[EUPL]

Interesting article

Why Do Connecticut Residents Move Away? - Courant.com

[NewJeffCT]

It doesn't really tell you a lot, other than most of the migration (both into and out of Connecticut) is done with neighboring states, and that over 80% of moves are done within a state.

I'd say people mostly move for jobs - Pfizer moving out of Groton to the Boston area, one of the gun manufacturers moving out to a state in the South, etc. And, some companies moving jobs to the state (that lab they're building in Farmington, Cigna moving their HQ from Philly to Bloomfield, etc). Of course, those moves out of CT and into CT were also done with financial incentives.

[skel1977]

Id say because cost of living is cheaper almost anywhere else.For instance, my sister has a 2br 2bathroom house, backyard, driveway, garage etc for the same price i bought my small condo in south windsor and she has no property tax.

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by skel1977

Id say because cost of living is cheaper almost anywhere else.For instance, my sister has a 2br 2bathroom house, backyard, driveway, garage etc for the same price i bought my small condo in south windsor and she has no property tax.

Where does she live, though?

I've heard a lot about how cheap it is in Texas, but when I looked into a possible move to Houston this past year for a job, I found the cost of living for a nice suburb with good schools was not really all that different than my home in East Lyme. The area I looked at was the master-planned community of The Woodlands. My home in EL is around $500,000 and is newer, 3,000+ square feet, with a large usable attic and another 800 sq feet of finished basement with walkout, and another 400 unfinished that can be used for storage. We also have a driveway, 2 car garage, deck and 3/4 of an acre, and our property taxes are around $10K for this coming year.

In the Woodlands, for $500,000, I would have gotten a similar-sized newer home of 3,000+ square feet but, on 0.25 acres. However, there would be maybe 100 square feet of usable attic space ("most families put Christmas ornaments there" I was told by the realtor) and no basement. It would have a 2 car garage, driveway and nice patio instead of a deck. Property taxes were estimated by The Woodlands at $15,000/year. TX makes up for the higher property tax by having no income tax, though many places in the Houston area require flood insurance, which ain't cheap. So, for the same money, I'd get a smaller home overall and less land, higher property taxes and possibly have to pay flood insurance, offset by a lack of income tax. (Winter heating costs would be offset by 6-7 months of needing AC in the summer)

And, you have to take your chances on public schools down there - Sugar Land has a good reputation for schools, but the "town" has 2 highly rated high schools and 3 mediocre ones, and you risk being re-zoned to a mediocre school down the road. If I recall, the two high schools in The Woodlands hold 2,500 and 4,000 students, which is gigantic compared to most high schools in CT.

[clutchrider]

Cheap cost of living comes at a price. I could go to NC and get a beautiful McMansion that is brand new with 3,000sqft in a nice quiet neighborhood with a school around the corner for $300k all day. However my salary if I moved to said area would be about 20% less than what I make here. Grass is always greener and it's A LOT easier to move out of this state than it is to move back.

What I see is younger people who go to school here then ditch for a few years to take a job out of state (South and West) only to return a few years later after realizing that they could be doing a lot better money wise with better potential for moving up the ladder quicker than in some isolated pocket area where major cities are very far apart. I'm talking more about business jobs than anything else in this instance.

It's just a fact that as a whole the Northeast is a more affluent area of the country, whether you feel that you are personally one of these people is another discussion, but being middle or upper middle class in this state is equivalent in pay and lifestyle to being practically rich in some states.

[sandy6879]

We moved due to weather (CT has no power over this) and cost of living. To be honest, other than property taxes being lower and costs of housing being less when we bought (during the foreclosure crisis), there really isn't a huge cost difference here. School systems are notably worse. We are considering moving back when my daughter graduates from college. In terms of taxes, our home there was 1100 sq ft on 1/4 of an acre and $4k+ a year in taxes. Here, 2700+ sq ft, with an in ground pool, $1600 a year in taxes. As noted above, size of property is smaller though.

As for salaries,I make the same, my husband's almost doubled.

[clutchrider]

Originally Posted by sandy6879

We moved due to weather (CT has no power over this) and cost of living. To be honest, other than property taxes being lower and costs of housing being less when we bought (during the foreclosure crisis), there really isn't a huge cost difference here. School systems are notably worse. We are considering moving back when my daughter graduates from college. In terms of taxes, our home there was 1100 sq ft on 1/4 of an acre and $4k+ a year in taxes. Here, 2700+ sq ft, with an in ground pool, $1600 a year in taxes. As noted above, size of property is smaller though.

As for salaries,I make the same, my husband's almost doubled.

Your in a VERY different climate out there for sure. I would say another reason for me not considering moving is family. I'm not keen on flying a lot and don't want to be too far from them. Both of our families live within 15-20 minutes of us and that includes immediate, cousins, aunts/uncles, etc.

[sandy6879]

Having our family and friends still in CT is a huge factor in us considering moving back. We spend a lot on traveling back home rather than "real" vacations. But the weather is fantastic here and in the summers, we almost feel like we are on vacation the entire season. It's a very different place.

[clutchrider]

Originally Posted by sandy6879

Having our family and friends still in CT is a huge factor in us considering moving back. We spend a lot on traveling back home rather than "real" vacations. But the weather is fantastic here and in the summers, we almost feel like we are on vacation the entire season. It's a very different place.

My vision of AZ is little green patches of lawn cordoned off by cinder block fences in the backyard with miles and miles of nothing and mountains in the backdrop. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I've probably watched too many House Hunters episodes.

Also, watch out for fire ants

[sandy6879]

The backyards thing is pretty accurate, we all have the block walls since all of the neighborhoods (just about) are in HOA's. The miles and miles of nothing does happen, but not within the metro Phoenix area The mountains - meh. I'd rather have proximity to the ocean. There are things I took for granted in CT, like back roads, that just don't exist here.

As someone mentioned, the grass could always look greener - til you get to the new destination. Not saying new places are bad, they will just always be different than what you left, and you might not know what things you would miss.