[nmnita]

Originally Posted by hognoxious

Being a school teacher is a noble profession - a career choice admired by all - but most don't get into the profession for the money.

Pulaski county is one of the higher paying school districts in the state - combined with the lower cost of living in the LR area, your cousin must have experienced a significant pay increase to justify a move to Dallas with the higher COL.

our granddaughter, who was an education major would have made within $3000 the same as her 2 friends that are teaching near Dallas. She would have been teaching in WWA. I hope people going into teaching are doing it for the money. Most of our friends that were teachers would work summer jobs, some would get jobs during the Christmas breaks or teach summer school, by doing extra work their incomes were similar to the rest of ours, if they depended on what they made working 9 and 1/2 months a year they could not have supported a family. The only ones we knew that did not work during the school breaks were moms. They would take summers to spend with their kids.. Some others eventually went into administration.

I am not sure it is the pay scale of those who graduate from our colleges but the lack of careers requiring college, especially high tech. That is what's lacking.

Nita

Nita

[hognoxious]

Originally Posted by nmnita

our granddaughter, who was an education major would have made within $3000 the same as her 2 friends that are teaching near Dallas. She would have been teaching in WWA. I hope people going into teaching are doing it for the money. Most of our friends that were teachers would work summer jobs, some would get jobs during the Christmas breaks or teach summer school, by doing extra work their incomes were similar to the rest of ours, if they depended on what they made working 9 and 1/2 months a year they could not have supported a family. The only ones we knew that did not work during the school breaks were moms. They would take summers to spend with their kids.. Some others eventually went into administration.

I am not sure it is the pay scale of those who graduate from our colleges but the lack of careers requiring college, especially high tech. That is what's lacking.

Nita

Nita

I didn't make myself clear - what I was trying to say was that professional educators on the k-12 level usually get into the business of teaching because they are passionate about teaching children, and earning potential is secondary to them.

Going into the profession, teachers know their compensation will only increase at predetermined percentages based on years of service as outlined by their school district and State Board of Educators. Sure they want to make ends meet, but getting rich is not necessarily an educators goal.

Teachers along with many of those in public service (firemen, policemen) are some of the most positive, strong feeling people in the working sector.

[Fasder]

Surprisingly, COL between Dallas and Little Rock is nearly the same if you take all items into consideration. Move the comparsion out away from Dallas to Houston and you could save money than living in Little Rock.

Try Cost of living: Compare prices in two cities - CNNMoney.com
or
Try BateRate's Cost of Living comparison calculator

Data: 100,000 Salary
Compare: Dallas to Little Rock

For either of the two, Dallas to LR, comes within a 1 to 1.5% range on COL. So living in Little Rock does not save - enough money - when compared to Dallas to stay in Arkansas. I would say that CNN Money and BankRate are acceptable sites for viewing COL (Cost of Living index).

And before anyone comments on the housing difference, I was shocked when I compared my current home against homes in Central Arkansas. I have friends that are known builders in Central Arkansas. And quite frankly, they told me that they can not compete against the volume builders in Texas.

I have made trial trips to LR metro, NWA, and around Hot Springs this past year. Housing, Food, Utilities, Job market ... I could not live at the same standard of living in Arkansas that I currently have living in Texas. This was the same line of reasoning which led to my move from Arkansas in the 90's, I could make more money, have a nicer home, larger range of options (Sports, Shopping, Education) by living out of Arkansas.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by hognoxious

I didn't make myself clear - what I was trying to say was that professional educators on the k-12 level usually get into the business of teaching because they are passionate about teaching children, and earning potential is secondary to them.

Going into the profession, teachers know their compensation will only increase at predetermined percentages based on years of service as outlined by their school district and State Board of Educators. Sure they want to make ends meet, but getting rich is not necessarily an educators goal.

Teachers along with many of those in public service (firemen, policemen) are some of the most positive, strong feeling people in the working sector.

I completely agree with you, I should have addressed the issue to someone else..My point which you were making also I think is two fold: 1-anyone going into education does have to know the money is not there and 2-Ar teachers are paid relatively well. I don't understand the comment about them making so much more in other states plus I found the comment about someone going to Texas to teach quite interesting. I say that because another granddaughter has been told to teach in Tx if you got your education any state other than Tx you have to take X number of classes in Texas to get your license. I do not know how much truth there is to this. I just find it interesting.

Nita

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Fasder

Surprisingly, COL between Dallas and Little Rock is nearly the same if you take all items into consideration. Move the comparsion out away from Dallas to Houston and you could save money than living in Little Rock.

Try Cost of living: Compare prices in two cities - CNNMoney.com
or
Try BateRate's Cost of Living comparison calculator

Data: 100,000 Salary
Compare: Dallas to Little Rock

For either of the two, Dallas to LR, comes within a 1 to 1.5% range on COL. So living in Little Rock does not save - enough money - when compared to Dallas to stay in Arkansas. I would say that CNN Money and BankRate are acceptable sites for viewing COL (Cost of Living index).

And before anyone comments on the housing difference, I was shocked when I compared my current home against homes in Central Arkansas. I have friends that are known builders in Central Arkansas. And quite frankly, they told me that they can not compete against the volume builders in Texas.

I have made trial trips to LR metro, NWA, and around Hot Springs this past year. Housing, Food, Utilities, Job market ... I could not live at the same standard of living in Arkansas that I currently have living in Texas. This was the same line of reasoning which led to my move from Arkansas in the 90's, I could make more money, have a nicer home, larger range of options (Sports, Shopping, Education) by living out of Arkansas.

I am sorry, we have many family members living in and around Dallas, Plano, Lewisville, Flower Mound, Southlake and Highland Shores. I can assure you homes in Bentonville and Bella Vista are much lower here as well as property taxes are about 75% lower..Our daughter lives in Highland Shores, she has a home that is 600 Sq ft larger than ours, similar lot, her home is older and her taxes are $6000 a year compared to our $800. We lived in Lewisville for several years, when we left, almost 8 years ago our taxes on a 1700 sq ft, 0 lot line home was about 2500 per year.The only advantage is no income tax in Texas and a slighly lower sales tax. Even that is not much lower. Yes, you do have the sports and more cosmopolitan life, but cost of living, depending on what you are judging it on, is lower here.. Insurance is also about 1/2 or less than in NO Texas..

[Fasder]

I think we are talking about two different things.

I have friends that are known builders in Central Arkansas. And quite frankly, they told me that they can not compete against the volume builders in Texas.

Just to be clear, I was referencing volume builders, aka new home builders. I should have stated, I was referencing New type homes, build in Subdivisions, and comparing Little Rock Metro against Dallas.

I can post site after site in Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex with home costs in the 75-85 per sq ft range. Not custom builders, but just builder after builder, including one of my customers (DWH). I have a MUCH larger time find same reference sites of new homes in LR Metroplex because Dallas/Ft Worth is larger than entire population of Arkansas. But from what I have seen, found online, and heard directly from builder friends in Central Arkansas ... builders in Arkansas have a hard time building homes for less than $90 per sq foot. Again - VOLUME of homes build - making the difference on cost per sq foot. Even in my current subdivision, brand new house across the street from me is up for sale today ... with people walking through it as I type ... with a SQ FT based price of $80.25.

Lastly, I referenced two sites that have very good tools, CNN and Bank Rate for financial issues. Maybe one is wrong, but I have a hard time believing that both are wrong on a comparision between Dallas and Little Rock on COL.

[hognoxious]

Try Cost of living: Compare prices in two cities - CNNMoney.com or
Try BateRate's Cost of Living comparison calculator

Great resources Fasder. Thanks for posting the links.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by hognoxious

Try Cost of living: Compare prices in two cities - CNNMoney.com or
Try BateRate's Cost of Living comparison calculator

Great resources Fasder. Thanks for posting the links.

It is interesting to say the least...My only problems with these types of comparisons and we all know I don't put much into stats; is, a lot depends on your life style and the time in your life you are living plus the exact location. I checked out the city choices and any city I would be comparing wasn't listed, only the metro areas overall. Also the stats listed the main areas of spending, food, houseing and utilities plus transportation, some of us would like to see a comparison of entertainment and eating out just to mention a few things... Still it is interesting. Medical also affects some more than others, do you have kids, are you very young with few medical needs, are you a senior with lots of medical expenses? AR has higher overall taxes than many states, but for some the taxes do not affect them as much as they may affect others.

We had a great comparison of medical costs the other day, well dental, not medical: Outside of Dallas, where we lived until 2001, a dental checkup and cleaning ran about $80.00. that was 8 years ago. Last year the same porceedure outside of Albuquerque was $130.00. Here it was &65.00. With Xrays it was $85.00 or $90.00.

I think we all have to figure out what applies to us.

Nita

[naomisday]

hognoxious,,

No, my cousin didn't get into it for money, she is a native of Little Rock....she taught
in LR and then was offered a significant increase in Dallas....so she moved there and
is very happy...

She said she would maybe move back to Arkansas to retire...

[city_data91]

Arkansas is the Natural State. The lack of a true urban area (plus all the fine scenery) helps Arkansas live up to it's name. Besides, it's not like Arkansas has no cities. Arkansas has Little Rock.