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So I'd say this is a great place for entrepreneurs.
Quite true. A while back I read an article about just that. We have all the ingredients. There are several business co-ops, idea innovator groups around town. BSU has a Business minor in Entrepreneurship.
"if you have skills beyond those basic employments, for which you hope to be compensated, and do not have the right local connections, I wouldn't consider trying to make a living here."
To this I'd like to add that those who have established roots here and DO have good career experience and skills that bring value the employer, are looking for compensation above minimum wage, and DO have connections, CAN and DO have difficulty finding new employment opportuntites. There ARE good, well paying jobs in Boise and I know from personal experience, competition is tough. I'll say this again, there just aren't a alot of new ones created, especially in this economy and those who have them DON'T LEAVE THEM!
I'd also like to add a quick story. This January my sons girlfriend moved here from No Cal. She's a student and worked 2 jobs in CA. She worked out a job transfer up with one of her jobs through the national restaurant chain that provides great genefits to it's employees. Her understanding was that she would keep her rate of pay. It didn't work out that way. She can't afford to stay in the house and needs move out and find a room to rent closer to her work.
For anyone thinking of moving to Boise to better their lives or further their career, DON'T!! I'm a life long resident with two bachelor degrees and over a decade of experience. I'm working at a job that pays at least $15k under the national average for my line of work. In fact I have yet to meet anyone in Idaho being paid anything near the national average.
In the last 15 years Boise has lost a large percentage of good paying, white collar and blue collar jobs. HP, Micron, Albertsons/Supervalu, all the larger companies have aggressively cut staff in Boise. It's much cheaper to outsource work elsewhere. As previous posters stated, the majority of available jobs are at call centers or minimum wage. The wages most of us make, even the white collar workers, aren't enough to keep up with the cost of living. Our state government has no interest in bringing higher paying jobs to Idaho.
Compared to SLC, the closest large city to Boise, rent is about on par as are the other basics. However, in SLC I can get a job that pays $10-15k more than I make now with more opportunities for advancement. In fact, I am moving in two months to take advantage of this scenario.
Don't get me wrong, if you're retiring or independently wealthy then by all means move here! It's quiet, clean, very low crime rates and has all your basic small town benefits. There's beautiful mountains nearby and lots of "outdoorsy" things to do. But don't move here in desperate need of work or looking to advance your career options. I've finally cried uncle, I have children to feed.
I can even see why it's kept this way, and while it's cold-blooded, I understand it. The Boise area has lot to offer that can't be duplicated easily: relatively mild winters for the region, lots of outdoor stuff, scenic beauty. There is every reason people would want to live here. And that's the problem.
If Idaho had anything but rudimentary social services, if it had a higher minimum wage, if it weren't a right-to-fire state, if it had mass transit worthy of the name--in short, if it gave poor people the slightest reason to stay other than love of the place and willingness to work two jobs for that reason--Boise would become Salt Lake. And then it would become Denver. And when your city explodes over a million, and approaches two million, a lot is lost, and it can't really be put back again. You get Seattle, for example, and all that goes with a city as it reaches that size: higher crime, abominable traffic. Real estate skyrockets and people who are from it, can't afford to buy a house and live in it anymore.
So I do understand. And the system does work: Boise is not yet Denver or Seattle. Unfortunately, I (and evidently many others) lost the game. We would gladly have stayed, but as Dexter said, you have to make a living, and I'm not really the entrepreneurial type. I am convinced that's why there are so many small businesses here: people wanted to stay badly enough to do that. More power to them, and I'm glad it worked for them.
I can even see why it's kept this way, and while it's cold-blooded, I understand it. The Boise area has lot to offer that can't be duplicated easily: relatively mild winters for the region, lots of outdoor stuff, scenic beauty. There is every reason people would want to live here. And that's the problem.
If Idaho had anything but rudimentary social services, if it had a higher minimum wage, if it weren't a right-to-fire state, if it had mass transit worthy of the name--in short, if it gave poor people the slightest reason to stay other than love of the place and willingness to work two jobs for that reason--Boise would become Salt Lake. And then it would become Denver. And when your city explodes over a million, and approaches two million, a lot is lost, and it can't really be put back again. You get Seattle, for example, and all that goes with a city as it reaches that size: higher crime, abominable traffic. Real estate skyrockets and people who are from it, can't afford to buy a house and live in it anymore.
So I do understand. And the system does work: Boise is not yet Denver or Seattle. Unfortunately, I (and evidently many others) lost the game. We would gladly have stayed, but as Dexter said, you have to make a living, and I'm not really the entrepreneurial type. I am convinced that's why there are so many small businesses here: people wanted to stay badly enough to do that. More power to them, and I'm glad it worked for them.
This is pretty good analysis. I don't fully agree with the details but I do with the general theme. Boise's lack of opportunity has been, thus far, what has kept it from becoming the places every else is fleeing. Very good point.
I am a casualty of the Boise economy. I've lived here well over 30 years, and in Idaho my entire life. I could very well have made double what I've made in my career somewhere else. I consciously chose to stay here and deal with lower pay and fewer opportunities, because this is my home and I love it here. Most people can't understand that because they're never been that intimately connected to a place. But at the same time, it has often been hard knowing what I've passed over to stay...
I understand, bf88. I'm from Kansas, myself; if 39 years in Washington couldn't make me a Washingtonian, not sure what could. I understand being committed to a place; probably, if I hadn't married an Alaskan, I'd have been back home ten years ago--and Kansas is also a hard place to make a living. And I think if one were to ask a lot of Idahoans, many would say: "I don't have a problem with people having to earn the right to enjoy this place." As a Westerner, I may not be native to this state, but I understand Western mindsets (and they are diverse, like any place).
A part of me doesn't blame them. But a part of me looks at the many native Idahoans I have met here who are struggling, and thinks: that's cold. They were born here; it's their home; does it have to be earned in every generation? And some might even say yes to that. Others might not. What is clear enough: a) there isn't enough good opportunity even for the natives, who have the advantage of regional knowledge and some form of built-up connections (and if nothing else, don't have a bunch of Orange County jobs on their resumes), and b) that if living here got any easier, Boise at least, and much of Idaho just by being towed along behind it, would never be the same--nor do I think most of the changes would be improvements.
It's easy to overgeneralize, but the consensus seems clear: if you come here, line up a job before you pack, and have some backup plan for if you get screwed. Whether that's a business idea, savings reserves, a cheap place to stay to cushion your landing, your own trailer, whatever. If people come here thinking they'll just find work and life will be great, well, doesn't seem to be the common experience.
I don't get it. I have so much work stacked up that I'm having to
turn something down almost every week. There's money in this town.
My goal was to try and make a trip to I.F. this past week while the kids
were out of school for spring break, but I have too much to do right
now to even think about getting out of town, which I want to do bad.
That's one thing I'll miss about Boise is the plentiful work opportunities.
Is it easy to find a career or a high paying job in Boise? No
But cost of living is also very low here. My husband and I each make about $15 an hour. We don't have kids, so we both work more or less full time. This year, we grossed about $60k. After taxes, it was around $45k or so. That doesn't sound like very much. However, we save about half of that, living on somewhere around $22k. That includes a mortgage on a 2 bedroom townhouse. We are naturally thrifty people, but still. We could easily get by on just one of our incomes.
Now if we had kids, it would be an entirely different matter, since we would need more house and have more expenses.
So I would say for a single person or a married couple with no kids, it is easy to make enough to not only get by, but also have some fun and save as well. For a family with kids, it is much more difficult. But where is that NOT true?
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