cost_of_living_family_budget_county_family_type
County × family_type grain. EPI Family Budget Calculator 2026 edition. 10 family types (1p0c–1p4c, 2p0c–2p4c), 3,143 counties. All budget components annual in 2025 dollars: housing, food, transportation, healthcare, childcare, other necessities, taxes. Includes total_cost_index (national=100 per family type) and budget_to_income_ratio.
overview
3,143 counties x 10 family types = 31,350 rows. EPI Family Budget covers all US counties. 10 family configurations: 1p0c through 1p4c, 2p0c through 2p4c.
current vintage — 2026 Edition (data reflect 2025 dollars)
history — EPI Family Budget editions from 2013 to present at source
source & licensing
fields
| name | type | definition |
|---|---|---|
| budget_to_income_ratio | float64 · share (0–1) | Ratio of total_annual to median_family_income for this county and family type. Values above 1.0 indicate that the EPI family budget exceeds median local income, signaling affordability stress. |
| childcare_annual | int64 · dollars (nominal 2025) | Annual childcare cost component of the EPI Family Budget for this county and family type. Zero for family types with no children (1p0c, 2p0c). |
| country_idkey | string | ISO alpha-2 country code (always 'US' for domestic tables).Part of primary key. |
| county_idkey | string | 5-character FIPS code identifying the county.Part of primary key. Joins dim.counties on county_id. |
| county_name | string | Human-readable county name corresponding to county_id. |
| family_typekey | string | Coded label identifying the family composition, using the pattern <adults>p<children>c (e.g., '1p0c' = one adult, no children; '2p3c' = two adults, three children). Covers 10 types: 1p0c–1p4c and 2p0c–2p4c.Part of primary key. |
| food_annual | int64 · dollars (nominal 2025) | Annual food cost component of the EPI Family Budget for this county and family type. Higher values indicate greater food expenditure requirements. |
| healthcare_annual | int64 · dollars (nominal 2025) | Annual healthcare cost component of the EPI Family Budget for this county and family type. Higher values indicate greater healthcare expenditure requirements. |
| housing_annual | int64 · dollars (nominal 2025) | Annual housing cost component of the EPI Family Budget for this county and family type. Higher values indicate greater local housing cost burden. |
| median_family_income | float64 · dollars (nominal 2025) | Median family income for the county, used as a benchmark to contextualize the family budget total. Higher values indicate greater local earning capacity. |
| other_necessities_annual | int64 · dollars (nominal 2025) | Annual cost of other necessities (e.g., clothing, personal care, household supplies) in the EPI Family Budget for this county and family type. |
| state_idkey | string | 2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Part of primary key. Joins dim.states on state_id. |
| taxes_annual | int64 · dollars (nominal 2025) | Annual taxes component of the EPI Family Budget for this county and family type, including federal, state, and local taxes net of credits. |
| total_annual | int64 · dollars (nominal 2025) | Sum of all budget components (housing + food + transportation + healthcare + childcare + other_necessities + taxes) for this county and family type. Represents the total annual cost of a modest but adequate standard of living. |
| total_cost_index | float64 · index (national=100) | Total annual budget for this county indexed to the national median for the same family type, where 100 represents the national median. Values above 100 indicate above-average cost of living; values below 100 indicate below-average cost of living. |
| transportation_annual | int64 · dollars (nominal 2025) | Annual transportation cost component of the EPI Family Budget for this county and family type. Higher values indicate greater local transportation cost burden. |
| year | int64 | Reference year of the observation. |
joins
how to use this table
EPI compiles county-level cost components from authoritative sources: HUD FMR (housing), USDA Low-Cost Food Plan (food), BLS CES adjusted by region (transportation), MEPS-IC (healthcare), CCDBG state averages (childcare), and IRS estimates (taxes). Components summed to total annual budget by family configuration.
Sub-county geographic variation (county-level only); luxury or actual spending (this is modest-but-adequate threshold); historical comparison without inflation adjustment across editions.
Childcare costs use state averages (county detail not available from CCDBG). Edition-to-edition methodology revisions can affect trend interpretation.