The other day I started wondering what a cross comparison of cost of housing, average salaries, and the price of a 6-pack in the top cities my friends have moved to after graduation would look like.
I googled it, and it didn't exist. So I did it myself, and was pretty surprised by the results. Twenty-somethings wondering about their next move would do well to take into account this subversive ranking of U.S. cities based on a new cool factor: relative affordability of craft beer.
Even if you're not into craft beer, this list is still a good way to see what cities will free up more of your disposable income for your hobbies and interests. The second ranking shows the additional income you can spend in each city. The first column shows, just for kicks, the rankings if you were to spend all of your additional income on beer.
Disclaimer: I only ranked these cities against each other. I did not take all of the top cities in the country. If a city is not on the list, it's not because it is more or less expensive than any of these cities, it just means I don't know anybody who moved there and didn't feel like it made the cut for evaluation.
I wasn't surprised to see Dayton come out at No. 3 on the list. But the other 4 in the top 5 shocked me!
Check out my thorough methodology below the lists.
Best cities for consuming the most beer per year:
|
Rank
|
City
|
Additional Disposable Income
|
Cost of beer
|
|
1
|
Washington D.C.
|
$10,342.86
|
$8.89
|
|
2
|
Asheville, N.C.
|
$8,014.62
|
$7.53
|
|
3
|
Dayton
|
$7,700.00
|
$7.99
|
|
4
|
Portland
|
$7,718.46
|
$8.49
|
|
5
|
Oakland, Calif.
|
$8,629.27
|
$9.66
|
|
6
|
Cincinnati
|
$6,928.58
|
$7.99
|
|
7
|
Detroit
|
$7,155.73
|
$8.27
|
|
8
|
Las Vegas
|
$6,884.84
|
$8.32
|
|
9
|
Charlotte
|
$6,206.76
|
$7.68
|
|
10
|
Raleigh
|
$6,348.18
|
$7.98
|
|
11
|
St Louis
|
$6,207.34
|
$7.81
|
|
12
|
Phoenix
|
$6,184.39
|
$7.90
|
|
13
|
Greenville, S.C.
|
$6,303.52
|
$8.10
|
|
14
|
Seattle
|
$6,366.76
|
$8.59
|
|
15
|
Columbus
|
$5,744.81
|
$7.99
|
|
16
|
Atlanta
|
$6,369.56
|
$8.99
|
|
17
|
Memphis
|
$5,481.87
|
$7.90
|
|
18
|
San Diego
|
$6,238.97
|
$9.34
|
|
19
|
Denver
|
$5,280.46
|
$7.98
|
|
20
|
Miami
|
$5,287.70
|
$8.39
|
|
21
|
Birmingham
|
$5,459.55
|
$8.79
|
|
22
|
Nashville
|
$5,361.79
|
$8.64
|
|
23
|
Austin
|
$5,118.73
|
$8.48
|
|
24
|
Richmond, Va.
|
$6,081.57
|
$10.26
|
|
25
|
Boston
|
$5,122.53
|
$8.89
|
|
26
|
New Orleans
|
$4,171.28
|
$7.92
|
|
27
|
Pittsburgh
|
$5,026.68
|
$9.79
|
|
28
|
NYC
|
$5,333.00
|
$10.52
|
|
29
|
San Francisco
|
$3,294.00
|
$8.79
|
Best cities for having extra money for your hobbies:
|
Rank
|
City
|
Additional Disposable Income
|
|
1
|
Washington D.C.
|
$10,342.86
|
|
2
|
Oakland, Calif.
|
$8,629.27
|
|
3
|
Asheville, N.C.
|
$8,014.62
|
|
4
|
Portland
|
$7,718.46
|
|
5
|
Dayton
|
$7,700.00
|
|
6
|
Detroit
|
$7,155.73
|
|
7
|
Cincinnati
|
$6,928.58
|
|
8
|
Las Vegas
|
$6,884.84
|
|
9
|
Atlanta
|
$6,369.56
|
|
10
|
Seattle
|
$6,366.76
|
|
11
|
Raleigh
|
$6,348.18
|
|
12
|
Greenville, S.C.
|
$6,303.52
|
|
13
|
San Diego
|
$6,238.97
|
|
14
|
St Louis
|
$6,207.34
|
|
15
|
Charlotte
|
$6,206.76
|
|
16
|
Phoenix
|
$6,184.39
|
|
17
|
Richmond, Va.
|
$6,081.57
|
|
18
|
Columbus
|
$5,744.81
|
|
19
|
Memphis
|
$5,481.87
|
|
20
|
Birmingham
|
$5,459.55
|
|
21
|
Nashville
|
$5,361.79
|
|
22
|
NYC
|
$5,333.00
|
|
23
|
Miami
|
$5,287.70
|
|
24
|
Denver
|
$5,280.46
|
|
25
|
Boston
|
$5,122.53
|
|
26
|
Austin
|
$5,118.73
|
|
27
|
Pittsburgh
|
$5,026.68
|
|
28
|
New Orleans
|
$4,171.28
|
|
29
|
San Francisco
|
$3,294.00
|
Housing cost: I took the average cost of a 3-bedroom apartment based on the first 10 listings for 3-bedroom apartments on Craigslist in each city, then divided by 3, based on an assumption of sharing a house with two roommates, as any 20-something trying to maximize his or her income for hobbies or beer drinking would likely do. I was unsatisfied with conventional housing cost calculators, because they don't represent mine or my fellow 20-somethings' most common living arrangements. Under this arrangement, I also assumed $100 per month would go to utilities. This will obviously cause my results to be slightly inaccurate in cities with a wide variation in utilities costs from the norm, but seemed a better solution than not accounting for utilities at all.
Salary: I started with an average college-educated entry-level salary in Dayton (where I live) of $35,000, and used Bankrate.com's cost of living calculator to adjust that salary to each city.
Cost of beer: I used Bankrate.com's cost of living calculator to record the average price of beer -- presumably your average 6-pack, although the website doesn't specify -- in each city.
Additional disposable income: Most budgeting recommendations list 35 percent as the national average for housing costs. Obviously a 20-something renting a house with two other roommates will likely fall below this average if they are making the average college-educated entry-level salary in that city, but the amount by which they can minimize this essentially frees up money directly for hobbies. So, using my housing cost estimate, I determined what percent of total income housing costs represented, and took the difference between the national average of 35 percent and each city's result as the percentage of additional disposable income. For example, in Dayton, housing only accounts for 13 percent of a base-level income, leaving 22 percent of income available for other interests. Or beer.
Food costs: Are not accounted for in this analysis, since relative cost of food seems to mostly reflect housing costs, so it is not likely to skew the results if I did include it anyway.
Let me know if you have any questions, comments or suggestions on my methodology! It was a fun analysis to do.
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