2025 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
East Lansing, MI vs Ottumwa, IA

Change Cities
Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Ottumwa or is it cheaper to live in East Lansing?
- Ottumwa is 15.0% less expensive than East Lansing.

Which city has more affordable housing, Ottumwa or East Lansing?
- Ottumwa housing costs are 70.8% less expensive than East Lansing housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in East Lansing or is Health Care more affordable in Ottumwa.
- Health related expenses are 35.7% more in Ottumwa.
 East Lansing, MIOttumwa, IAUnited States
 Overall  Unlock71.1100
 Food & Groceries95.6  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock119.3100
 Housing84.8  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$97,700$338,100
 Utilities97  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock62.8100
 Miscellaneous107.9  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 East Lansing    4 Reviews

East Lansing is a wonderful, lively, youthful college town that has gotten better over time. You feel the strong Spartan Spirit everywhere as students, alumni and locals  More

   |    Reply

East Lansing is noted for being the home of one of the first Land Grant colleges -- Michigan State University. MSU has an large campus with an enormous area of land  More

   |    Reply

Over 17 years ago

East Lansing is a very pretty town. The town has had frequent problems with student rioters. Overall 60% of the town is composed of students. I would recommend East  More

   |    Reply

Start Your Review of East Lansing

Reviews for Ottumwa    5 Reviews

Over 12 years ago

Ottumwa has a seemingly high rate of theft-related crimes as well as drug use which I'm sure correlates to the incidences of assault. For a community of 20-30,000, the  More

   |    Reply

Over 16 years ago

ottumwa, Iowa has no diverse culture. It is not very open especially when it comes to branching out to new ideas of others culture...The idea of culture here is the pro  More

   |    Reply

Over 17 years ago

Pros: 1. Extremely low cost of living and housing 2. Affordable place to live Cons: 1. High crime rate 2. Very poor school system 3. Economically depressed 4.  More

   |    Reply

Start Your Review of Ottumwa


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.