The Housing Affordability Index (HAI) is acomprehensive housing affordability resource designed to provide a benchmark of general affordability over time based on a range of housing affordability measure are available for Virginia, metropolitan areas, independent cities, and counties and are provided over a five-year time period.

The Housing + Transportation Affordability Index is tool that measures the true affordability of housing by calculating the transportation costs associated with a home’s location. As previously noted a commonly the accepted measure housing affordability is spending 30% or less of income on housing costs. The H+T℠ Index suggests that 45% of income is a conservative estimate for combined housing and transportation expenditures, and a reasonable goal that helps insure adequate funds remain for other household necessities.

Interactive database providing information that allows the user to look at data and compare indicators over a period of time for a specific locality as well as comparing a specific locality to other region localities, the state or a “regional” aggregate data point.

The ACCRA Cost of Living Index (COLI) is produced by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) and provides measure of living cost differences among urban areas. The COLI measures relative price levels for consumer goods and services in participating areas based on different weighted categories of consumer expenditures. The average for all participating places, both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan, equals 100, and each participant’s index is read as a percentage of the average for all places. Categories include groceries, housing utilities, transportation, health care, miscellaneous goods and services.

EPI’s Family Budget Calculator measures the income a family needs in order to attain a secure yet modest living standard by estimating community-specific costs of housing, food, child care, transportation, health care, other necessities, and taxes. The budgets, updated for 2013, are calculated for 615 U.S. communities and six family types (either one or two parents with one, two, or three children).

Living wage calculator to estimate the cost of living in your community or region. The calculator lists typical expenses, the living wage and typical wages for the selected location.