Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 19, 1991                   TAG: 9104190116
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE COST OF LIVING NEXT TO LOWEST IN STATE

The Roanoke area had an index in 1990's fourth quarter of 97.4 points or 2.7 percent below the national average of 100, according to a quarterly survey compiled by the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association.

The report was released Thursday.

In both the third quarter of last year and the fourth quarter of 1989, the index was 96.6 points.

Among seven urban areas of Virginia, Danville's index of 96.1 was the only urban area surveyed with a lower living cost than Roanoke's in the final quarter of 1990.

The report is based on a survey comparing costs of 59 consumer goods and services in 293 urban areas of the nation.

In the six components of the survey, Roanoke had an index score of 88 for utilities; health care, 92.4; groceries, 93.5; miscellaneous services, 98.9; housing, 101.6, and transportation, 102.5.

The indexes for other Virginia cities: Lynchburg, 99.4; Hampton Roads/Southeast Virginia, 103.3; Fredericksburg, 105.3; Richmond, 110.1, and Prince William County, in Northern Virginia, 114.8.

The index is weighted so that more than half of the points are allocated to costs of housing and miscellaneous goods and services.

Examples of prices included for the Roanoke region show the price of a pound of bacon in the October-December quarter was $2.61, up 2 cents over a year earlier; a pound of hamburger was $1.65, an increase of 11 cents; a half-gallon of milk was $1.41, down 2 cents; a dozen eggs was priced at $1.04, up 4 cents.

A carton of cigarettes was $11.83, up $1.14; a pound of coffee was $2.59, up 3 cents, and a loaf of bread was 58 cents, a decrease of 2 cents.

The monthly bill for an all-electric home was $93.08, up $10.52; an average telephone bill increased 3 cents to $20.38 a month and the cost of a hospital room went up $22 to $227.33 a day, the report said.

A 12-inch pizza was $7.09, up 19 cents; a six-pack of beer was $3.15, up 8 cents, and the price for a man's shirt was $23.40, up 60 cents, the report said.