Morgantown MSA Economic Monitor June 2006

For the start of 2006, the Morgantown MSA was level with the national average of a select group of urbanized areas in the U.S., according to the ACCRA Cost of Living survey.Out of the 297 cities who participated in this quarterly survey, Morgantown ranked 96 highest.The ACCRA Cost of Living Index is a measure of regional cost differentials faced by professional/executive households in the top income quintile, as reflected in prices of a fixed market basket goods and services, which does not incorporate taxes beyond sale tax.In order to measure these cost differentials researchers each quarter in participating areas, like Morgantown, collect prices on 60 specific items by visiting a number of grocery and clothing stores in the area and calling establishments such as doctors and service providers.The prices gathered in each community were then sent to ACCRA, who performed quality control evaluations and computed a weighted average for each area.For the first quarter of 2006, Morgantown's composite cost of living index was estimated to be 0.4 percent below the average cost of living in the U.S. for professional/executive households.What this means is that for every dollar that is required to maintain the standard of living for professional household across the country, Morgantown area residents are only required to spend 99.6 cents.ACCRA also calculated the first quarter of 2006 index through a weighting structure that included the expenditure categories of grocery items, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services.Each category holds a certain weight.For instance, housing costs carry a weight of 29 percent of the total index while utility costs carry a weight of 10 percent.In the Morgantown area, utility, transportation, health care, and housing costs were estimated to be above the average of the participating areas in the first quarter of 2006, as shown in Table 1.Utility costs for the area, which includes electric, natural gas, and telephone rates, placed Morgantown in the top 24 percent of the participating cities.Transportation costs for Morgantown landed 3.5 percent above the average but 5.1 percent below Washington, DC.Doctor, dentist, optometrist, and drug costs for the Morgantown area were also above the average with an index of 104.6.This index puts the Morgantown in the same health care cost range as Winston-Salem, NC but well below other Eastern college communities such as Charlottesville, VA and Columbus, OH.Housing costs in Morgantown were estimated at 1 percent above the average of participating cities.This leaves Morgantown's housing costs near the average for the first quarter but they landed 14 percent and 14.6 percent above the estimated indexes for Charleston and Pittsburgh, PA.

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