ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996               TAG: 9604220089
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: A-6  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON  

AREA'S COST OF LIVING BELOW U.S. MEAN

The Roanoke region's living costs fell 9 percent below the national average in the final quarter of last year, a new survey shows.

Groceries cost about the same here as in other communities whose prices mirror the national average, but the Roanoke region's housing, utilities, health-care and transportation costs are below par.

The quarterly data comes from ACCRA, an Alexandria-based national trade group for community and economic development researchers. It said overall living costs here were 90.9 percent of the national average in the October-December quarter. Manhattan's living costs, in contrast, were running at 220 percent of average, while at the other end of the scale, Kennett, Mo.'s costs stood at 83.4 percent of average.

"If you are in Los Angeles, whose cost of living index is 116.7, and you are thinking of moving to the Roanoke Valley, either yourself or your business, this gives you an indication that you're going to have substantial savings by picking up and moving," said Anne Piedmont, research director at the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership.

Other area communities and the percentage by which their living costs differ from the national average include: Bristol-Johnson City- Kingsport, Tenn., 90.2; Christiansburg, 94.7; Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem, N.C., 97.8; Raleigh-Durham, N.C., 110.3; and Richmond, 104.

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