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Question: Why don't you publish rank-order city listings for cost of labor or cost of living (COL)?
ERI doesn't publish rank-order city listings for several reasons:
| • | Cost of labor is frequently independent or non-predictive of local cost of living. |
| • | Such rankings would make it too easy for our competitors to strip our data and republish/resell it as their own without the considerable cost of research. |
| • | Comparison results differ according to search criteria, such as the following: |
| ▪ | COL for an urban family budget at one fixed level |
| ▪ | COL for a home owner at different income and lifestyle levels |
| ▪ | COL for the average person earning this amount and renting |
| ▪ | COL for the average family with a set income and the average lifestyle, owning a home of specific size |
| ▪ | COL for a specific family with a unique income and an atypical lifestyle, owning or renting a home of a unique size |
| • | All such rankings are dynamic and relative, whether for cost of labor or cost of living. The relationships between locations and the various national averages (urban, rural, all locations, etc.) change every quarter. For example, a city ranked 12th one quarter may rank 15th another quarter. |
| • | We collect data for every location possible worldwide. There are simply too many nations, locations, cities, ZIP Codes, postal zones, and combinations thereof to be able to create one master list of ranked locations at one assumption level that won't change by the time it is published. |
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Assessor Series FAQ #30