Cost of Living

Entry in progress—B.P.
 
Wikipedia: Cost of living
Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living over time are often operationalized in a cost of living index. Cost of living calculations are also used to compare the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living in different geographic areas. Geographic differences in cost of living can be measured in terms of purchasing power parity rates.
 
Cost-of-living allowances (COLA)
Employment contracts, pension benefits, and government entitlements (such as Social Security) can be tied to a cost-of-living index, typically to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). A Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) adjusts salaries based on changes in a cost-of-living index. Salaries are typically adjusted annually. They may also be tied to a cost-of-living index that varies by geographic location if the employee moves.

(Oxford English Dictionary)
cost of living n. the cost of maintaining a particular standard of living; also attrib., as cost-of-living index, an index which measures periodical (monthly, etc.) changes in the level of retail prices (since 1947 known in Britain as the Index of Retail Prices).
1896 W. D. Howells Impr. & Exper. 35   The pay is not only increased in proportion to the cost of living, but it is really greater.
1913 Commonw. Austral. Labour Bull. May 24   Particulars of the cost of living index-numbers in each State during the last quarter‥are shown in the following table.
1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 755/1   Till recent years the phrase ‘Cost of Living’ was only used loosely by economists when the balance between movements of wages and prices was in question.‥ In popular parlance it has since become a recognized economic problem.
1965   A. Seldon & F. G. Pennance Everyman’s Dict. Econ. 96   Constructing a cost of living index requires investigation into the expenditure of a representative sample of households belonging to the group whose cost of living is to be studied. It shows the expenditure on each commodity and each service within the period by the members of the group as a whole.