Saving can be difficult depending on factors like income, cost of living, purchasing power and taxes. 

In its annual study, SmartAsset, a New York financial technology company, weighed those metrics to determine the places where residents have the best opportunity to save money.

Monroe County ranked third in the entire state of Illinois in this year’s SmartAsset study on best places to save money.

Monroe County ranked only behind Kendall and DuPage counties in Illinois. For the full study, click here.

Monroe County was listed as having a median household income of $74,410, a cost of living of $33,228, purchasing power of 2.24, an estimated tax rate of 17.68 percent and best places to save index of 59.84.

SmartAsset calculated the average cost of living in each county for a household with two adults (one working). A purchasing power index was then created for each county. This reflects the counties with the highest ratio of household income to cost of living, SmartAsset explained.

To better compare income tax burdens across counties, SmartAsset applied relevant deductions and exemptions before calculating federal, state and local income taxes for a family making $50,000 annual income in each location.

Next, an effective tax rate index was created for each county, which reflects the ratio of income taxes to the assumed $50,000 annual income.

Finally, SmartAsset calculated the weighted average of the indices to yield an overall best places to save score using a three-fourths weighting for purchasing power and one-fourth weighting for tax rates.

Sources used for the statistics in SmartAsset’s study were the U.S. Census Bureau 2017 Five-Year American Community Survey and MIT’s Living Wage Study.