From the Chicago burbs to the Atlanta burbs...help!!!

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by numberfive

The overall tax burden for Illinois is one of the highest in the nation, so wherever you go, it's pretty much a guarantee that you'll save money in taxes.

OP, we're practically neighbors, we live about 20 minutes from eachother. The taxes here and travel times are just getting to be too much, so we're planning to relocate like you are.

Even with higher income taxes, the lower property taxes offset that by more than enough. I just ran a couple sample scenarios, and at $100k/yr household income, you're saving ~$6,000/year in taxes. If you were to bump up that salary to say, $200k/yr, but contribute more to a 401k, you're still saving $5,000+/year in taxes. So not a huge impact.

And there are other perks -- living closer to work (you probably picked Gurnee because the home prices there aren't outrageous, but the schools aren't the best). Better schools in more areas in Georgia (we were looking at Alpharetta, and those schools are 10's all around). And you can sell your snowblower!

Just wanted to note in regards to schools that many times on greatschools and other sites those number ratings IMO are misleading. They are primarily based on test scores in that specific area. If the tests in GA are easier than the test in IL for instance, they could be misleading.

However, I do feel schools are good in Alpharetta but IMO the educational grading scale between the midwest in general and in the south is different.

My own kid was shocked when we recently moved back to Ohio from GA that he got a 92% on a test and it wasn't an "A." In Ohio you have to get a 93% to get an A as they have a higher grading scale.

Also as stated above, be aware that in many industries you are paid less in Atlanta than you would be in Chicago due to the supposed benefits you also mentioned above in regards to taxes and there being less of a union presence to drive average wage rates up. My spouse is a Chicago native and we have many family members/in-laws who have moved to Atlanta and a majority of them said they make either the same or a little less than they did in Chicago back in the late 1990s before moving to Atlanta so between the income and taxes, you would probably be in the same financial predicament.