Wyoming Cost of Living Calculator (Purchasing Power & Relocation Index)

The housing index is the number to watch in Wyoming: an index of 87.2 against the 100.0 national baseline, and the single largest contributor to the state's overall cost position.

That pulls the composite index to 94.5 overall, putting Wyoming 5.5% below the national average and in the more affordable half of state rankings. Utilities (index 89.4) and groceries (index 99.5) contribute less to the gap.

Wyoming is the least populous state, with no state income tax, and this composite-versus-component split matters most for anyone comparing job offers or retirement destinations: a household that shops around housing costs alone will misjudge the state's overall affordability picture.

In dollar terms, a $75,000 household budget would need to move by about $4,125 to buy the same basket of goods in Wyoming, and the housing index, 12.8 points below the national baseline, accounts for most of that shift. The published table doesn't split out transportation or healthcare pricing on their own, but both feed into the composite figure alongside a broader miscellaneous-goods basket.

Key Index Components for Wyoming:

• Composite Benchmark Index: 94.5 (Rank #31)
• Housing Cost Index: 87.2
• Utilities Cost Index: 89.4
• Grocery Cost Index: 99.5

Wyoming's composite of 94.5 draws on two cheap categories: housing at 87.2 and utilities at 89.4, the latter among the five lowest in the country. Groceries at 99.5 sit at parity. Rank 31 of 50. The calculator prices your national-average budget at the composite.

1. Baseline budget. You enter annual household spending priced at the national benchmark, index 100.0.
2. Composite lookup. Wyoming's composite index of 94.5 is read from the 2026 MERIC state table, along with its rank of #31 among the 50 states.
3. Single-factor scaling. The baseline is multiplied by 94.5 and divided by 100. Housing 87.2, groceries 99.5 and utilities 89.4 are shown for context and not reweighted here, since MERIC's composite already includes its category weights. Wyoming's discount is unusual in coming as much from energy as from housing, which holds up better for a household with high heating load than a housing-only discount would.
4. Differential. The dollar and percentage difference against the baseline is taken from the scaled result, which is what the headline output and the monthly view report.

Using this calculator's baseline scenario: a household needing $75,000.00 a year to sustain a standard basket of goods (housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and healthcare), priced at the U.S. national average (composite index 100.0).

1. National baseline. $75,000.00 is the reference spending level at the national-average price level (index 100.0).
2. Apply Wyoming's composite index. Wyoming's composite index of 94.5 (rank #31 nationally) means local prices run 5.5% below the national basket. Scaling: $75,000.00 × (94.5 ÷ 100) = $70,875.00.
3. Dollar differential. $70,875.00 − $75,000.00 = -$4,125.00, so a household living in Wyoming needs its budget to shrink by that amount to match the same standard of living.
4. Percentage and monthly view. That is -5.5% of the baseline, or $5,906.25/mo in Wyoming versus $6,250.00/mo nationally.

Wyoming runs meaningfully cheaper than the national baseline, with housing costs (index 87.2, 12.8 points below average) the largest single driver of the gap.

The marginal cost of the next $1,000 of national-average budget. Raising the baseline from $75,000 to $76,000 moves the Wyoming figure from $70,875.00 to $71,820.00, a step of $945.00. Every additional $1,000 of national-average spending costs $945.00 in Wyoming, at every budget level, because the engine performs one multiplication by 94.5 divided by 100 and nothing else. At $120,000 of baseline the figure is $113,400.00 and the differential is $-6,600.00.

The reverse question. A household already spending $70,875.00 in Wyoming and asking what that buys at national prices divides rather than multiplies: $70,875.00 at an index of 94.5 corresponds to the $75,000 baseline this calculator started from. The relationship is exactly proportional in both directions and the calculator only runs one of them, so there is no national-baseline input to solve backwards and the division has to be done outside the page.

What changes from row to row. The twelve-row schedule prices a budget tier of baseline times i divided by 6 on row i, and it applies the 94.5 composite to every one of those tiers. Row one, at $12,500 of baseline, reads $11,812.50. Row two, at $25,000, reads $23,625.00. Row three, at $37,500: $35,437.50. Row four, at $50,000: $47,250.00. Row five, at $62,500: $59,062.50. Only one thing changes between adjacent rows, the tier, so each row sits exactly $11,812.50 above the row before it and the column is a straight line through the origin. The Difference column climbs in equal steps of -$687.50 for the same reason: a fixed fraction of a fixed increment is itself fixed.

The row that matches your entry. Row six carries the $75,000 baseline, the same figure entered above, and it reads $70,875.00 against a Difference of -$4,125.00. Those are the headline result and the headline differential to the cent, because the row and the headline run the identical multiplication. Row twelve, at $150,000 of baseline, reads $141,750.00, exactly twice row six, since doubling the tier doubles the scaled figure and the difference alike. Nothing in the sweep bends, caps, or switches to a different index partway down, so the table can be read straight down and any row can be compared with any other.

Why stacking the categories would double-count. The composite already carries MERIC's category weights. Housing at 87.2, groceries at 99.5 and utilities at 89.4 are the components those weights were applied to, so multiplying a budget by each of them and summing would count the same spending three times over. The engine never does this. It scales by a single factor, and the three category readings appear on this page as context beside the composite: no code path multiplies your budget by any of them, in the headline or in any row of the schedule.

• The category indices are context only. Housing 87.2, groceries 99.5 and utilities 89.4 are printed beside the composite and enter no calculation on this page. Every figure here, headline and schedule alike, comes from the single composite 94.5.
• Household size is not an input. One person and a family of five entering $100,000 of baseline receive the same Wyoming figure, because the only input the engine reads is the budget itself.
• No spending is apportioned across categories. The engine multiplies the whole budget by one composite index. It does not split the budget into housing, food and utility shares and it does not weight them.
• The national rank of #31 is read from the same table as the index and is not computed. It does not move with the budget entered.
• There is no sub-state variation. One statewide composite covers every address in Wyoming, so a household in the most expensive metro and one in the cheapest county receive the same answer.
• Intra-state variance between major metropolitan urban centers and rural counties within Wyoming.
• Discretionary lifestyle choices, private schooling, and luxury expenditures.
• State income and property tax impacts on disposable take-home salary.
• Dynamic seasonal utility price surges during peak winter heating or summer cooling months.

• Comparing State Averages Instead of Metro Areas: Living in a major metro area is often 20%-40% more expensive than the statewide average.
• Focusing Solely on Housing: Overlooking higher utility, transportation, or food costs in colder or remote regions.
• Ignoring Net Take-Home Pay: Comparing gross salary without factoring in state income and sales tax differentials.
• Failing to Adjust for Family Size: Larger households experience disproportionately higher grocery and healthcare expenditures.

• U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA): Regional Price Parities. bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): Consumer Expenditure Survey. bls.gov/cex
• Wyoming Department of Revenue, the official state tax authority for Wyoming rates, rules and forms. revenue.wyo.gov

Also consulted: MERIC: Cost of Living Data Series (2025/2026).