Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
With inflation and current housing market affecting all of us, I am hearing more and more about Americans looking into more affordable states to live, work, and play. I saw this article (see the link below).
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
Reputation: 57750
The reason for expensive states being expensive is that people want to live there, and in the cases of Hawaii and Alaska, it costs a lot to get everything shipped there.
Likewise, the cheap states are that people don't want to move to. There is some movement today but the people leaving the expensive states are going to the middle-level states not on either list. Meanwhile the expensive states, are still growing thanks to illegal immigration.
I have been to 44 states, including all but Alaska on the two lists, and would never consider moving to any on the cheap list, and only 3 on the expensive list, regardless of the cost of living.
Somehow I’ve managed to live in 4 of the least expensive and none of the most expensive.
The 4 were actually just fine, but like any of the most expensive states, your experience will vary greatly depending on where you live.
And yes, some on the least list are growing just fine, and some on the most list are stagnant.
West Virginia, Indiana, and Kentucky are the only ones I would not consider on the least expensive list. A few of the others are actually some of my top choices.
Of the most expensive ones, I would only consider Alaska for the adventure.
That’s it. The rest have no appeal to me at all whatsoever. I’m 40-70 years too late for California. Colorado may have been okay once upon a time.
I have lived in Kansas twice and it’s very cheap if you don’t live in Kansas City. Wichita is the biggest city and I still have friends there and it’s incredibly cheap.
With inflation and current housing market affecting all of us, I am hearing more and more about Americans looking into more affordable states to live, work, and play. I saw this article (see the link below).
Top 10 most expensive U.S. states based on monthly expenses:
Hawaii - #1 Most Expensive State
California
New Jersey Massachusetts
Maryland
Connecticut
New York
Washington
Colorado
Alaska
Top 10 least expensive states based on monthly expenses:
Alabama
Missouri
New Mexico
South Dakota
Indiana
Kentucky
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Mississippi
West Virginia - #1 Least Expensive State
Would you live in any of these least expensive states? Please feel free to make comments about them including pros and cons.
This stuff is simple clickbait. Costs vary wildly depending on where you live in the state. I live in a paid-for house in coastal southeastern Massachusetts. My town has lots of oceanfront vacation homes and a big Mall / big box store commercial area that subsidize my property taxes. I'm 60 miles from Boston beyond rational commuting distance so it's not absurd metro Boston housing prices. My home ownership costs are very low. Massachusetts has Proposition 2 1/2 property tax law so I know my property taxes, on average, will only go up 2 1/2% per year. I'm retired and Massachusetts doesn't tax Social Security.
The reason for expensive states being expensive is that people want to live there, and in the cases of Hawaii and Alaska, it costs a lot to get everything shipped there. .
Yes. Also a major factor is cost of construction and limited land in many of those western states.
It’s very expensive to build homes in places along the west coast. Alaska included. It’s very expensive to build a house in Alaska. Limited places to build (unlike the Midwest) makes housing much more expensive.
The "least expensive" list is all places where nearly everybody has to have a car, a big cost.
I think 92% of American households have cars. Everybody already has cars.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
