The cost of living for a frum consumer can widely differ from the cost of living for a secular American.
For example, New York City has one of the highest cost of living expenses in America, yet for a frum/kosher consumer it can be a considerably lower cost of living to reside in NYC than almost anywhere else in the United States. This is because kosher food and yeshiva tuition costs considerably less in New York City (Brooklyn, etc.) than almost anywhere else. This is since NYC has a tremendous kosher food industry and that is where much kosher food originates from and thus is less expensive than elsewhere. And the school tuition is lower there than elsewhere for a myriad of reasons.