Columbia → Huntington-Ashland
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Columbia to Huntington-Ashland is strongly favorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 89.4 to 88.4 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent falls by $187/mo.
- +$796
- BLS median salary higher in Huntington-Ashland
- 463 to 242
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 12.8:1 to 13.1:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
BEA Regional Price Parity, HUD Fair Market Rent, BLS OEWS, FBI UCR, NCES, and DOL. The table below lets you override the composite with your own priorities.
Pros of Moving
- + $187/mo cheaper rent (2BR)
- + Lower violent crime rate
- + Fewer environmental violations
Purchasing power stays near-even: BEA RPP moves only from 89.4 to 88.4 (ratio 0.99), inside a ±5% band. HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent drops $187/mo ($2,244/yr) from $1,160 in Columbia to $973 in Huntington-Ashland.
Huntington-Ashland leads on 5 of 7 federal dimensions, a destination-heavy ledger. Huntington-Ashland sits #12 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (top third of the corpus). Columbia is #89/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Strongly Favorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $796 higher ($61,908 → $62,704). Labor-market size: 99,550 tracked jobs at origin vs 133,420 at destination.
State retirement friendliness favors the destination: West Virginia scores 82 (A, #2/51) vs Missouri at 68 (C, #12/51). Full state tax and healthcare sub-scores sit in the retirement desk below.
State retirement friendliness
Primary-state scores from PlainRelocate's retirement registry (tax + healthcare + climate composite). Metro pairs use each metro's primary state abbreviation.
- Income tax
- 82
- Property tax
- 68
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 80
- Income tax
- 80
- Property tax
- 86
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 64
Full retirement ranking · Source composite documented on methodology (Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides + federal healthcare/climate inputs).
Salary Adjustment Calculator
Enter your current salary in Columbia to see what you'd need to earn in Huntington-Ashland to maintain the same purchasing power.
Huntington-Ashland metro profile · Livability rankings · Methodology
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA; retirement desk: Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides June 2026