A recently released cost of living report for the fourth quarter of 2007 ranked Goshen County as one of the cheapest places to live in Wyoming.

The report, released by the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information, Economic Analysis Division, recorded cost of living in 28 Wyoming cities over Jan. 9, 10 and 11, 2008. As a representation for each county, economists priced the largest city in each county as well as any city over 5,000 people or any town with a population 85 percent as large as that county’s largest city. For Goshen County, the city of Torrington was priced.

One of the data sets in the report compared prices on 140 different items in food, housing, apparel, transportation, medical care and recreation categories. The categories were weighed by importance and portion of the average consumer’s budget; housing being the highest weighted category and apparel being the lowest. The statewide average in each category was indexed as 100; if a county index was lower than 100, prices in that category are lower than the state average and if a county index was higher than 100, prices in that county are higher than the state average.

The Goshen County index was scored at 95 for food, 74 for housing, 119 for apparel, 100 for transportation, 105 for medical care and 97 for recreation. The total index for all items, weighed by importance, was 88. Hot Springs and Niobrara counties also had total indexes of 88. Hot Springs County had higher food prices but lower prices for apparel and medical care. Niobrara also had lower apparel prices but had higher prices for transportation.

Platte County had the lowest total index in the state at 85 while Teton County had the highest index at 129.

The report also measured annual inflation rates across the categories. For this the report grouped the Wyoming counties into five regions. The Southeast region, which included Goshen, Niobrara, Platte, Laramie, Albany and Carbon counties, experienced an inflation rate of 3.4 percent across all items. The Southwest region, which included Sublette, Lincoln, Sweetwater and Uinta Counties, had the highest inflation rate at 8.1 percent. The statewide average was 6.1 percent.

The final data set in the report compared average rental rates between the counties for apartments, mobile homes and houses in the fourth quarter 2007. In Goshen County, the average rental rate for a two-bedroom unfurnished apartment, excluding gas and electric, was $421, an 18.4 percent increase from fourth quarter 2006. Crook County was the lowest with $412 and Teton County was the highest with $1,004.

The average rental rate in Goshen County for a single-wide mobile home lot including water was $145, a 3.3 percent decrease from 2006. Crook County was the lowest with $107 and Teton County was the highest with $333.

The average rental rate for a two or three bedroom single-family house in Goshen County, excluding gas and electric, was $462, a 1.2 percent increase from 2006. Big Horn County was lowest with $435 and Teton County was highest with $1,703.

Share on Facebook