New 2026 Data Shows Massachusetts Is Now the Second Most Expensive State in America

If you thought Massachusetts is an expensive place to live, you're right. In fact, the Bay State is the second most expensive state in the nation, according to the Missouri Economic Research & Information Center (MERIC).

"In general, the most expensive areas to live were Hawaii, Alaska, the Northeast, and the West Coast,” MERIC reported. It calculates the cost of living for each state by averaging the indices of cities and metropolitan areas within that state.

How Massachusetts Compares to the Rest of the Nation

Massachusetts' cost of living index for the third quarter of 2026 (July through September) was 148.6, the second highest in the nation, behind only Hawaii, and 48.6 percent above the U.S. average, according to MERIC research.

Get our free mobile app

The $184,000 Income Needed to Buy a Massachusetts Home

According to Duncan Burns at Massachusetts Data Hub, "It takes $184,000 a year to buy the median single-family home in Massachusetts. In 298 of 302 towns, that's more than the town's own typical household earns."

Rising Bills and Falling Incomes Squeeze Bay State Residents

Breitbart's Warner Todd Huston wrote, "Annual per-capita income has dropped as the governor (Maura Healey) and Boston Mayor (Michelle) Wu have prioritized the inflow of poorly-educated migrants to boost the housing, retail, and low-productivity sectors," which he argues "drives up housing costs for state residents, damages local schools, expands civic chaos, and pushes out productivity business sectors."

Huston reported that according to data, housing costs in Massachusetts are up by 116 percent, utilities 56 percent, healthcare 29 percent, transportation seven percent, and groceries five percent.

"Median income fell by 1.0 percent to $106,539 in 2025, causing the state's average to go from first place to fourth in just a year,” Huston wrote.