henderson and Haywood counties with a 2019 per capita income of $47,432. That is 84 percent of the $56,490 earned by the average U.S. worker. 

“The high-prices, low-pay predicament is one local government leaders are increasingly wrestling with,” the ACT reported.

Trailing just behind Asheville is coastal Dare County, which is the second most-expensive area of the state, followed by the Wilmington area, another tourist draw; Raleigh, the fast-growing capital; and Charlotte, the nation’s second-largest banking center, according to the report. 

In contrast to the Asheville metro area, Dare County, with the second-highest cost of living in the state, has a per capita income nearly to match at $57,688, or 102 percent of the national average.

Following is a ranking of the top North Carolina metros in cost of living (percent of 2020 national average):

• Asheville, 105.7 percent

• Dare County, 103.6 percent

•Wilmington, 95.3 percent (last reported in third quarter of 2019) 

• Raleigh, 96.9 percent 

• Charlotte, 92 percent

“The lowest cost of living is in Harlingen, Texas, at 75 percent of the national average. The highest is Manhattan at 245 percent,” the ACT noted.

Following is a ranking of relative income (percent of 2019 national average of $56,490) in North Carolina:

• Dare County: 102 percent

• Raleigh: 102 percent

• Charlotte: 95 percent

• Asheville: 84 percent

• Wilmington: 81 percent