15 best places to live if you're trying to save money (and 15 worst)

Some cities offer higher-paying jobs, but if the cost of living is also higher, a big paycheck still might not go that far. The best combination for your budget would be a city with plenty of high-wage employment opportunities and a low cost of living so you can have enough money after expenses to save for the future. GOBankingRates' study breaks down essential cost-of-living factors to show you the best places to live if you want to save money — and which cities make it almost impossible to save.

The study looked at factors that affect people's finances the most: median income, median home listing price, median rent, unemployment rate, average gas price and average cost of a basket of 15 common grocery items. If you want to improve your finances, click through to check out the cost of living in the top 15 cities that are the best for saving money followed by the 15 worst cities for saving. You might find that you need to reevaluate your living situation along with your budget.

The Best Cities for Saving Money

Most of the best places to save money on list are in the South and Midwest. Cheaper housing costs in these places play a big role in why they rise to the top of the list, said Kristen Bonner, the GOBankingRates research lead for this study. "Gas prices are also relatively cheaper in the South and Midwest compared to the states on the West and East coasts," she said. Click through to see if your city made the list of the best places for saving money.

Read: The Average American's Tax Bill in Every State

The Worst Cities for Saving Money

All but two of the worst cities for saving money are in California. "California is notorious for being one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S.," Bonner said. "Expensive housing, higher-than-average taxes, and one of the most expensive states to fill up your gas tank make it very difficult to have leftover income after the necessities are paid." Click through to see why these cities are the 15 worst places to live if you're trying to save money.

Read: 10 Rules for Living in a Rising-Rate World

Overall Findings: 100 Cities Ranked From Best From Worst

Here are the top 100 cities for savers ranked from best to worst. See where your hometown or cities near you rank.

Methodology: These findings are a result of a GOBankingRates study of seven factors affecting financial well-being in the 100 largest cities by population according to estimates by the Census Bureau. The study assessed the following: (1) sales tax according to TaxFoundation.org 2012 data and verified against 2015 data and individual city government sites; (2) median home list price and (3) median rent price, both according to Zillow data from January 2016; (4) median household income (in 2014 dollars) according to U.S. Census QuickFacts; (5) unemployment rate according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Unemployment Rates for Metro Areas December 2015 data; (6) average reported gas prices from GasBuddy as of March 3, 2016; (7) grocery costs based on the prices of 15 common items sourced from Numbeo data on March 3, 2016. If data for any factor was not available for a city, then data for the closest major city was used. All seven factors were weighted equally. Each factor was given a rank on a scale from 0 to 1, with 0 being the best and 1 being the worst; a city's total score is the sum of the scores for all seven factors.

Read: 10 States With the Best and Worst Credit Scores

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 15 Best Places to Live If You're Trying to Save Money (and 15 Worst)

More from GOBankingRates.com:
20 Things You Can Learn From Your Parents' Retirement
9 Secret Ways to Save Money at Kroger
15 Rich Influencers Who Didn't Need a College Degree

RELATED: New List Claims These Are the Best Places to Live in the US