Menu Search Account

LegiStorm

Get LegiStorm App Visit Product Demo Website
» Get LegiStorm App
» Get LegiStorm Pro Free Demo

Poverty Measurement: Adjusting for Geographic Cost-of-Living Difference

  Premium   Download PDF Now (82 pages)
Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date March 9, 1995
Report No. GGD-95-64
Subject
Summary:

This report provides information on the statistical data requirements that would be needed to construct a cost-of-living index that could be used, at the federal level, to adjust for geographic differences in living costs. Concerns had been raised in Congress that current measures do not recognize that residents of high-cost areas may need higher incomes to meet their basic needs. GAO (1) describes the function of market baskets in determining a cost-of-living index, including both a uniform national market basket and market baskets that reflect regional differences in consumption; (2) identifies methodologies that might be used to calculate a cost-of-living adjustment, including methodologies that researchers and private industry use for comparing costs by geographic areas; and (3) presents expert opinions on the ability of these methodologies to adjust the poverty measurements for geographic differences in cost of living.

« Return to search Government Accountability Office reports