The St. Cloud area ranks as the second cheapest city to live in according to a recent cost of living index study.

President of St. Cloud Area Chamber of Congress Teresa Bohnen says the area of cost of living index for the third quarter of 2014 is gathered and released by the Council for Community and Economic Research. The index determines regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services excluding taxes and non-consumer expenditures.

St. Cloud health care expenditures are 108.7 making it four points higher than that of Minneapolis’s, 104.8. The cost of housing is 74.7 making St. Cloud a way more affordable city to live in than Minneapolis where housing expenditure is 113.4.  The price of grocery items is 110.3 making St. Cloud rank second after Cedar Rapids in IA where the index of grocery items is 93.1. Transportation cost, too, seems to be another strong point of St. Cloud with an index of 95.9, while it is 100.7 in Minneapolis. Utilities cost is 89.4 in St. Cloud making it stand in the third place in Midwest cities.   

The cost of living study compares Minnesota and other upper Midwest cities of comparable size to St. Cloud.