2025 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
Boulder, CO vs Chico, CA

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Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Chico or is it cheaper to live in Boulder?
- Chico is 21.9% less expensive than Boulder.

Which city has more affordable housing, Chico or Boulder?
- Chico housing costs are 54.9% less expensive than Boulder housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Boulder or is Health Care more affordable in Chico.
- Health related expenses are 41.3% more in Chico.
 Boulder, COChico, CAUnited States
 Overall  Unlock110.3100
 Food & Groceries106.5  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock120.8100
 Housing322.6  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$440,000$338,100
 Utilities93  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock84.9100
 Miscellaneous154.4  Unlock100
100 = National Average (Below 100 means cheaper than the US average. Above 100 means more expensive.)
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Reviews for Boulder    55 Reviews

Outside of the university, Boulder had a very distinctive "wealthy hippy" feel. A lot of alternative medicine and a matching ethos. This is changing some among my  More

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We moved here from Texas about 4 years ago and love it here! The amazing sense of community and high regard for the environment are two of the main reasons we love  More

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Over 5 years ago

Most people do much worse than Boulder. I'm the most critical person I've ever met who is never happy or satisfied -- so that's a pretty huge compliment.   More

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Reviews for Chico    31 Reviews

Chico is imperfect like most places, but it's still good. Any and all of it's issues proceed from it's main fault of growing increasingly liberal, which is to be  More

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Uuwuu · 
Over 3 years ago

Chico's decent. I've been living here for ~5 years now. Eveen though my brother loves Chico and would like to stay, I would like to leave. I have no issues with crime or  More

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I was born in Oroville and I grew up in Oroville and Biggs. I have heard all my life about crime in chico. Well I have lived in Chico near Chapman for almost 10 years  More

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