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I've lived in Northern NJ for my entire life and am getting a bit tired of the cost of living situation. I love my proximity to NYC & major events however I've heard nothing but rave reviews from folks who have moved to NC. I've heard you can have a good quality of life with little money & it's a more calm, less stressful place to live.
I am single/have no kids, 27 year old, and don't know a single person in NC. I am working as a high school math teacher & make 63,000/ year. I have my own apartment in Hoboken (bustling, yuppie, NJ city thats appox 4 min from Manhattan) own my car, and & am financially independent from my parents at this point.
I would obviously try to find a teaching position in NC and am very aware that my salary will drop significantly. I do have a few questions about some things that I was hoping could help me with this decision.
-As a teacher in NC would I be able to maintain this sort of lifestyle I have grown accustomed to with the salary change?
-I am 27 & single. Obviously extremely common in NYC/NJ. Is it the same in NC, or are most people married with kids by 27? I certainly want to be able to meet people/date etc
-Any particularly neighborhoods you would recommend that have a good social scene, that are safe and affordable?
I went to college in Boston so the northeast is all I really know. Any other advice would be great as well. Thank you!
-I am 27 & single. Obviously extremely common in NYC/NJ. Is it the same in NC, or are most people married with kids by 27? I certainly want to be able to meet people/date etc
I asked the moderator to move your question to the Charlotte sub-forum. In the meantime, I suggest reading the following thread for suggestions on neighborhoods. I'm not sure this is the kind of guy you would want to meet but there are singles in Charlotte.
Not to say that teaching in Charlotte would be all bad, but you might want to read http://www.city-data.com/forum/north...ng-advice.html for a reality check about the general teaching climate in NC at this point in time.
On the other hand, math teachers always seem to be in demand.
I've lived in Northern NJ for my entire life and am getting a bit tired of the cost of living situation. I love my proximity to NYC & major events however I've heard nothing but rave reviews from folks who have moved to NC. I've heard you can have a good quality of life with little money & it's a more calm, less stressful place to live.
I am single/have no kids, 27 year old, and don't know a single person in NC. I am working as a high school math teacher & make 63,000/ year. I have my own apartment in Hoboken (bustling, yuppie, NJ city thats appox 4 min from Manhattan) own my car, and & am financially independent from my parents at this point.
I would obviously try to find a teaching position in NC and am very aware that my salary will drop significantly. I do have a few questions about some things that I was hoping could help me with this decision.
-As a teacher in NC would I be able to maintain this sort of lifestyle I have grown accustomed to with the salary change?
-I am 27 & single. Obviously extremely common in NYC/NJ. Is it the same in NC, or are most people married with kids by 27? I certainly want to be able to meet people/date etc
-Any particularly neighborhoods you would recommend that have a good social scene, that are safe and affordable?
I went to college in Boston so the northeast is all I really know. Any other advice would be great as well. Thank you!
You've posed some good questions and they deserve to be answered. I'm from Northern NJ as well and find North Carolina a great place to be ...as a retired person. If I were you, I'd consider staying where you are for a couple more years.
You'd save a lot of money moving here over continuing to live in an expensive, yuppy paradise like Hoboken, but you'd end up taking too big of a salary hit to maintain your middle class sensibilities to the same degree in Charlotte. Unlike NJ, where a good teaching position is golden, teaching jobs in NC are a dime a dozen, in comparison. Your current $63,000 salary in North Carolina is basically near the top of the pay scale for a teacher with 25 years or so in the field. The joke in NC, is that it takes 10 years to go from $30K to $40K! A sad joke indeed!
As a newbie teacher, you might also get stuck teaching in one of Charlotte's rougher schools, so it might be like teaching in a Newark, Jersey City or Paterson high school for a few years. There is no union support ...only a teacher association with limited power. NC is a "right to work state" or as I like to call it a "right to work for less state, with no "employee rights" to speak of! If the principal's niece needs a math job - well nice knowing you, kid! A lot of principals don't make $63,000!
Health care at 80% payout for your hospital bill is free. If you marry, that'll cost you ~$350 a month extra for your spouse and expect to pay over $700 a month for family coverage. This might be coming out of a starting salary of a person like you, of say ...$36,000. If Christie tried to push the same health care package on NJ teachers, the entire population of teachers in NJ would be out on strike!
The happiest teachers in NC are generally teachers from the Northeast, who retired up there and then decided to move here. Their retirement checks are just about what a teacher of the same age and the same amount of years in, is making ...still working!
As I've said, North Carolina is a wonderful state to retire to, but a terrible one for a teacher. You might want to check out NC in 5 years or so, after many now in the current government of NC, are gainfully unemployed!
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Originally Posted by Merey88
I've lived in Northern NJ for my entire life and am getting a bit tired of the cost of living situation. I love my proximity to NYC & major events however I've heard nothing but rave reviews from folks who have moved to NC. I've heard you can have a good quality of life with little money & it's a more calm, less stressful place to live.
I am single/have no kids, 27 year old, and don't know a single person in NC. I am working as a high school math teacher & make 63,000/ year. I have my own apartment in Hoboken (bustling, yuppie, NJ city thats appox 4 min from Manhattan) own my car, and & am financially independent from my parents at this point.
I would obviously try to find a teaching position in NC and am very aware that my salary will drop significantly. I do have a few questions about some things that I was hoping could help me with this decision.
-As a teacher in NC would I be able to maintain this sort of lifestyle I have grown accustomed to with the salary change?
-I am 27 & single. Obviously extremely common in NYC/NJ. Is it the same in NC, or are most people married with kids by 27? I certainly want to be able to meet people/date etc
-Any particularly neighborhoods you would recommend that have a good social scene, that are safe and affordable?
I went to college in Boston so the northeast is all I really know. Any other advice would be great as well. Thank you!
Have you looked for teaching jobs in South Jersey? The cost of living is much lower. You'd still take a pay cut, but not quite as bad.
Look at York County for teaching. SC is a little friendlier and your money will stretch more. And you're still close to Charlotte. Your commute would be easy if you lived in Charlotte and drove 15-20 min down to fort mill area.
I've lived in Northern NJ for my entire life and am getting a bit tired of the cost of living situation. I love my proximity to NYC & major events however I've heard nothing but rave reviews from folks who have moved to NC. I've heard you can have a good quality of life with little money & it's a more calm, less stressful place to live.
I am single/have no kids, 27 year old, and don't know a single person in NC. I am working as a high school math teacher & make 63,000/ year. I have my own apartment in Hoboken (bustling, yuppie, NJ city thats appox 4 min from Manhattan) own my car, and & am financially independent from my parents at this point.
I would obviously try to find a teaching position in NC and am very aware that my salary will drop significantly. I do have a few questions about some things that I was hoping could help me with this decision.
-As a teacher in NC would I be able to maintain this sort of lifestyle I have grown accustomed to with the salary change?
-I am 27 & single. Obviously extremely common in NYC/NJ. Is it the same in NC, or are most people married with kids by 27? I certainly want to be able to meet people/date etc
-Any particularly neighborhoods you would recommend that have a good social scene, that are safe and affordable?
I went to college in Boston so the northeast is all I really know. Any other advice would be great as well. Thank you!
I fit your demographic to a T, single male 27...even in the same area of work......with just a little over half the salary you currently make. I was up in NYC last month and if you are enjoying life now and want to stay a teacher; no way I'd advise you to move to NC right now.
The dating life here is rough. Most folks our age are married or engaged to someone they met in college. If my college girlfriend hadn't moved to Texas for law school I'd probably fit into that category too.
It sounds like your financial and social situation up there is better than it would be in NC (ranked the worst state in the US for teachers). The COL isn't much lower here for renters either; most savings comes from property taxes for homeowners....but your salary would be cut in half.
I appreciate all the help you all have offered thus far. I am realizing that my salary drop may be significant enough to change my financial independence. Also dating at 27 doesn't seem like the norm either lol.
Any more feedback would be great but I think I am catching the drift to stay in Jersey.
What's your current rent in Hoboken? I haven't studied the apartment market recently, but to get your own apartment in one of the "bustling, yuppie" areas of Charlotte close to uptown (which while nice, can't compare to Hoboken/NYC), you're probably looking at at least $1000 for a studio, more for a 1 bedroom. That may be tough for someone with a starting teacher's salary.
Right now I'm paying $1800 for a studio. It's pretty tight on my current salary but I wanted to live alone.
Wow, $1000 sounds pretty tight on a teacher's salary down there. It's not looking very doable anymore. Cost of living must not be that different for a renter after all.
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but there are singles in Charlotte. 
