Background
Sarah leads CostOfCity's data research team, specializing in regional cost variation modeling and federal data analysis. With a background in urban economics from Columbia University and 8 years of experience in consumer finance research, she oversees the methodology behind every city-level cost estimate published on the site. Before joining CostOfCity, Sarah worked at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics contributing to the Consumer Expenditure Survey, where she focused on regional price parity calculations and household budget weighting. Her published research on metro-area cost-of-living dispersion has appeared in regional economics journals, and she has presented at the Allied Social Sciences Association annual meetings on housing cost methodology.
Education
- M.A. Urban Economics2017Columbia University
- B.A. Economics2013UC Berkeley
Areas of Expertise
Coverage at CostOfCity
301+ city cost-of-living profiles, methodology documentation, cross-city comparison frameworks
Editorial Independence
Sarah Chen's work at CostOfCity follows our editorial policy: cost estimates are sourced from federal data, peer-reviewed by our team, and never influenced by advertisers, cities, or service providers. See our full methodology for how city-level numbers are calculated.