SALISBURY — Back in May, the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) published its Cost of Living Index report to compare and contrast the cost of living in areas all across the country for the first quarter of 2023. They averaged the prices for grocery items, housing, utilities, transportation, health care and miscellaneous goods and services to create a composite index with 100 percent acting as the national average.

The Rowan Economic Development Council signed the county up to be a part of the study so that they could shine a light on the recent industry progression and population hike that have occurred.

“It’s been a really helpful tool for us to demonstrate to companies and people who are interested relocating here how competitive we are in terms of cost. Especially when it comes to big ticket items like housing,” President and CEO of the Rowan EDC Rod Crider said.

Overall, Rowan County’s cost of living is 90.5 percent with housing at 77.8 percent. Meaning, the county is around 10 percent cheaper to live in than the average community in the United States and housing is roughly 23 percent cheaper than everywhere else that participated in the study.

“This is a measure of items over time, long periods of time in many cases, for instance, for housing and medical which aren’t always necessarily influenced at the local level. A lot of the times we follow national trends. As housing prices have risen across the country, they have also risen here, but we’re still, even with that, below the national average,” Crider said.

The Rowan EDC partnered with Catawba College on this study. Their students went out to perform the fieldwork by going to grocery stores to price the items, do research on utilities, medical costs and housing. Crider says C2ER organizes and manages the data they receive, but each applicant who signs up for the study is responsible for collecting their own statistics.

Compared to a more metropolitan region like Charlotte, there is an 8 percent increase in their cost of living and 12 percent in housing. However, Thomasville-Lexington’s cost of living is 4 percent below Rowan County and their housing is 15 percent. This can best be explained by their differences in population and Rowan County’s commitment to attracting businesses to move here.

While Rowan County is doing all it can to make sure their cost of living figures continue to be favorable, Crider points out that it doesn’t come down to specific policies or decisions a group of people make. Some components can’t be directly affected, but by being realistic and adaptable to any changes that happen, there is more opportunity for Rowan County to be financially competitive with the rest of North Carolina.

“I don’t know if anybody in the county can influence medical costs. Those are costs outside of our control, but obviously there are factors that come into play that make us less expensive. I think you’d have to factor in labor costs, transportation costs, costs of goods and services, and us not being in a high cost area, helps to control all of those other costs as well,” Crider said. “I think one of the things it points to is the stability of Rowan County over time. I think that here in Rowan County us being more steady and stable in terms of our growth, helps to maintain those costs.”