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1. Its foolish to think incomes always scale with cost of living. If it did, then COL would not matter.
2. Sometimes, it is more than just housing and, in many cities, even the small houses can be relatively expensive.
3. Funny you use Chicago as an example, seeing as posters from Chicago tend to be among the most adamant about COL compared to other cities, rightfully so in my opinion.
You're comparing cheap Midwestern cities to third world countries? I'm unable to take you seriously.
Agreed. People try to make a comparison, that is actually a veiled attempt at putting a city, state, or whatever, down. In their attempt to diminish, they, actually, show their ignorance.
True. My perspective is from people who relocate for careers. Joe the plumber is probably better off in a smaller city as far as cost of living. It’s just that people who make the cost of living comments from smaller cities don’t understand the higher pay and opportunities for people with careers looking to climb the ladder.
Don't underestimate what is possible in the trades. My friend is a plumber, has his own business, and brings in 400K for himself. This is in Portland, Or.
We live in a small town 90 miles north of Sacramento in California. The lower cost of living is a huge illusion. We moved here for the quality of life, not expecting to save much, but in truth we are spending more than in Orange County, in Southern California.
Housing, purchase or rent, is definitely less expensive. Nothing else is.
Everything else is more. Our health insurance alone is $ 400 higher. Property insurance, utilities, groceries, dentist, contractors, buying a car cost more. There isn't much competition in service providers and they take advantage of that.
We are spending about $ 700 more monthly than in Orange County. I love our town and our house in it, but anyone moving here for saving money will be deeply disappointed.
Damn. CA small town life isn't really applicable to small town life in other parts of the country, to be fair, but I'm still kind of surprised it's that expensive.
When mid sized cities compare themselves to better larger cities (like Midwest cities comparing to Chicago or the coasts) they always like to say, well we have a lower cost of living. But really that is not a good reason.
1. Bigger cities have jobs and careers that pay more. I could move to a 3rd world country with a low cost of living, but jobs would pay under minimum wage and the quality of life would be depressing.
2. Even if a home costs more and I would have to get a smaller home, I would still be okay with that because I would be happier in a smaller home, but in a great metro/city. The trade off is worth it.
Cost of living and salary trump everything when it comes to relocating in my opinion. If I can't afford to do more than pay for food clothing (or worse not pay for that even) then I won't move there.
True. My perspective is from people who relocate for careers. Joe the plumber is probably better off in a smaller city as far as cost of living. It’s just that people who make the cost of living comments from smaller cities don’t understand the higher pay and opportunities for people with careers looking to climb the ladder.
You're assuming that they don't understand when the reality is that everyone's situation is different.
My husband is self employed. He gets paid the same per job no matter where he lives. We prefer a smaller city over a larger city because we don't like the congestion of larger cities. We like suburbs with big lots, big houses, lots of room and nice, quiet neighborhoods. So for us, a smaller city is preferable. It has nothing at all to do with not understanding the higher pay and opportunities for people who want to climb the ladder. If you need to live in a large city in order to be successful career wise, knock yourself out, but not everyone has to do that in order to be successful.
You're assuming that they don't understand when the reality is that everyone's situation is different.
My husband is self employed. He gets paid the same per job no matter where he lives. We prefer a smaller city over a larger city because we don't like the congestion of larger cities. We like suburbs with big lots, big houses, lots of room and nice, quiet neighborhoods. So for us, a smaller city is preferable. It has nothing at all to do with not understanding the higher pay and opportunities for people who want to climb the ladder. If you need to live in a large city in order to be successful career wise, knock yourself out, but not everyone has to do that in order to be successful.
Every large metro has suburbs with lots of space. The high or low cost of living still applies the same way. New York burbs will have space and cost a lot the same way indianapolis suburbs have space and are cheap.
Every large metro has suburbs with lots of space. The high or low cost of living still applies the same way. New York burbs will have space and cost a lot the same way indianapolis suburbs have space and are cheap.
Housing in the New York (City - I'm assuming you're talking about NYC suburbs since we're talking about large metros vs smaller metros) suburbs is going to be a lot more expensive than housing in smaller metro areas. For many people, especially those who are totally uninterested in living in a big metro area and don't "need" to for career advancement, it's just not worth the extra cost.
In fact, a huge metro area is a negative for many people, myself included. Why pay more for something that I don't want anyway?
For the record, we "could afford" to live in just about any metro area of any size. We simply do not want to live in very large metro areas - we enjoy spending our money on different things. And that's OK. You do you and we'll do us.
Last edited by KathrynAragon; 10-27-2018 at 08:01 AM..
Yep, I've always said this. If you compare the data and raw facts, there's a reason places with high cost of living are expensive. Obviously they offer a high quality of life and access to abundance of resources that are not easy to find, otherwise it wouldn't be expensive.
The trade off is worth it because you're going to have access to more jobs, higher earning potential, access for your kids to go to highly rated schools, etc. You get what you pay for.
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