For those of you who've fled Illinois, where did you go? (mortgage, loan)

[Sunbiz1]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

My budget for a home is $200-250K (which already won't get me a lot in Chicago or in the suburbs). In that range, property taxes will be $4000-5000/year, or $333-415/mo

Meanwhile, if I bought a home in Raleigh, NC in that same range, property taxes would be only $2,100/mo.

It's really a shame because I like living in Chicago. But financially speaking, it would be unwise of me to buy here.

Offline, North Carolina is the number 1 answer I receive upon learning of a relocation and asking where.
It is the new Florida.

[MSchemist80]

Yes I have a few friends that moved there. It is one of the destinations I have considered as there are some science jobs in the triangle area. Arizona, Texas, Florida, and Colorado, and of course Indiana are also popular destinations.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by numberfive

It's a common misconception for people to think "you save taxes in one area but spend more in another area, so it breaks even".

To measure it, you'd have to look at the overall tax burden by state. Then the picture starts to get clearer. It's not just property tax, or grocery tax, or any individual tax. It's all of them added up and compared from State A to State B.

That way you can rank them to see which is objectively the most costly. For example, let's put IL vs TN:

Wallethub
Illinois 9th most expensive
TN 48th most expensive

Tax Foundation
Illinois 5th most expensive
TN 47th most expensive

You could do the same comparison with any state. Then the next misconception is usually "yeah, but the pay is lower so you lose out anyway". Also not true. Typical income is already factored into those rankings linked above.

Yes, and there are so many taxes you don't even think of. I moved to Chicago from the DFW area earlier this year. Even though rent prices are about the same (which is where most of my money goes), things like restaurants, groceries, sales tax, cell phone taxes, and a bunch of other random Cook/Chicago taxes are all higher here. This makes the cost of living in Chicago a lot higher than the Dallas area.

Sales tax is the sneaky one because it can turn a $40 restaurant meal in NC into a $45 meal in Chicago.

I still think I made the right move because I traded a 5-10% cost of living increase for a salary that's almost double what I made in Texas. Even though it costs more in Chicago, I have more money to spend.

When it comes time to buy a house, I'll likely look for a job with a similar salary, but in a smaller city with a lower cost of living. A place like Minneapolis, Raleigh, Nashville, Cincinnati, Cleveland, St Louis, or Kansas City would fall in this category.

[Dad01]

Thinking of making the move unsure of where to go

What are best things about IL guys you all miss the most ?

[Slam4444]

Ideally, I would love to go to Denver, but because of costs, I have been looking at Las Vegas. We will see what happens, but ideally, I will be out of Illinois in 2 or so years time.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by Slam4444

Ideally, I would love to go to Denver, but because of costs, I have been looking at Las Vegas. We will see what happens, but ideally, I will be out of Illinois in 2 or so years time.

I applied for a job in Vegas, I got a call for an interview 2 weeks after I moved to Chicago. The salary was higher than my job here and the cost of living would have been lower.

[numberfive]

Originally Posted by Dad01

Thinking of making the move unsure of where to go

What are best things about IL guys you all miss the most ?

I think you're asking the wrong question -- it's not what you'll miss, but what you'll have to look forward to.

Everywhere will have something you'll miss, but you first have to experience it to know what you're missing, right?

[Illinoistransplants]

Originally Posted by Dad01

Thinking of making the move unsure of where to go

What are best things about IL guys you all miss the most ?

My wife and I were born and raised in Illinois. She was born in Rockford and I was born in Peoria. We lived in Elmhurst for 20 years until 2014 when we moved to Carmel Indiana. We absolutely love it here. The taxes are half of what they were in Elmhurst yet the schools and services are just as good. Traffic is a breeze and we were able to find 2 good paying jobs so our income has actually gone up by a 3rd since moving.
We definitely would recommend trying out Carmel.

[CGab]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

My budget for a home is $200-250K (which already won't get me a lot in Chicago or in the suburbs). In that range, property taxes will be $4000-5000/year, or $333-415/mo

Meanwhile, if I bought a home in Raleigh, NC in that same range, property taxes would be only $2,100/mo.

It's really a shame because I like living in Chicago. But financially speaking, it would be unwise of me to buy here.

And pretty sure your property taxes would be more than $4-5k for a $250K home in Chicago! My BIL has a 2200 sq ft home an hour outside of Charlotte that he paid $225k brand new with 5 acres and his ANNUAL property taxes are $1200!

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by CGab

And pretty sure your property taxes would be more than $4-5k for a $250K home in Chicago! My BIL has a 2200 sq ft home an hour outside of Charlotte that he paid $225k brand new with 5 acres and his ANNUAL property taxes are $1200!

First living an hour outside Charlotte is probably in the boonies.

Different areas of NC have different property tax rates. Raleigh has a rate of roughly 1%. Durham is more. Areas outside cities are around .5-.75%. Charlotte has a rate approaching 1.4%.

NC readjusts property valuations every eight years so depending on your location your bill is going to go up significantly over the next couple years as appraisals readjust.

For those belly aching over a 4.95% income tax rate, until recently NC was at 7.75% and was reduced three years ago to 5.75%. My wife and I pay more in NC income tax than our entire mortgage payment on a 15-year loan.