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I am a retired 72 y/o woman who has been doing a lot of searching on this site for information regarding moving from Syracuse, NY to Winston Salem, NC.
I have gotten a lot of good answers, thank you!
I am on a retirement income (not wonderful, but I'm doing OK as long as I stay within my budget), but I am curious about cost of living between the two cities mentioned above. I have Googled looking for comparison sites and have found that none of them really give the same information. So I have decided that since I want to live in the W-S area I'm going to move in September. My current lease doesn't end till then and I'm a fairly new knee replacement patient, which keeps me here while I am healing.
If anyone reading this can give me some useful, detailed cost of living information I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.
I have visited the area and do plan to visit again in May. So I'm not doing this "blindly."
If anyone reading this can give me some useful, detailed cost of living information I would appreciate it.
I can't give you much detail, but my benchmark is a relative who lives in Syracuse. He stays there because the cost of housing is very low. So I am guessing that you may find your COL increases slightly moving to Winston-Salem.
I tend to believe the area vibes site. The North Carolina food prices are 2% above the national average, and one factor is that the state imposes a 2% tax on food in the grocery store. The utility costs are 6% above the national average-- that jibes with my experience. Water and sewer charges are higher than what we saw in Maryland, perhaps because fewer people are paying for it.
The one place with a big difference is likely to be property taxes, but if you rent, not sure how that works. Have you priced a place you would be likely to rent?
I was a bit surprised to see groceries are more expensive there. I did not realize they charge tax on food.
I was shocked to read what you said about housing being low in Syracuse. Not necessarily. Depends on what and where you move into. If he bought a home, I've only heard taxes are high; since I rent, I can't give any info on that. And heating a home in our long winter can be quite expensive.
I've done a lot of searching in the apartmentguide book as well as looking on line at apartments. I only need a one bedroom. Prices can go from $475 to probably $1,000+. I need something not over $600, hopefully at least some utilities being included and if all included could go a bit higher.
When I grocery shop (just for myself) my total is in $70-$80 range/week.
Anything you can comment on what I just wrote, I'd love to hear it. Thank you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by goldenage1
I can't give you much detail, but my benchmark is a relative who lives in Syracuse. He stays there because the cost of housing is very low. So I am guessing that you may find your COL increases slightly moving to Winston-Salem.
I tend to believe the area vibes site. The North Carolina food prices are 2% above the national average, and one factor is that the state imposes a 2% tax on food in the grocery store. The utility costs are 6% above the national average-- that jibes with my experience. Water and sewer charges are higher than what we saw in Maryland, perhaps because fewer people are paying for it.
The one place with a big difference is likely to be property taxes, but if you rent, not sure how that works. Have you priced a place you would be likely to rent?
I have read that 75% of the difference in the cost of living between 2 places is generally attributable to real estate costs and taxes. Based on that, you can compare your current housing costs in Syracuse to what you expect to pay in W-S for the housing part of that. I would certainly think overall taxes in NC would be less than NY.
This site says the per capita tax burden in NY is $6,375 and NC is $3,535, for what thats worth:
I've done a lot of searching in the apartmentguide book as well as looking on line at apartments. I only need a one bedroom. Prices can go from $475 to probably $1,000+. I need something not over $600, hopefully at least some utilities being included and if all included could go a bit higher.
When I grocery shop (just for myself) my total is in $70-$80 range/week.
Anything you can comment on what I just wrote, I'd love to hear it. Thank you.
You sound like you are spending carefully, and I hope North Carolina works out well for you.
You summer electric bill may be higher because of the greater need for air-conditioning. The supplier is Duke Progess Energy and here is some information on residential electric bills. Note that people over 65 can get a discount of a maximum of $2.49/month. The basic facility charge is $11.80 and the kilowatt-hour is 9.3697 cents. You could compare that to your current bill. Note also that the state of North Carolina charges 7% on top of the full electric bill and adds another fee. The state gets about 10% of the total electric bill.
I am trying to find out what is the difference between NY income tax and NC income tax.
We pay almost nothing in NC state income tax, as we live on Social Security.
When you move, be sure to budget for the "Highway Use Tax" you need to pay to register a car. The NCDOT site is here: http://www.ncdot.gov/dmv/vehicle/title/tax/. It is a few percent of the car's blue book value or a maximum of $150, so it could be a couple hundred dollars to register the car.
We pay almost nothing in NC state income tax, as we live on Social Security.
When you move, be sure to budget for the "Highway Use Tax" you need to pay to register a car. The NCDOT site is here: NCDOT: Highway Use & Property Taxes. It is a few percent of the car's blue book value or a maximum of $150, so it could be a couple hundred dollars to register the car.
Never heard of a tax like that, but there is a first for everything.
Every state has it. Excise tax is a part of the titling process ... not registration.
NC however doesn't just hit you once at the sales tax rate.
They "discount" that and then hit you year after year with personal property tax instead.
Some seeem to think this approach is better for them.
I suspect they haven't done the math.
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Cost of Living W-S
