[Y-Move]

I keep reading that the cost of living is lower in Florida.
But what exactly costs less - food? clothing? insurance? medical care?
gasoline? heating/air conditioning?
I was really wondering.
Thanks so much.

[Jammie]

There are sites that can break it down for you. You may want to check out the Sperlings Best Places site. I've used it before and think it's quite an informative comparison chart. You can compare two cities for so many things~crime, cost of housing, average income, people, political parties, and religions. As an example, in the "cost of living comparison" the average U.S. electricity bill is figured at 100%. Ocala rates an 85% and the So. Dak. city that I live in rates at 135%. It also lists things like food, clothing, transportation, healthcare, etc. I've already learned that the cost of health insurance premiums is much less in Fla. then in So. Dak. because there's more competition in that area. Our car insurance would be just a few dollars less in Marion Co. then it is here. (Separate search I did and not on a comparison site) Also, realtor.com has a cost of living comparison chart and you can compare many cities in the country.

[Y-Move]

Thanks, again, Jammie.
Sperling's is amazing.
They show you comparisons for everything.
It's a great web site for anyone thinking about moving from one city/state to another.

[mich2fla]

Keep in mind those COL information is a few years old.

[macguy]

Originally Posted by Y-Move

I keep reading that the cost of living is lower in Florida.
But what exactly costs less - food? clothing? insurance? medical care?
gasoline? heating/air conditioning?
I was really wondering.
Thanks so much.

I think cost of living is often tied to availability of services. I live in Fort Lauderdale. My water garbage and sewer bill runs close to $100. a month. My tax bill is made up mostly of hospital, schools, fire department and so on, all services that cost money. You can live somewhere where you have well water and a garbage bill that is $30, quarterly with a volunteer fire department. Then on the other hand I live almost walking distance from shopping and no more then a few miles from everything from the beach to Home Depot a huge convention center a major sea port and air port and cultural center that brings in Broadway shows.

I drive a 13 year old car because I hardly even need a car everything is so close. My auto gas bill is like $40.00 a month and I have an at home office, legal by the way, I pay around $200 a year for city and county licenses. The cost of living is often based on ones personal needs. You could live reasonably in what is a high cost of living environment and in the same respect if one has a high maintenance life style be broke no matter where they live. My point is, many of the items that may add to the cost of living are controllable. Sometimes a little sacrifice may be necessary if someone wants to live in a certain place.

[Y-Move]

Macguy -
I understand just what you mean.
Years ago I lived and worked in Manhattan.
I worked in an office before there were things like "dress-down fridays."
There was no such thing as wearing jeans to work - we wore "business attire."
But - I tried to be very careful when buying cloths - that I would be able to launder - and not have to take to the dry cleaners.
Some of my girlfriends had such big drycleaning bills they had trouble paying rent.
You are right in that where ever one lives - one has choices about what kind of lifestyle you have.
Less expensive cars mean less expensive insurance...
but Doctors seem to charge us all the same...
Thanks for you input.

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by mich2fla

Keep in mind those COL information is a few years old.

You're right. Some of the info on the sites is a bit outdated. Some of the things are very up to date though. It's only been about a week ago that I filled out a form and used Ocala as my addy to see what car insurance and health insurance would cost. I was just stunned that it was actually less then it is here. We have found some apartments that are owned by a corporation and they have an entire listing of the apartments and the price for the entire state. They also have listings for the other states that they have apartment buildings. You just can't believe the difference in rent from northern Fla. compared to southern Fla. The rent is double in the southern part.

[sami]

Florida is way cheaper than Southern California, usually cheaper than NY/NJ, and more expensive than most of the southeast and middle America. You figure total expenses (house/rent, utilities, insurance, transportation, entertainment, and so on.) And then you balance that with your salary. Then you can get an idea of how far your money will go and how much your lifestyle will change from one place to another.... So each person has to decide if Florida has a lower cost of living or not.

[Racelady88]

Originally Posted by sami

Florida is way cheaper than Southern California, usually cheaper than NY/NJ, and more expensive than most of the southeast and middle America. You figure total expenses (house/rent, utilities, insurance, transportation, entertainment, and so on.) And then you balance that with your salary. Then you can get an idea of how far your money will go and how much your lifestyle will change from one place to another.... So each person has to decide if Florida has a lower cost of living or not.

You are sooo right about that. It is costing me less than half to live in SC as it did to live in FL. I guess it depends on what you are comparing.

[flgargoyle]

Florida costs have really shot up (at least on the west coast) in recent years. My homeowners insurance has quadrupled in the last few years, and property taxes have shot up, too, although it only goes up slowly unless you move. Then you get assessed at the new value. Real estate prices have tripled in the last 5 years or so, although it's getting ready to go backwards, but we don't know how much yet. We are planning our 'escape' to SC in a few years, as we couldn't afford to retire in FL anymore. I'm sure the costs will follow us, but at least we can get ahead of it for a little while.