See more visuals like this on the Voronoi app. Use This Visualization Mapped: The Real Purchasing Power of $100 by U.S. State See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app . Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources. Key Takeaways The same amount of cash goes 30% further in Arkansas than it does in California. By looking at the real purchasing power of $100, we can get a sense of how cost of living varies between U.S. states. Is a dollar in your pocket the same in Albuquerque as it is in New York City? The face value may be the same, but in reality that dollar just goes further in certain metro areas and states. Today’s visualization shows the relative value of $100 in each U.S. state. It’s based on data from GOBankingRates , which uses publicly available federal datasets such as those from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Affairs, and the U.S. Census American Consumer Survey to do the calculations. The Data: State-by-State Purchasing Power Below you’ll see how far $100 goes in each state. Included in the dataset is typical home value and annual cost of living to help provide context: Rank State Real Value of $100 Typical Home Value Annual Cost of Living 1 Arkansas $113.49 $208,734 $37,067 2 Mississippi $112.71 $176,933 $35,580 3 South Dakota $111.91 $302,023 $44,923 4 Oklahoma $111.71 $205,311 $37,697 5 Louisiana $111.66 $198,094 $36,860 6 North Dakota $111.43 $268,912 $42,925 7 Iowa $111.23 $218,773 $39,069 8 West Virginia $110.23 $163,193 $35,206 9 Kansas $110.04 $225,396 $39,073 10 Alabama $110.03 $222,475 $38,712 11 Montana $109.76 $450,056 $56,763 12 Nebraska $109.62 $257,397 $42,019 13 New Mexico $109.61 $302,570 $55,579 14 Kentucky $109.53 $208,745 $38,817 15 Wyoming $109.15 $349,235 $48,609 16 Idaho $108.58 $452,207 $56,438 17 Missouri $108.24 $246,692 $40,318 18 Ohio $108.19 $229,027 $40,062 19 Indiana $107.82 $238,281 $40,548 20 Tennessee $107.49 $318,006 $44,868 21 Wisconsin $106.90 $307,398 $46,182 22 South Carolina $106.82 $296,068 $44,854 23 North Carolina $105.86 $328,226 $47,494 24 Michigan $105.82 $239,674 $40,628 25 Utah $105.00 $528,156 $61,534 26 Vermont $103.37 $388,319 $53,614 27 Georgia $103.30 $326,933 $41,159 28 Nevada $103.02 $458,436 $57,796 29 Maine $102.90 $387,588 $54,032 30 Texas $102.83 $299,948 $44,989 31 Pennsylvania $102.50 $266,221 $43,345 32 Minnesota $101.58 $335,238 $48,347 33 Illinois $101.15 $270,708 $43,758 34 Delaware $100.75 $380,485 $51,935 35 Virginia $99.25 $398,259 $52,734 36 Arizona $98.90 $433,746 $55,529 37 Colorado $98.62 $552,897 $63,270 38 Alaska $98.29 $379,622 $59,801 39 Rhode Island $98.29 $379,622 $59,801 40 Florida $96.55 $404,924 $53,525 41 Connecticut $96.31 $429,793 $57,885 42 Maryland $96.04 $430,192 $56,244 43 Oregon $95.28 $498,760 $61,654 44 New Hampshire $94.66 $495,860 $61,111 45 New York $92.37 $455,344 $58,146 46 Massachusetts $91.76 $642,213 $75,065 47 Washington $91.44 $603,927 $70,164 48 Hawaii $91.39 $967,396 $103,371 49 New Jersey $91.12 $558,134 $65,337 50 California $87.42 $793,150 $86,408 In Arkansas , $100 actually goes much further than normal, providing $113.49 of real purchasing power. In California it’s the opposite case, where a hundred-dollar bill is only really worth $87.42. In the case of California and other expensive states, purchasing power is eroded away by the high cost of living, local taxes, and other factors that prevent you from making the most of your money. High Income ≠ High Purchasing Power Here’s one interesting takeaway: many of the highest-income states, such as California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Hawaii, also rank among the worst for real dollar value. Massachusetts has a six-figure median income, but $100 only buys $92 worth of goods. Meanwhile, Iowa and Kansas have more modest incomes, but a dollar goes almost 25% further than in an expensive state like Massachusetts. This shows that higher wages in coastal states are partially or completely eaten by cost of living premiums. The Affordability Belt Looking at the map, there is a clear “affordability belt” that can be seen visually. In the Mountain West, Midwest, and South—including Idaho ($108.58), Montana ($109.76), Louisiana ($111.66), Ohio ($108.19), and West Virginia ($110.23)—each dollar goes a little further. Learn More on the Voronoi App Where are countries losing purchasing power the fastest? See this visualization on the highest inflation rates by country on Voronoi , the app from Visual Capitalist.