2025 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
Carbondale, IL vs Birmingham, AL

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Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Birmingham or is it cheaper to live in Carbondale?
- Birmingham is 11.0% more expensive than Carbondale.

Which city has more affordable housing, Birmingham or Carbondale?
- Birmingham housing costs are 37.8% less expensive than Carbondale housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Carbondale or is Health Care more affordable in Birmingham.
- Health related expenses are 5.5% less in Birmingham.
 Carbondale, ILBirmingham, ALUnited States
 Overall  Unlock87.0100
 Food & Groceries95.0  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock122.0100
 Housing43.6  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$101,300$338,100
 Utilities97  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock88.4100
 Miscellaneous132.5  Unlock100
100 = National Average (Below 100 means cheaper than the US average. Above 100 means more expensive.)
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Reviews for Carbondale    7 Reviews

I've lived in C'dale for over 30 years. I got an excellent education here - Giant City School was great, though fairly insular and not very diverse (among its drawbacks  More

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Over 17 years ago

I like Carbondale. It is relaxing and an easy way to go about getting a college degree. It has its ups and downs, mainly with the people in the town not recognizing the  More

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All of the comments are negative here and seem to me to be misleading. The idea that you have to have a lot of money in Carbondale is ridiculous. The price of cultural  More

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Reviews for Birmingham    25 Reviews

Birmingham is better than ever, meaning it is beginning to gain half of the stuff a normal city of its size has. The food scene is definitely an exception and is above  More

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Lived in the Birmingham for years. The small city was divided by the historical train tracks into the north half and the south one. The north section was the  More

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Over 5 years ago

I moved to Birmingham 6.5 years ago for a new job. The city is very boring in my opinion, there isn't much to do over the weekend except shopping or eating out. Summer  More

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