Cost of living comparison
compared to
Jonesboro vs. Ames Cost of Living Summary
Jonesboro is 9.4% cheaper than Ames.
Jonesboro vs. Ames Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Jonesboro instead of Ames, you would:
pay 10.9% more for restaurants
|
Ames
|
Jonesboro
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$18.00
|
$27.50
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$12.00
|
$10.50
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$2.67
|
$2.25
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$2.31
|
$1.83
|
|
Ames vs. Jonesboro - Cost of restaurants
pay 28.5% less for groceries
|
Ames
|
Jonesboro
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$3.58
|
$3.35
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$5.14
|
$4.41
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$3.28
|
$4.20
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$3.42
|
$3.72
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$6.15
|
$4.02
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$2.63
|
$2.00
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$0.83
|
$0.51
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$3.00
|
$1.38
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$2.33
|
$1.74
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$2.00
|
$0.75
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$1.89
|
$1.09
|
|
Ames vs. Jonesboro - Cost of groceries
pay 4.0% less for transportation
|
Ames
|
Jonesboro
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$3.58
|
$3.13
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$35.00
|
$30.00
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$25,000.00
|
$31,706.75
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$18.68
|
$14.43
|
|
Ames vs. Jonesboro - Cost of transportation
pay 11.0% more for housing
|
Ames
|
Jonesboro
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$71.25
|
$72.50
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$1,020.00
|
$1,148.75
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$822.75
|
$868.33
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$136.55
|
$171.40
|
|
Ames vs. Jonesboro - Cost of housing
pay 63.7% less for childcare
|
Ames
|
Jonesboro
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$1,364.44
|
$766.67
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$36,151.80
|
$8,500.00
|
|
Ames vs. Jonesboro - Cost of childcare
pay 20.1% less for entertainment and sports
|
Ames
|
Jonesboro
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$4.00
|
$4.50
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$5.00
|
$5.04
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$13.00
|
$8.25
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$68.33
|
$40.20
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$16.00
|
$12.00
|
|
Ames vs. Jonesboro - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 5.4% less for clothing
|
Ames
|
Jonesboro
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$57.94
|
$63.59
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$44.06
|
$36.67
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$90.00
|
$78.75
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$106.02
|
$106.38
|
|
Ames vs. Jonesboro - Cost of clothing
We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this
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