[Arghh]

My wife and I are both young professionals (Early 30's) working in NYC. I am a consultant in the tech/finance arena and my wife is an attorney for a large bank. Last year we spent a week in Newtown visiting and fell in love with the town, the slower pace of life and the fact that you can have grass!!

We have spent the past 4 months trying to just say 'screw it' lets leave the NYC workforce and have a different life, one where we don't commute 1.5 hours a day, struggle to live in a 1 bedroom coop and have 1 car. We have looked aggresively for jobs, however, EVERYTHING leads to NYC, which we somewhat expected, but there has to be other places to work. There is NO way everyone who lives in Newtown, Brookfield, Shady Hook commutes to NYC everyday.

Besides the 'gold coast' which is over an hour drive, what are some good places to look for work that would be under a 30 minute drive from these areas? Besides GE, we can't find anything... And with a salary of 170k, 110k, respectively, we can't find anything that pays 50% of that...

Can someone please help point us in a direction. Our dream is 80% come true, we found where we want to live, we are married, we love the lifestyle, but without jobs, we couldn't do it.

thank you :-)

[jdhall1]

Look into jobs in Norwalk, Stamford and White Plains. Danbury itself does a have a good amount of business including Boehringer Ingelheim. Somers,NY is about 30 minutes away has Pepsi and IBM have offices there. Good luck!

[nico7]

Have you two inquired about the possibility of telecommuting? It would be difficult for you to leave Manhattan jobs without taking a paycut. There are a lot of hedge funds and law firms in Greenwich, Stamford, Westport, etc. I know for a fact some of those hedge funds rely heavily on technology. RBS is moving some large segment of its operation to Stamford. Perhaps explore those options?

The good news is, you don't need to make $280k between you, if you just want to live comfortably in Newtown.

[JayCT]

It really sounds like you and your wife need to re-evaluate your priorities and make a difficult "quality-of-life" decision. You need to decide what is more important, the big salary of the big city or the quiet comfortable lifestyle you crave. That will be a difficult decision to make. Giving up big $$$ is not easy but sometimes the benefits outweigh the $$$.

Since you are sick of New York, have you considered working in the Hartford area? Hartford is a great small city with a lot of jobs in the areas you both work in. The pay most likely won't be what you are getting now (may not even be close) but you could easily get and afford the lifestyle you want here. That is the great thing about the Hartford area, you can live in the country and be downtown in 30 minutes. Again, it is not New York but there are many wonderful small towns and suburbs that would give you the country lifestyle you want and still make a decent living. Just a thought. Good luck, Jay

[Arghh]

Originally Posted by nico7

The good news is, you don't need to make $280k between you, if you just want to live comfortably in Newtown.

Ideally, my wife could be a stay at home mom.

However, unless I am making over 200k a year, I do not think it's practical to say I could live comfortably. (or maybe I am just stuck on NYC living/costs).

But a 3,000$ a month mortgage (about a 500-600k) house, + 700 or so a month for Taxes, plus the cost of utilities, etc. And at least 2 cars, + insurance...

With only 1 income having to save for retirement. How in the world you could survive on a single income of less then 150k or so is beyond me..... it's just so expensive to live in the NE it seems. I think 150k would be a STRECH.. unless you are willing to have second hand furniture :P

[andthentherewere3]

The Newtown area is full of people wanting a family oriented town with excellent schools, and a rural atmosphere. It will be hard on one income (I know only too well, we've been doing that for years). On the bright side, it's a buyer's market since homes are selling for a little less than in previous years.

Having a commute less than 30 minutes to Newtown is a challenge, though. You will be facing rush hour traffic. I am sure you could find a job in the Norwalk/Stamford area, but you would be facing an hour+ commute. Danbury and Waterbury are about 30 minutes from Newtown, though.

[flavorPacket]

Originally Posted by Arghh

There is NO way everyone who lives in Newtown, Brookfield, Shady Hook commutes to NYC everyday.

True, but many of the people living in the nicer neighborhoods do. If they don't, they're either at GE or some financial place in southern FC or Westchester.

A 30 minute drive is not a commute in Newtown. That's nearly how long it takes to go to the movies/supermarket/etc.

[Connecticut34]

Arghh- I empathize with your plight. Unfortunately there are no easy solutions. Here's some thoughts
1) Where to live: Newtown is a great commute backroads to westport, wilton or norwalk. Definitely less than 1 hour- 30 min to Westport, 45 minutes to Norwalk. Stamford is over the hour mark. We live on the Newtown border in Bethel, just a little closer to the coast. I just took my kids to the Norwalk Aquarium this AM and it took exactly 45 minutes door to door. Keep in mind that it is all backroads, so the mileage isn't really that far. You might want to take a look in Bethel as well. It is beautiful like Newtown, but is much smaller and has a downtown main street. Houses are still affordable. No matter what anyone tells you, it is not commutable to NYC. My husband does it and it takes 2-3 hours each way!
2) $: The cost of living is significantly less expensive when you leave the city. Just getting your oil changed is half the price. Groceries are less and you can actually bulk shop at places like Costco for huge savings. Daycare is less, dry cleaning is less, car wash is less- EVERYTHING is less expensive. So you probably can live on less than you think. But, jobs pay less as well. Try connecting with a headhunter in the Marketing Field. There are a ton of Marketing Agencies in the Westport area. But again, you won't make those NYC dollars unless you stay there. FYI- the commute from Newtown to Westchester (IBM, Pespsi and Dannon) is no piece of cake either and is at least 1 hour factoring in the crazy traffic.
Good luck for your quest of the simple life. Let me know if you find it.

[Arghh]

Originally Posted by andthentherewere3

The Newtown area is full of people wanting a family oriented town with excellent schools, and a rural atmosphere. It will be hard on one income (I know only too well, we've been doing that for years). On the bright side, it's a buyer's market since homes are selling for a little less than in previous years.

Having a commute less than 30 minutes to Newtown is a challenge, though. You will be facing rush hour traffic. I am sure you could find a job in the Norwalk/Stamford area, but you would be facing an hour+ commute. Danbury and Waterbury are about 30 minutes from Newtown, though.

Thanks for your reply. What would be the minimum you would think to have a single income? I don't know your specific situation, but with a single income of 200k I think it would be very manageable, and with 100k, it would not be manageable at all

[flavorPacket]

Originally Posted by Arghh

Thanks for your reply. What would be the minimum you would think to have a single income? I don't know your specific situation, but with a single income of 200k I think it would be very manageable, and with 100k, it would not be manageable at all

The median household income in Newtown is 100K, so that gives you a general idea. Based on personal experience for the past 15 years, in the pricier areas, it's probably closer to 200-250 and up.

I personally go by the rule of thumb that a house should cost 2.5-3x your income (though in this economy, maybe less). It's a nice quick and dirty metric that usually turns out to work well.