<p class="ingestion featured-caption">Insider ranked the cost of living for nine places in Georgia, including Atlanta, using C2ER's Cost of Living Index.Tetra Images/Getty Images</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Atlanta had the highest Cost of Living Index score among nine Georgia cities, a research group found.</li><li>However, all nine of those areas fall below the national average on the Cost of Living Index. </li></ul><p>With speculation of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/next-recession-warning-signs-economy-downturn-investing-deutsche-bank-2023-9">recession looming in America's future</a>, many may be reexamining their expenses and budgets.</p><p>The Council for Community and Economic Research, or C2ER, publishes a quarterly <a href="https://www.coli.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cost of Living Index</a> that illustrates how expensive it can be to live in different cities and states. The second-quarter index featured 274 urban areas, including nine in Georgia.</p><p>"The Cost of Living Index measures regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services, excluding taxes and non-consumer expenditures, for professional and managerial households in the top income quintile," a <a href="https://www.coli.org/quarter-2-2023-cost-of-living-index-released/">press release</a> from C2ER said. This includes prices on things like groceries and healthcare.</p><p>The Atlanta area is the most expensive of the nine Georgia cities on the second-quarter index, with a score of 97.3 — the national average is 100, according to C2ER. Georgia was home to eight other locations that also fell below the average, including Savannah and Columbus.</p><p>Below are the nine Georgia cities with data for the second quarter, sorted by the composite index. Prices of different services and expenses are also included, based on C2ER data that was shared with Insider.</p><p>Insider also looked at cities in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-living-in-california-cities-prices-housing-medical-energy-2023-8" rel>California</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-living-colorado-cities-prices-housing-medical-energy-2023-9">Colorado</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-living-florida-cities-prices-housing-medical-energy-2023-8" rel>Florida</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-living-texas-cities-prices-housing-medical-energy-2023-9" rel>Texas</a> using the Cost of Living Index data.</p>