The average M&R cost per square foot ranged from $3.66 in New York City to $1.20 in Beaufort, S.C. In Washington D.C., the benchmark city for Whitestone's Building M&R Cost Reference, the cost increased by 4.7 percent over the past year. The overall M&R costs for the 200 U.S. cities increased by 5.2 percent in 2004.
The top five most expensive cities for facility maintenance and repair costs, in order from most expensive down, are New York, N.Y.; Yonkers, N.Y.; San Francisco, Calif.; Trenton, N.J.; and San Jose, Calif.
Whitestone Research, with headquarters in Santa Barbara, Calif., specializes in applied economic research and software development. Whitestone products and services are used every year by hundreds of major corporations, government agencies, and public and private institutions.
