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Coastal cities continue to dominate Kiplinger’s annual ranking of the most expensive places to live in the U.S. Four are in California, four are along the the eastern seaboard, one is in Hawaii, and one in Alaska.

Above-average housing prices are by far the biggest reason for the high cost of living in these metro areas. While the U.S. real estate market continues to struggle as a whole, home values (and prices) in these places remain exceptionally high. Rising energy costs, especially for gasoline and electricity, are also driving up living expenses along with the rest of the nation.

We ranked the 10 most expensive cities to live with data from the Census Bureau (metropolitan statistical areas only) and the ACCRA Cost of Living Index, which is assembled by the Council for Community and Economic Research. The index measures relative pricing of essentials such as consumer goods, housing, transportation, utilities and health care, to come up with a composite score for each metro area. The national average is 100. So a city that scores above 100 has a higher-than-average cost of living. Population and median household income data are from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Details at http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/cities-with-most-expensive-cost-of-
living-2011/1.html?cid=24

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It's not housing that drives up living costs here. It's everything else. Groceries cost one-third more than the national average, utilities are double, and health care bills are the highest of all the cities mentioned.

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But Austin is where I want to be.

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