The Real Cost Measure is able to estimate household budgets for up to 20 persons in a household for each of California's 58 counties, 1,272 budgets in total. These household budgets factor the costs of housing, food, health care, child care, transporation, and other basic needs to determine what it really costs, on average, to live in California. For more information about how these household budgets are calculated, please visit our report methodology. To begin using the household budgets:

1. Select the name of your county from the drop-down menu.
2. Enter the age of the first household member you would like to calculate a household budget for. Press the "Add Person" button for each additional household