I read a comment elsewhere, calling Atlanta a HCOLA, that really surprised me a few days ago, but then I stepped back and realized that perhaps I should be questioning my own assumptions, and I could be biased by my own situation. The term is thrown around frequently, but how do different people interpret it?
When discussing High Cost-of-Living Areas in the USA, I pretty much had settled, in my mind on the metropolitan areas of:
New York
San Francisco/San Jose Bay Area
Los Angeles
Boston
Washington, DC
Seattle
San Diego
Honolulu
You could probably place Manhattan and San Francisco+areas of the peninsula in another tier, but I'm setting that aside for now.
Places like Denver, Chicago, Portland, Dallas, Miami, etc. are MCOLA in my mind.
Also, the discussion is really about major metro areas - of course there are destinations/suburbs that are just as expensive if not moreso than many of those above (e.g. Jackson Hole, Aspen, Santa Barbara), but it's not worth trying to call out all of the little expensive pockets in generalities, unless someone is discussing their specific situation.
I definitely disagree with calling Atlanta HCOLA, but what is your perspective? Are there cities missing from the list above? Where would you draw the line?