In a dramatic improvement, California did quite well economically in 2015 — as measured by job creation and GDP. Not good when looking back since the start of the recession, but definitely good this past year.
Unfortunately much of our improvement compared to the other states was offset by our ever-worsening cost of living rank vis-à-vis our domestic state competitors. California’s COL ranked 36.2% higher than the national average in the 1st quarter of 2016, up from “only” 34.3% in 2014. Only the very expensive island state of Hawaii has a higher COL than the Golden State.
https://www.missourieconomy.org/indicators/cost_of_living/
Composite Cost of Living (Scaled)
First Quarter 2016
| First Quarter 2016 Cost of Living | ||||||||
| State | Rank | Index | Grocery | Housing | Utilities | Transportation | Heath | Misc. |
| Mississippi | 1 | 85.3 | 92.3 | 72.0 | 90.7 | 90.7 | 91.4 | 89.6 |
| Indiana | 2 | 87.4 | 91.8 | 76.0 | 88.3 | 92.3 | 96.0 | 92.2 |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 87.9 | 92.7 | 77.5 | 93.4 | 86.2 | 93.2 | 93.0 |
| Arkansas | 4 | 89.0 | 92.7 | 79.1 | 97.8 | 88.5 | 89.9 | 93.3 |
| Alabama | 5 | 89.4 | 96.9 | 74.0 | 101.3 | 90.3 | 86.7 | 95.9 |
| Tennessee | 6 | 89.5 | 93.8 | 76.9 | 91.2 | 88.7 | 90.4 | 98.0 |
| Kansas | 7 | 90.2 | 93.3 | 78.5 | 98.5 | 90.6 | 96.7 | 95.4 |
| Kentucky | 8 | 90.3 | 87.5 | 80.8 | 95.3 | 95.8 | 89.1 | 96.1 |
| Nebraska | 9 | 90.8 | 96.8 | 84.1 | 88.1 | 94.7 | 97.9 | 92.8 |
| Georgia | 10 | 91.0 | 99.5 | 75.9 | 95.5 | 93.0 | 97.1 | 97.5 |
| Missouri | 11 | 91.0 | 95.7 | 76.5 | 108.5 | 90.8 | 97.5 | 95.2 |
| Texas | 12 | 91.0 | 90.1 | 84.5 | 95.0 | 92.1 | 95.8 | 94.8 |
| Michigan | 13 | 91.4 | 92.4 | 85.0 | 97.2 | 99.7 | 98.0 | 90.8 |
| Iowa | 14 | 91.6 | 96.0 | 82.5 | 96.3 | 93.2 | 97.3 | 94.9 |
| Wyoming | 15 | 92.0 | 97.9 | 83.1 | 98.1 | 106.8 | 97.0 | 89.5 |
| Idaho | 16 | 92.5 | 91.1 | 81.5 | 83.7 | 110.4 | 105.1 | 97.4 |
| Ohio | 17 | 92.8 | 98.6 | 79.7 | 95.3 | 100.6 | 94.5 | 97.9 |
| Utah | 18 | 93.1 | 96.9 | 87.6 | 85.6 | 110.0 | 89.8 | 93.4 |
| North Carolina | 19 | 93.8 | 99.2 | 79.8 | 98.7 | 92.9 | 105.6 | 100.7 |
| Louisiana | 20 | 94.0 | 95.7 | 88.9 | 92.0 | 92.1 | 96.6 | 98.5 |
| New Mexico | 21 | 94.5 | 94.0 | 94.5 | 84.8 | 99.2 | 95.1 | 96.0 |
| Illinois | 22 | 96.2 | 100.2 | 90.2 | 95.9 | 101.2 | 100.2 | 97.7 |
| North Dakota | 23 | 97.4 | 104.8 | 97.6 | 82.2 | 89.0 | 112.1 | 99.9 |
| Arizona | 24 | 97.8 | 99.6 | 96.9 | 96.7 | 99.7 | 100.3 | 97.2 |
| West Virginia | 25 | 97.8 | 102.8 | 93.9 | 86.9 | 102.0 | 93.8 | 101.5 |
| Wisconsin | 26 | 98.5 | 101.2 | 92.1 | 99.7 | 102.2 | 115.0 | 98.9 |
| Florida | 27 | 99.1 | 101.8 | 92.4 | 105.0 | 102.8 | 96.9 | 101.0 |
| Minnesota | 28 | 99.3 | 104.4 | 90.7 | 90.7 | 95.2 | 109.4 | 107.3 |
| Virginia | 29 | 99.9 | 93.7 | 106.6 | 101.9 | 91.7 | 101.0 | 98.8 |
| South Carolina | 30 | 100.6 | 106.6 | 90.2 | 106.9 | 94.9 | 105.2 | 106.3 |
| South Dakota | 31 | 101.3 | 101.1 | 116.8 | 99.1 | 94.7 | 94.8 | 92.1 |
| Montana | 32 | 101.6 | 100.9 | 108.8 | 93.3 | 98.1 | 105.6 | 99.1 |
| Delaware | 33 | 102.4 | 115.4 | 92.5 | 110.0 | 93.0 | 100.4 | 106.6 |
| Pennsylvania | 34 | 103.2 | 103.6 | 103.8 | 113.8 | 111.1 | 91.1 | 98.3 |
| Colorado | 35 | 104.5 | 103.6 | 121.3 | 84.0 | 91.4 | 104.0 | 101.5 |
| Nevada | 36 | 105.8 | 103.2 | 101.6 | 95.4 | 124.0 | 105.3 | 107.6 |
| Washington | 37 | 108.6 | 108.2 | 108.4 | 93.4 | 122.1 | 117.9 | 107.8 |
| Maine | 38 | 111.3 | 98.9 | 120.3 | 106.1 | 115.7 | 106.8 | 109.3 |
| New Hampshire | 39 | 117.4 | 116.9 | 116.5 | 127.7 | 108.5 | 116.1 | 118.2 |
| New Jersey | 40 | 120.3 | 102.5 | 150.6 | 108.1 | 103.6 | 97.7 | 114.2 |
| Rhode Island | 41 | 121.2 | 102.9 | 135.9 | 144.6 | 107.4 | 105.6 | 115.4 |
| Vermont | 42 | 124.1 | 107.7 | 154.0 | 122.0 | 117.2 | 104.6 | 110.8 |
| Maryland | 43 | 124.3 | 113.4 | 174.6 | 101.2 | 110.1 | 92.0 | 102.0 |
| Oregon | 44 | 130.6 | 122.6 | 170.1 | 80.5 | 116.2 | 112.0 | 123.2 |
| Connecticut | 45 | 131.8 | 131.4 | 157.0 | 120.7 | 121.5 | 116.2 | 119.6 |
| Alaska | 46 | 132.8 | 132.5 | 140.0 | 149.2 | 140.7 | 143.6 | 117.6 |
| New York | 47 | 135.4 | 111.2 | 194.1 | 104.0 | 118.9 | 100.8 | 115.2 |
| California | 48 | 136.2 | 113.6 | 192.3 | 113.2 | 137.0 | 108.4 | 108.2 |
| Massachusetts | 49 | 146.7 | 111.5 | 198.5 | 140.1 | 112.5 | 130.4 | 132.7 |
| District of Columbia | 50 | 146.8 | 120.7 | 226.4 | 117.9 | 105.9 | 97.2 | 118.9 |
| Hawaii | 51 | 192.8 | 167.3 | 312.2 | 212.3 | 137.4 | 110.1 | 124.8 |
| US Average | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100 | |