According to the accompanying table and charts, a typical parking garage had the largest year-over-year increase in construction costs in January 2008 (+4.2% on average for 25 major centers) among four type-of-structure categories monitored by RSMeans. In second place was a community center (+3.6%), followed by a town hall (+2.8%) and, in the final position, an underground parking structure (+2.3%).

As for the actual dollar-per-square-foot cost of construction, a town hall is most expensive, followed by a community center, then an underground parking structure and, finally, a parking garage.

A Regional Perspective on Construction Costs
New York is the most expensive city in which to build in the United States, with San Francisco in second place. Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago form the next tier. Minneapolis, Los Angeles and San Diego are also relatively expensive.

Major cities that are relatively low cost are Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix, Houston and Dallas. It is interesting to note that the nation's capital, Washington, lies just slightly below the middle of the pack.

It is informative to provide some regional construction cost comparisons. For example, it costs almost 30% more to build in Chicago than in Atlanta and there is a similar spread between high-cost Philadelphia and low-cost Miami. Finally, the premium between the highest-cost city, New York, and the lowest-cost city in the table, Winston Salem, is +67%.