Most Expensive States to Move To in 2026

This ranks the cost of living there, not the moving truck

Hawaii is the most expensive state to move to in 2026, followed by California and Massachusetts. Our ranking looks at what it costs to live in a state: general prices, house prices, home insurance, and how far local incomes stretch.

It does not tell you what the movers will charge. That is worth being clear about, because the two things pull in different directions. Moving from San Diego to Los Angeles is cheap to transport and expensive to live with. Moving from Maine to Texas costs a fortune in truck miles and then gets cheaper every month afterwards.

So keep two budgets side by side: what the move costs once, and what the state costs every month from then on. Adding them together into a single “cost of moving to California” number hides the decision you are actually making.

Those numbers are index scores where 100 is the national average. So 110.7 means “about 11% more expensive than the country as a whole,” and 154.3 means “about 54% more.” That one idea makes the whole table below readable.

The ten most expensive states

Look at the columns, not just the rank. The difference between 5th and 6th place is meaningless. The difference between the housing columns is not.

Top 10 most expensive states to move to, 2026

A higher score means a more expensive place to live. Price level is an index where 100 equals the national average.
Rank	State	Score	Price level	Median home price	Home insurance
1	Hawaii	84.2	110.0	$741,300	$1,431
2	California	83.5	110.7	$887,400	$1,492
3	Massachusetts	82.6	105.8	$688,100	$1,871
4	New York	80.5	107.9	$620,500	$1,628
5	Colorado	77.9	103.1	$617,000	$2,079
6	New Jersey	77.7	108.8	$579,900	$1,417
7	Rhode Island	75.7	102.3	$536,900	$2,074
8	Washington	74.7	107.0	$651,800	$1,151
9	Connecticut	70.7	103.6	$498,000	$1,814
10	Florida	70.2	103.4	$421,500	$2,677

Three things in that table are worth stopping on.

Housing is what makes a state expensive, not groceries. California’s general price level is only about 11% above average, which sounds survivable. Its housing costs are 54% above average, and its median home is $887,400. Everyday spending barely moves the needle by comparison.

Florida is on this list, and its home insurance is why. At $2,677 a year it has the highest insurance figure in the top ten — nearly double California’s — while its median home price is the lowest here at $421,500. If you are moving to Florida, get an insurance quote for the specific property before you make an offer, not after. Colorado and Rhode Island have the same issue for the same reason: weather risk.

Washington and Hawaii have surprisingly low insurance costs. Washington’s $1,151 is the cheapest in the table. It tells you these states are expensive for entirely different reasons, so a single rank flattens a lot of useful detail.

Build the first-year budget properly

Split your costs into two lists, because they behave completely differently.

Every month, forever: rent or mortgage, utilities, getting to work, insurance, taxes, childcare or care costs, and whatever your new salary actually is after tax.

Once, at the start: movers or a rental truck, packing, travel, deposits, an overlap where you pay for two homes, storage, registering your car, and kitting out the new place.

A state can be brutal on one list and fine on the other. Hawaii is punishing every month. A cross-country move to a cheap state is punishing once and then gets easier.

Then test housing at the address, not the state. A state median of $887,400 tells you nothing about a two-bedroom rental near your new office, or about one particular house with an old roof and an insurance problem. Get real listings and a real insurance quote before you treat any of this as a budget.

One habit worth adopting: run three versions of your first year. A tight month, an expected month, and a bad month where the housing falls through, the insurance quote comes back higher than you thought, or you need storage for six weeks. If the bad month still works, you can move with confidence.

For the transport side, use the national moving cost index and the route cost benchmark. If this list has put you off, the states with the lowest cost of living is the same exercise in reverse.

When an expensive state is still the right move

Expensive is not the same as wrong. Higher pay, a career that only exists in a few cities, family nearby, better healthcare, the right school, or simply wanting to live somewhere in particular can all be worth the monthly difference.

The test is straightforward: work out the monthly gap in real money, then ask whether what you gain is worth that gap every month for as long as you plan to stay. And ask what happens if the thing paying for it disappears. A high-cost state is comfortable on a good salary and unforgiving without one.

Also, do not read a state’s population losses as proof it has nothing to offer, or a cheap state as proof it does. These are averages across millions of people. Your job, your household, and your address matter far more than your state’s rank.

How we worked this out

We compared all 50 states on four measures and weighted them: general price level from federal government data for 2024 (40%), the most recent median home sale price (35%), average home insurance premium (15%), and local income adjusted for what it buys (10%). Every state had complete data. A higher score means a more expensive place to live.

What it leaves out matters just as much. It does not include the rent on any particular apartment, your tax situation, mortgage rates, utility bills, renters insurance, healthcare, or the enormous variation between cities within one state. Upstate New York and Manhattan are the same state and not remotely the same cost.

It also excludes the move itself. That is deliberate — transport cost depends on your route and your belongings, not on where you land.

Sources

Each source keeps its own publication date. Check the latest figures before making a decision that depends on them.