What are some good ways to compare cost of living between cities?

One way to find out the cost of living is to use the calculator(see below). This is good way to start COL comparison on 2 cities you are looking at.

- http://www.bestplaces.net/col/
- http://www.bankrate.com/calculat...
- http://swz.salary.com/CostOfLivi...

Then, please take a look at detail of ACCRA Cost of Living Index (COLI)http://www.houstontx.gov/police/.... You see that expesive housing is the key reason for high cost of living in so-called high cost metro such as San Francisco and New York. SF Housing index 273 Vs Houston's 80.

Therefore, I pay special attentions to housing cost by checking out website such as:

- http://www.rentometer.com/
- http://www.craigslist.org/about/...
- http://www.zillow.com/
- http://trulia.movity.com/rentvsbuy/

Then 2nd largest factors you should look at the tax. If you make $100K+, you have to pay approx. 10% on state tax in high cost states such as California and New York. And, on top of it, because of progressive tax system, you end up paying more on federal income tax if you move to high cost (but high salary state such as CA/NY. 

Lastly, I find below link very useful on studying COL. 

- Kiplinger's ranking of cost of living by 367 metropolitan area. You can also compare with creative class workforce, median household income and income growth. 
http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/b...

- Portfolio's 2010 Quality of Life: Major Markets. You can study the cities by 20 different criterias!
http://www.portfolio.com/interac...