Locals paying less than rest of U.S.

It might not be much comfort, but Colorado Springs residents aren't feeling as much pain at the pump as the rest of the nation.

As a result, local living costs fell to a 17-year low when compared with the national average as measured by a quarterly survey. Those costs were 7.9 percent below the national average on March 31, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research.

That compares with 6.2 percent below the national average at the end of last year and 6.9 percent below the average in March 2007. The first-quarter level was the furthest below the national average the Springs has been since the first quarter of 1991.

"This is good news in today's uncertain economy," said Fred Crowley, senior economist for the Southern Colorado Economic Forum. "The city benefited from low costs in the late 1980s and early 1980s for 10 years by attracting businesses with good-paying jobs."

Much of the decline was fueled by a drop in local transportation costs in comparison with the national average. Such costs in the Springs fell to 4.6 percent below the national average as of March 31 from 4.2 percent above the average three months earlier.

That decline resulted from average local gasoline prices rising at less than a third as fast as the rest of the nation. Local gasoline prices jumped 3.9 percent in the first three months of the year to $2.75 a gallon unleaded regular, while the national average surged 14 percent to $3.02.

The council's cost-of-living index doesn't measure inflation, but instead compares prices for 57 goods and services bought by households in which middle managers live. It's designed to help compare living costs for people moving to another city.

Four of five other components rose in the January-to-March quarter from three months earlier, with miscellaneous goods and services posting the only other decline. Among the six components, only health care costs remained above the national average for the quarter.

Among other cities in the state, living costs in Fort Collins were 4.6 percent below the national average in the first quarter while costs in Greeley were 1.9 percent below the average. Costs in Pueblo were 13.3 percent below the average. Costs in Denver were 5.1 percent above the national average and costs in Grand Junction were 0.7 percent above the average.

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