Locality (a self-described "local business search site") has ranked the cost of living for the “yuppie” lifestyle in every American city. It’s no surprise that San Francisco tops the list, but how do 29 cities rank on the "Yuppie Price Index"?
Locality defines a yuppie as “urban professional in their 20s and 30s who is in a high paying field like finance” with “higher than average disposable income and spend it in ways that could be viewed as frivolous by others.”
Common expenses of the yuppie (and the metric for the ranking) include household chores, self-pampering, and pet care, among others. Locality’s “Yuppie Price Index” (YPI) averaged the price of the selected services, and then took the 75th percentile of those costs (because “would a yuppie really be going to an average place?”)
Thirty cities receive Locality YPIs, but in a surprise, New York City came in #13. The article proposes a market-based explanation for NYC's counter intuitive ranking.
Read the full story: The Yuppie Price Index for Services
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