The Herkimer Oneida Counties Comprehensive Planning Program (HOCCPP) has recently joined with the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) to begin collecting data to be used to establish a local cost of living index, or COLI. Years ago HOCCPP participated in such an endeavor when it was run under the auspices of the American Chamber of Commerce Research Association (ACCRA).
While cost-of-living data is available through the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), this data is not particularly relevant to most of upstate New York. The basis for the BEA cost-of-living data is a rather large geographic area that does include upstate New York. But it also includes all of New York City, Long Island, Connecticut, and most of New Jersey. It's easy to understand then how the living standards it measures in the greater New York metro area have little in common with the standards in the far more rural areas upstate.
The C2ER COLI is based on local market prices. For our region it would include stores and purchases made within Herkimer and Oneida Counties. This allows for far better comparisons with other metro areas such as Syracuse, Albany, Rochester and Buffalo. Since each area's COLI is based on it's own local prices, the index becomes more meaningful for planning and promotional purposes.
C2ER helps regions that participate gather data on a variety of items to create the cost-of-living index. These include groceries, housing, transportation, health care, clothing and other miscellaneous items. To see a complete list of what items are priced as part of the COLI, take a look at their price survey.
