The findings align with broader financial stress nationwide, as separate data shows nearly one in four U.S. households now live paycheck to paycheck.
Cost of living pressures are intensifying in major U.S. cities, with new research showing where it’s rising the most.
Plasma, a layer-1 blockchain company specializing in stablecoin payments, conducted the research through a weighted analysis of inflation rates across 30 of the most populous U.S. cities.
The company looked at the cities to analyze factors such as each capital’s consumer price index, average housing costs, monthly salary, and monthly costs such as groceries, utilities, transportation, clothing, sports & leisure, childcare and more.
Cost of living rising the most in New York City
By the numbers:
According to the data, the Big Apple ranked as the No. 1 U.S. city where cost-of-living anxiety was rampant, with more than 26,100 related searches made each month.
Despite an average monthly salary of $5,250, renters faced a steep $4,564 monthly bill for a one-bedroom apartment in the city’s center, and monthly essentials averaged $1,646.
While inflation sat at 3.4% across the metro area, even relatively high earners were feeling squeezed to make ends meet, according to Plasma.
Cost of living soars in California
Dig deeper:
Following New York City in the rankings were San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
San Diego ranked as the second U.S. city where the cost of living was the highest. Though residents of this seaside city may be raking home $5,759 on average each month, this hasn’t shielded them from rising costs.
With rent of a one-bedroom apartment averaging $3,206 a month and monthly living costs exceeding $1,300, the data found that the city was experiencing a mounting affordability gap.
Staying on the West Coast, San Francisco had the highest average monthly salary at $7,508. But costs remained high, with average rent at $3,458 for a one-bedroom and living expenses exceeding $1,600. In this city, there were over 6,200 searches related to cost-of-living concerns.
The top 20 U.S. cities where the cost of living is rising the most
More Americans living paycheck to paycheck
Big picture view:
This news follows other studies, which have highlighted growing financial struggles for Americans.
Financial data in November revealed that more Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
The study, released by Bank of America, found that nearly a quarter of all households (24%) were estimated as living paycheck to paycheck in 2025.
While this was an increase in the number of households year-over-year living paycheck to paycheck (0.3 percentage points), Bank of America said the pace of growth was nearly three times lower than the year before.
