Hawaii vs NYC (school, salary, live in)

[arisu]

Aloha!

I'm an undergrad considering moving out to Hawaii next year, once I'm done with school, to teach as part of Teach for America. (Anyone actually participating in the program already, or who knows anything about it, feel free to share your pearls. )

I had considered Hawaii before but decided it would be too costly after reading various websites/forums. Currently, I'm wondering what everyone means by expensive. So for all you folks out there who know about Hawaii and know about NYC, what do you think? How expensive is Hawaii in comparison, particularly Leeward Oahu?

I'm a full-time student, and totally financially independent, and I live in NYC on about $11,500 a year. Obviously, I don't lead a very lavish lifestyle, but I'm comfortable. So could I afford Hawaii on a teacher's salary? (It's quoted at $37,500.) I think so, but I'm looking for more expert opinions.

[IntoTheMystic]

I would encourage you to do a search for posts on teaching in hawaii. In your situation, it might work out fine. I do think that NYC works very hard to recruit and keep quality teachers, so the system is a much better one to work for.