[nep321]

Life is expensive, no matter where you live in the U.S. However, there are extreme places such as NYC where you pretty much have to make at least $60K just to get by. $120K to live comfortably.

[gmdealerguy]

I feel that CT is cheaper in some ways.We bought a house here in CT (Derby/Orange border). We moved from NY in Westchester, which in case you live under a rock,is the most unaffordable area in NY. We could not buy a home in NY without being house poor(Housing is out of control here). Here in CT, we bought a nice sized house for half the price of a comparable one in NY ......plus our taxes are $3872 instead of $7-9000 for the same size. We also find the groceries,pet food are cheaper here than in NY too. Even my car insurance is ALOT cheaper here....and I moved from a great area in NY.
Only thing is the United Illuminating is more expensive than Con-Edison in NY. Go live in NY for 40 years and try to live within your means and then come back to CT........alot is cheaper. Things are expensive everywhere but we find CT to be cheaper as far as housing and other things. The taxes in NY are out of control. Even our closing costs were cheaper in CT than if we bought in NY. NY adds a $4000-6000 NY closing cost tax on top of the other costs. To us, CT is much better as far as living costs.

[jjinla]

I just left CA and can vouch for the fact that groceries were MUCH cheaper there. Produce is half of what it is here (assuming you don't mind everything being from Mexico) as were meat and packaged goods. Utilities were 1/4, but it's not a fair comparison since our old place didn't have or need AC, and the heat kicked on about 60 days a year sometime between 2am and 8am. However, for Con Ed at least, it appears we get charged double for our electricity - in and out, which is odd. Gas is cheaper, but not by much. Car insurance is less here, too. Also, services will all cost you a lot more - haircuts, tailor, dry cleaning, auto, gardeners, handymen, housekeepers, etc. (but again, most of these people in CA were not even legal, let alone licensed).

However, the 9.75% sales tax will kill you, as will the state income tax (I believe around 10% - the max bracket attained once you make $40K a year). But on a plus side, I can actually send my kids to the public schools here.

[hartford_renter]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I expected the same thing when I was living in CA for a bit. To my surprise, lots of things there were actually cheaper (rent was similar, utilities were almost nothing, gas was about five cents higher in CA, groceries were less there).

There are a few who like to gloss over cost of living here - I'm not sure why.

I also heard rent in CA was relatively cheap.

If you are talking about CT cost of living it depends where in CT you are talking about. Fairfield county is extremely expensive. Hartford and east is much cheaper.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by sydneybeach

This is what we keep hearing. "You're moving to the most expensive part of the US. Everything is so expensive."
Can someone tell me exactly WHAT is so expensive apart from housing?

Groceries?
Petrol?
Cars?

Electricity (close to the highest in the US), auto fuel (close to the highest in the US), any personal services (from car repair to haircuts), that kind of stuff.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

It always makes me chuckle when people claim that CT is affordable by comparing it to one of the most expensive cities in the world (NYC). What kind of comparison is that??

Shocking as it may sound New York is cheaper than a lot of other "global" cities in the same league (eg I've read it's cheaper than Paris, London, Tokyo, Moscow, Stockholm). In this particular survey, New York ranked #29:

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home...ve-cities-2010

[Cambium]

Sydneybeach - You can go to Walmart and buy a sweatshirt for $10. Milk is $2.50. Gas is $3.00 compared to the national average of $2.80...

So there's not much difference... And once you compare income to the south where taxes and homes are dirt cheap...it really ends up that housing is affordable around here.

So that statement is becoming less and less true.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by jjinla

I just left CA and can vouch for the fact that groceries were MUCH cheaper there. Produce is half of what it is here (assuming you don't mind everything being from Mexico) as were meat and packaged goods. Utilities were 1/4, but it's not a fair comparison since our old place didn't have or need AC, and the heat kicked on about 60 days a year sometime between 2am and 8am. However, for Con Ed at least, it appears we get charged double for our electricity - in and out, which is odd. Gas is cheaper, but not by much. Car insurance is less here, too. Also, services will all cost you a lot more - haircuts, tailor, dry cleaning, auto, gardeners, handymen, housekeepers, etc. (but again, most of these people in CA were not even legal, let alone licensed).

However, the 9.75% sales tax will kill you, as will the state income tax (I believe around 10% - the max bracket attained once you make $40K a year). But on a plus side, I can actually send my kids to the public schools here.

Surely you could not have been living in Silicon Valley/Bay Area! I go there regularly, and have seen $6+ boxes of cereal for the last 2 years. PG&E is now talking about a tiered electricity pricing which starts at $0.12/Kwh and goes up to $0.40!

Produce I'll grant you...

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Cambium

So there's not much difference... And once you compare income to the south where taxes and homes are dirt cheap...it really ends up that housing is affordable around here.

Weren't you the one bi*ching about the cost of living around here, claiming you wanted to move to Vermont or NH because it's "so cheap"?

Don't be "rediculas".

[jjinla]

Rajmelk,

Nope, Los Angeles. Everything was always on sale it seemed, so I never paid $6 a box unless I went to Whole Foods. Elecricity was city-owned and operated - DWP. So, I don't know if the rates are higher here, or I'm just using a ton more power. All I know is that in the summer at least, my bill went from $100 to $400. Eeek!