Introduction
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In some cities, even a small salary is more than enough to cover the bills; in other places, costs for basics like housing and food can be prohibitively high, even for residents with higher salaries. These are the 10 U.S. metropolitan areas (pop. 500,000 or greater) with the lowest median incomes relative to their respective costs of living.
The rankings use 2009 data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the Council for Community and Economic Research's ACCRA Cost of Living Index.
