2025 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
Council Bluffs, IA vs Chico, CA

Change Cities
Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Chico or is it cheaper to live in Council Bluffs?
- Chico is 33.2% more expensive than Council Bluffs.

Which city has more affordable housing, Chico or Council Bluffs?
- Chico housing costs are 169.4% more expensive than Council Bluffs housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Council Bluffs or is Health Care more affordable in Chico.
- Health related expenses are 13.3% more in Chico.
 Council Bluffs, IAChico, CAUnited States
 Overall  Unlock110.3100
 Food & Groceries95.4  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock120.8100
 Housing54.0  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$440,000$338,100
 Utilities91  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock84.9100
 Miscellaneous98.8  Unlock100
100 = National Average (Below 100 means cheaper than the US average. Above 100 means more expensive.)
DID YOU KNOW?

In order to keep your same standard of living your salary can vary greatly - whether you buy or rent, require child care, or want to include taxes. This is why we are now offering a Premium Salary & Cost of Living Calculator.

Our Premium Calculator Includes:
- Compare Cities cost of living across 9 different categories
- Personal salary calculations can optionally include Home ownership or rental, Child care, and Taxes (with details on state and local sales, income, property and automobile taxes)
- Includes the cost of Child Care for toddlers or infants, at a day care center or home care
- Grocery prices, detailed for 29 staple items in six categories
- Difference in cost of Utilities, including electric, gas and fuel oil
- Health Care Premiums and hospital expenses for major surgeries
- Taxes, Fees and Expenses you should know about, such as local car insurance rates, automobile taxes and registration, commuting costs.
- and 100s of other items you should consider before you relocate

Upgrade to Premium | See Example

Reviews for Council Bluffs    4 Reviews

It's an okay city. Nothing special really. All the fun things to do and good restaurants are across the river in Omaha. I will say CB has some pretty good recreational  More

   |    Reply

Over 9 years ago

Quietly over the years this community has taken untold amounts of riverfront casino tax dollars and converted them into hundreds and hundreds of community improvement  More

   |    Reply

Over 15 years ago

here in council bluffs iowa, we have low crime rate. There have been an increase in shopping areas in the last 2 years and lots of new resturants and three casinos. It  More

   |    Reply

Start Your Review of Council Bluffs

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

   |    Reply

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

   |    Reply

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

   |    Reply

Start Your Review of Chico


Premium Subscription
Includes Cost of Living compares for child care, utilities, transportation, health, taxes, housing for home owners vs renters, weather, insurance premiums and so much more.


The premier source for comprehensive city data for over 30 years.

© Best Places. All rights reserved.