Do salaries compensate for the higher cost of living?

[ormari]

Originally Posted by UsAll

Interesting. I had heard that Seattle has a reputation for being rainy and overcast or foggy. I figured though that winters must be just like winters in the rest of the northern hemisphere of the U.S.

Surely you must be joking, or don't mean what you wrote. Your Northern hemisphere restriction incorporates nearly all of the US (American Samoa comes to mind as an exception), and you can't possibly think the winter in Florida, California, Hawaii, fill in the blank, is like the winter in Boston.

But maybe you just meant the Northern US. The Pacific Northwest, to the West of the Cascade Mountain range at least, is a maritime pacific climate and is quite rainy and damp for a good deal of the year. For your reference, the border between Oregon and California is roughly at the same latitude as the Rhode Island/Massachusetts border. That is a roundabout way of saying that Seattle is far North of Boston, so latitude is far from the only factor at play.

[Dm84]

The only reason housing is so ridiculously expensive is because large swaths of the state are written off as worthless because they aren't in a top 10 school district. People who are willing to settle for an average school district can buy a very nice house for what in this area would be a reasonable price.

[EconHusky]

Originally Posted by MocDoc

I can't help but laugh whenever I see the title of this post. And the short answer to the original question is...no.

It's become more funny to me after so many responses- I really wasn't sure coming into this!

Originally Posted by Dm84

The only reason housing is so ridiculously expensive is because large swaths of the state are written off as worthless because they aren't in a top 10 school district. People who are willing to settle for an average school district can buy a very nice house for what in this area would be a reasonable price.

What do you consider average in this area? I would definitely settle for that.

[UsAll]

Originally Posted by ormari

Surely you must be joking, or don't mean what you wrote. Your Northern hemisphere restriction incorporates nearly all of the US (American Samoa comes to mind as an exception), and you can't possibly think the winter in Florida, California, Hawaii, fill in the blank, is like the winter in Boston.

But maybe you just meant the Northern US. The Pacific Northwest, to the West of the Cascade Mountain range at least, is a maritime pacific climate and is quite rainy and damp for a good deal of the year. For your reference, the border between Oregon and California is roughly at the same latitude as the Rhode Island/Massachusetts border. That is a roundabout way of saying that Seattle is far North of Boston, so latitude is far from the only factor at play.

Well, I did say "the northern hemisphere of the U.S." (not of the entire continent) but the use of the world "hemisphere" wasn't the best world choice. I should have said "the northern ZONES or REGIONS of the U.S. (from Washington State on the west all the way to Maine on the east)" for better clarity of thought.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by EconHusky

What do you consider average in this area? I would definitely settle for that.

Hanover, Wilmington, Rowley, Wakefield, Dedham and Framingham to give you a sampling across several regions in Eastern MA.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by sobo16

The 24% figure might be a bit misleading. Everywhere gets some sort of cost of living above the base salary. There is a general "rest of the U.S." locality pay of 14.16% that I would get if I lived in say, rural Montana. DC's locality is 10.22% above the "rest of U.S.", and Boston's is 10.8% above it. I think Boston's locality pay should be closer to New York's, which is at 28.72% (14.72% above the rest of the U.S.).

So when you look at real salaries in different cities across the country, they aren't that different, and surely not different enough to pay for the increase in housing cost. For example, a GS-13 Step 1 employee makes $85K in Pittsburgh, but $91K in Boston.

Besides my job, the scenic coastline, the fun things to do and places to eat in the city, the safety of the area, and the generally decent customer service are all things that I enjoy about eastern Massachusetts. The congestion and high cost of living are the negatives. We likely won't stay here long-term, as we would like to have a nice house without being house poor.

Reminds me a bit of when I was in retail the pay scales leaked out. It wasn't really based on cost of living but rather competition. Scales was 1 to 5. Most areas were 2's and 3's. 1's were remote areas with hardly anything. Suburban with a little was 2. Add in a few competitors and it was 3. 4's are rare, 5's are very rare (Brooklyn, SF, LA, New Orleans (after Katrina they couldn't find enough help). Staten Island is a 3. Pay between each band was about 10%. At one point we sent people to Brooklyn to help..why I have no idea. They were pretty ticked and well if someone is doing work at 20% less then you AND being put up in a hotel for free I guess that explains it.

Boston ranked as the same as Orlando and there was no way that was based on cost of living. Having said all of that though I have some family in the midwest and frankly The difference is night and day vs boston. making 45-65 there is like 65-85K there, perhaps 70-90K. The housing is much lower. Heck I remember one video talking about how development caused rents to spike and a man reminised about how his was $150/month not that long ago..I can see a week but a month

[EconHusky]

Originally Posted by Parsec

Hanover, Wilmington, Rowley, Wakefield, Dedham and Framingham to give you a sampling across several regions in Eastern MA.

Thank you! I really never hear about those areas but I would be totally content with that. Framingham is near lots of good stuff too We drive there for the PetSmart. Petco is terrible and Cambridge is a hassle to get to, by car or T, from Brighton.

Thanks again to everyone for input. Even if we leave Mass in a few years, we want to come back when our future-kid is school-aged and we get tired of the FL heat and miss the New England culture. It's one of those distance makes the heart grow fonder things.