The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development has found that Alaska’s cost of living prices were relatively low in 2014.
According to the department’s latest publication, overall, 2014 registered the second-smallest increase in prices in a decade, showing only a 1.6% increase versus a 3.1% increase in 2013(See above picture).
Cost of living prices were compared in two ways, in a single place over time and by the differences between Anchorage and the U.S.
Anchorage is the only city in Alaska with a consumer price index, thus the city used to measure Alaska’s price changes because not many communities vary from Anchorage’s.
The 2014 average index for Anchorage was 215.8 while the national index was 236.7.
That does not mean the national cost of living is higher, but according to the publication that national prices have increased a bit faster than Anchorage prices since the early 1980s.
Alaskans spent a majority of their finances on housing, with 41.1% in that funding according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Housing costs rose by 2.7% in 2014 but the cost that rose the most in 2014 was healthcare, with a 3. 2% increase.
Transportation costs declined by 0.6% and recreation costs declined by 0.3%.