Leominster- Fitchburg area- most affordable in NE

Cost of living

According to the North Central Massachusetts Economic Development Council, the Leominster- Fitchburg metro area is the least expensive area to live in New England.
Their Spring 2009 Newsletter (page 3) quoted data that suggested a score of 103.1 on the Cost of Living Index. The least expensive area at that time was Pryor Creek, Oklahoma at 83.1, while the most expensive was New York City with a COLI score of 219.3. Boston came in at 129.5.

How does the area rate today in comparison? I went online and pulled the COLI from CityData for various locations.

Towns Cost Of Living Index (COLI)
Fitchburg 114.0
Sterling 114.2
Lunenburg 115.4
Lancaster 114.4
Ashburnham 112.1
Leominster 115.2
Average: 114.21

Compare Boston at 136.2, Bolton at 130.2 and Ayer at 119.4. The least expensive place to live in 2009 (metropolitan) was Pueblo, Colorado with a COLI of 83, according to Kiplinger’s.

The six factors that the Cost of Living Index is based on are housing, health care, groceries, utilities, transportation, and misc. goods and services .