For many of us, we have been blessed with the gifts of prosperity. Perhaps we thank our parents or God for these blessings. We may even boil such fortune down to our calling the United States of America our home.Today, I would like to initiate a discussion regarding in what ways the USA excels at providing us with an affordable cost of living. To begin our conversation I present to you four areas in which the USA consistently provides its citizens with a reasonable cost of living.

Location, Location, Location

While this may be obvious, some areas of the country are cheaper to live in than other parts of our country (i.e. New York, New York vs. a small midwestern town). To reside in Morristown, Tennessee was approximately $50,000 a year. In contrast, the cost of living in Washington D.C. is closer to $107,000 a year. While some states such as California, New York, and Washington are notorious for their high cost of living, other states provide greater opportunities for more affordable lifestyle.

From the perspective of Scott Cohn with CNBC.com, Mississippi is the state with the lowest cost of living. Yet, if Mississippi is not your style, numerous states in the South (i.e. Arkansas), Midwest (i.e. Michigan), and the West (i.e Idaho), and East (i.e.Tennessee) are other affordable options.

Affordability of Motor Transportation

Most individuals consider a car cheap. After all, there is the cost of auto insurance (though in America we have cheap auto insurance, gas, upkeep, etc., all of which continually deplete our bank accounts of our hard earned, cold hard cash. However, today I am proposing that while generally speaking ownership of a vehicle is still semi-costly, it is greatly more affordable here in America than it is for our foreign counterparts. In cities such as Shanghai the total cost of owning a car for a period of three years is significantly higher than it would be to own a car in New York City.

Savings Resources

The invention of the Internet has been absolutely transformational in how we go about our day to day lives.Besides distractions, the Internet has gifted us with an insurmountable number of resources from which we can learn to maintain or adapt our lifestyles to better accommodate our checkbooks.

Sites such as americasaves.org and the pennyhoarder.com provide us with practical suggestions for ways to increase the pleasure we experience from our lifestyles while slashing the total cost where possible. In addition to these sites, Trent Hamm from thesimpledollar.com published an article describe 100 ways to aid his fellow citizens in achieving the life they want. One such suggestion provided by americasaves.org and Trent Hamm is to actively meal plan for the upcoming week.

Our Local Communities

While this aspect of the great country is constantly developing and adapting to the ever present bombardment of change, our local communities are a vibrant and crucial aspect to the cost of living and quality of life within their geographical locations. Our local communities have numerous resources that are there for their citizens both during times of need and prosperity.

One example of local communities aiding in the cost of living can be seen by the thousands of farmer’s markets across the country. According to Raymond Saul of the farmer’s market coalition, farmer’s markets are a critical part of any community as they provide local, fresh foods for a lower price than one could find in grocery retailers. Additionally, the U.S Senate supports that the farmers of America are key for supplying food, jobs, and preservation of energy.