To date there is limited work on geographic variations in the cost of living and the impact on migration. Davies Withers and Clark (2006) challenge the assumption that simple evaluation of economic gains and losses guide family migration. They show that nominally more affordable outcomes of migration are significantly more affordable when adjusted for the cost of housing differences. In contrast, nominally more expensive moves are significantly more expensive when adjusted for the cost of housing. Losses for wives based on nominally more affordable moves become gains when adjusted, and neutral outcomes for nominally more expensive outcomes become significantly negative outcomes when adjusted for the cost of housing. There is also evidence that wives leave