The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area is not No. 1 everywhere, and that's just fine with the folks at Pinellas County Economic Development. In fact, the group is touting results of a recent survey that shows the region ranks pretty low - on a cost-of-living index.
According to the first-quarter ACCRA Cost of Living Index of the 26 largest metropolitan areas, the region's 95.0 rating is about 5 percent less than the national average for the cost of consumer goods and services. For Pinellas County, it's even better, a 90.6 percent rating.
"Usually we use it on recruitment trips when our development team meets with consultants or attends recruitment shows," said Stacey Swank, business development manager for Pinellas County Economic Development. "We use it to contrast and compare the differences and the advantages of the lower cost of living in Pinellas County compared to other large metropolitan areas such as San Francisco and New York."
ACCRA (www.accra.org) is a nonprofit group specializing in research for economic and community development. While the Pinellas group (www.siliconbay.org) has used ACCRA's information for a while, Swank says, it put out a news release this time to raise awareness among business leaders.
The most expensive areas in the index are New York, San Francisco and Stamford, Conn., and the least expensive are Fort Smith, Ark., McAllen, Texas, and Joplin, Mo.
