Huntington-Ashland → Columbia
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Huntington-Ashland to Columbia is unfavorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 88.4 to 89.4 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent rises by $187/mo.
- -$796
- BLS median salary lower in Columbia
- 242 to 463
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 13.1:1 to 12.8:1
- 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.
Cons of Moving
- - $187/mo more expensive rent (2BR)
- - Higher violent crime rate
- - More environmental violations
Purchasing power stays near-even: BEA RPP moves only from 88.4 to 89.4 (ratio 1.01), inside a ±5% band. HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent rises $187/mo ($2,244/yr) from $973 in Huntington-Ashland to $1,160 in Columbia.
Huntington-Ashland still leads on 5 of 7 federal dimensions, the origin keeps the edge. Columbia sits #89 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (top third of the corpus). Huntington-Ashland is #12/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Unfavorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $796 lower ($62,704 → $61,908). Labor-market size: 133,420 tracked jobs at origin vs 99,550 at destination.
State retirement friendliness favors staying put: 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
- 80
- Property tax
- 86
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 64
- Income tax
- 82
- Property tax
- 68
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 80
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 Huntington-Ashland to see what you'd need to earn in Columbia to maintain the same purchasing power.
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