2025 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
Chico, CA vs Fresno, CA

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Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Fresno or is it cheaper to live in Chico?
- Fresno is 6.0% less expensive than Chico.

Which city has more affordable housing, Fresno or Chico?
- Fresno housing costs are 25.4% less expensive than Chico housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Chico or is Health Care more affordable in Fresno.
- Health related expenses are 22.9% less in Fresno.
 Chico, CAFresno, CAUnited States
 Overall  Unlock103.7100
 Food & Groceries102.0  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock93.1100
 Housing145.5  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$359,700$338,100
 Utilities111  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock101.7100
 Miscellaneous115.1  Unlock100
100 = National Average (Below 100 means cheaper than the US average. Above 100 means more expensive.)
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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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Reviews for Fresno    77 Reviews

I'm not gonna say this city is terrible, but it certainly has many issues that need to be taken care of and unfortunately the city council has done a poor job keeping up  More

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I've lived in Fresno my entire life and when I became an adult, I began to realize how much being a resident here really sucks, it might be cheaper than most other  More

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Lived here since 2002. I may be flamed for this, but.. total dump and I would rate 0 stars if I could. You only really move here to move out. As good as a gas stop.  More

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