Peoria & Quad Cities Named Top 10 Most Affordable Places to Live?

I probably should have left the question mark off of this. It's a fact that both Peoria and the Quad Cities in Illinois were both named top 10 most affordable places to live by a very prominent list, but I do have questions.

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It's not every day that US News & World Report declare your city a top 10 most affordable place to live, but that's exactly what's happened to both Peoria, Illinois and the Quad Cities. Let's explore the reasons why.

The Quad Cities area of Rock Island, Davenport, Moline and Bettendorf came in at #9 among the most affordable places. The data shows there is an average salary in that area of $51,240 with only just over 20% of income spent on living expenses. Not bad.

Peoria, Illinois is ranked at #7 among the most affordable places in America with an average salary of $54,370 while also having only about 20% of incoming spent on regular living costs.

So how and why did Peoria and the Quad Cities end up getting a national shout out for affordability?

When it comes to lists like this, you always need to find out the methodology behind the conclusion. Here are the exact words provided by US News & World Report about how Peoria and the Quad Cities ended up on this list:

To pinpoint the most affordable places on the list, we looked at the proportion of the median annual household income that goes toward the average cost to own or rent a home, including the typical cost of utilities and taxes, as well as price parity, which compares the cost of goods and services across the country.

Of all the national rankings I've seen, this one seems to actually use some understandable science. Both cities have a decent average salary and not much of that is required to pay for life-sustaining necessities. Got it.

I will add that there's more to life than money. Quality of life is equally as important and that's not really baked into this ranking which is fine. If pure financial information is what you're looking for, both Peoria and the Quad Cities score high. Top 10 in the country as a matter of fact.