Not just housing. Food, child care, services, bars, etc., are significantly cheaper. My kid’s private school an hour east of DC costs 1/3 less than the going right inside DC. Daycare is 30% cheaper. A cocktail is somewhat more than half the price.

As odd as it might sound, child care and private schools line up with housing prices in an area, so it can be ideal to think of them as the same category. Likewise utility bills can be inflated to.

Other costs are not much higher if at all. If you go to a bar in the financial district, that's usually a business expense so it's justifiably expensive. It's this way in all cities or towns with a large enough center though, so pricing come out somewhat equal. It's when you compare city center prices with outskirts of city prices where the difference starts to matter more.