Overview

Introduction

The Cost of Living Index API provides access to cost of living index data across U.S. counties, enabling users to compare relative economic conditions between regions. This information can be used for salary benchmarking, workforce planning, and regional analysis to account for local differences in the cost of living.

Data is sourced from the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) and is published quarterly as part of their Cost of Living Index (COLI) dataset.

Note: By default, all clients are allowed a maximum of 10 requests per second. Contact us if you require higher limits.

API Endpoint

There are multiple endpoints within this category. Refer to individual API docs under the Cost of Living Index API section.

Request Headers

(*) Indicates the action to be required

All requests must include the following headers:

Header Key	Value	Description
*Authorization	Bearer `<ACCESS_TOKEN>`	This is the token obtained from the Authentication API. Include it in this header to authorize the request. (This must be included in all authenticated requests)
Content-Type	application/json	Required for endpoints that accept a request body. Specifies that the body is in JSON format.

Authentication

All endpoints in this category require an OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token for authentication. Tokens are granted through Lightcast’s Authentication API and are valid for 1 hour.

To access the Cost of Living Index API, the token must include the following scope:

costofliving (for expanded access)

Sample Request

curl --request POST \
  --url https://auth.emsicloud.com/connect/token \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
  --data client_id=CLIENT_ID \
  --data client_secret=CLIENT_SECRET \
  --data grant_type=client_credentials \
  --data scope=costofliving

Request Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
client_id	string	The client ID provided by Lightcast.
client_secret	string	The client secret associated with your client ID.
grant_type	string	Must be set to `client_credentials`.
scope	string	Use `costofliving` based on your access.

Sample Response

{
  "access_token": "<ACCESS_TOKEN>",
  "expires_in": 3600,
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}

Note that the Tokens expire after 3600 seconds. To maintain uninterrupted access, refresh the token before it expires. To know more about this, refer to the Authentication guide.

Response Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
access_token	string	The token used to authorize API requests.
expires_in	integer	Number of seconds before the token expires.
token_type	string	Indicates the type of token. (Always Bearer)

Status Code Summary

Code	Meaning	Description
200	OK	Request was successful.
400	Bad Request	The request was unacceptable, often due to missing a required parameter.
401	Unauthorized	Authentication error.
404	Not Found	Resource not found.