[regisandheidi]

My husband has been offered a job with the DCAA as a defense audit contractor in Stratford.He's been in restaurants for 10 years and has an accounting degree so this is the kind of job we are looking for.We are from PA but have moved aroung a bit and have been in KY the past 5 years.We have 4 children, 3 that are school aged.
They offered no relocation assistanceand a salary of 43,783 a year
Can we even survive until he moves up in grades?Where would be a good affordable place to live?We need at LEAST a 3 bedroom to rent.Heck, we only pay 625 here...any good websites for searching out a good rental?
What towns would you recommend?Why/why not....Why oh why arent they paying better?My hubby asked them and they said it wasn't a hard job to fill?

[parentologist]

That is not enough for a family to live on in CT. It's enough for a couple, maybe a couple with a baby in a cheap 2 BR apt pinching every penny, definitely not enough for a family of six. I can't think of any way to live on that anywhere in CT except in slum areas, if you have no car payment, on Medicaid, which you would more than qualify for, on that salary, with that number of people in the family. Does that give you an idea of how little that is for this area?

[skel1977]

I can barely survive myself on 45k a year and i have no kids and no wife

[Kristin85]

I could understand that the contractor job isn't hard to fill because southwestern CT is one of the most (if not the absolute most) highly educated parts of the state, so government jobs fill very quickly. I would assume that budget cuts following the recession have more to do with the low salary than with the easiness of the job to be filled, though.

It will be hard if not downright impossible to find a 3-bedroom rental for anywhere near $625 in Fairfield County. The cheapest places to live within close proximity to Stratford are along Route 8 (Shelton, Derby, and Ansonia) but you will probably still pay $1000+ per month for a 3-bedroom rental. You can check realtor.com or you can go to Craig's List. The cheapest place I could find in your area was $900 for a 3BR rental in Derby, listed on realtor.com. If you do not care about the quality of the area where you will live or a long commute for your husband, you could also check out Naugatuck. I hope everything goes well!

[JayCT]

I agree that it will be difficult to live in the Stratford area on that salary. You should look at rentals in towns up the Route 8 corridor. Naugatuck comes to mind as a possibility but I doubt you will find anything under $800 per month. Jay

[regisandheidi]

How are the schools and crime in Naugatuck?What about Waterbury?

[Tin Knocker]

In my experience its hard to make it with a family on one income here unless its a $150,000 a year income. Most everyone I know both parents work.

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

I live in Stratford, so i think i can answer this one.


Stay where you are. Seriously.

There's no way a family can do it on that money. Not in Stratford, not in Naugatuck, not in Torrington, not even in the most affordable region of the state(far eastern portion). Forget the offer ever came up.

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by skel1977

I can barely survive myself on 45k a year and i have no kids and no wife

Sad, but true around here.

[renovating]

Originally Posted by regisandheidi

a salary of 43,783 a year
Can we even survive until he moves up in grades?

47k is the national average entry level salary for a 2010 college graduate. CT salaries tend to be higher.

Not many people are getting pay raises in this economy. I wouldn't count on that.

Not sure why you would want to try and live on that here. I wouldn't. I agree stay where you are or negotiate a higher salary.

CampusGrotto - Average Starting Salary by Degree for 2009