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.
Why would you choose to live in a property or town with that tax rate? Everyone is complaining about the taxes in IL because they want to live in houses or towns that command such high taxes. Bring your standard of living down a notch, there are still decent areas where the property taxes are $6K or less without having to live in a ghetto, and you can still work and live in IL on that $83K a year salary. I don't understand the keeping up with Joneses mentality here in the midwest at times.
I think you're right that you don't need to live in a "ghetto" to find a decent tax rate. In fact, you probably can find a home in a "better than average" location with pretty good tax rates.
There are some towns around here with pretty high taxes. Oak Park and Riverside come to mind immediately. When I moved a couple years ago, I ruled out Glen Ellyn because the taxes seemed pretty high on some houses. Plainfield seems a bit out of control in some parts. Naperville and Downers Grove both have pretty reasonable taxes. I'm in Naperville and just over $6k with a pretty well updated 3br/2ba house. Perhaps I can find a similar home and town in NW Indiana (I'm not sure, do any school districts there compare to Naperville?) and save a couple thousand a year. What I have is probably a better bang for my buck than most of the Chicago suburbs at the moment.
Without knowing what kind of work the OP does it is impossible to tell if 83K is a good offer.
If it is engineering/programming - I'd say it is pretty low. And with Chicago cost of living this will be stretched thin.
You can take that money and live in the southern states and be much more comfortable. That salary for engineering/comp would be fine there, although it would not be considered a high compensation for the profession.
83K a year gross is 7K a month gross, which would probably leave OP with 5K monthly after taxes and insurance premiums. Not to forget that there are copays and deductibles when going to the doctor/pharmacy. Employee sponsored insurance plan does not mean 100% covered. Many europeans (from my experience) do not realize that.
Rent would probably be 2K/month. Food - as low as $500/mo if you don't eat a whole lot, or $750-1000. You will need to find where prices are better. I found Jewel/Osco to be quite expensive. About 30-40% more expensive compared to a large grocery chain in the state I moved from.
Do not forget gas/electric bills. An apartment with inefficient electric heater will bring your utilities bills to an amount you never thought was even possible.
Most importantly OP should evaluate why they want to leave their country to work in the US. Will it be invaluable experience for career advancement? Is it a much better pay (when considering all the expenses) than in their home country? Will they eventually want to raise family in the US?
The other thing nobody mentioned on here is vacation/sick leave. Those differ quite a bit from what OP may be used to in Europe. And if the company here in the US uses accumulating PTO system (as opposed to stated sick/vacation days up front) that may be even less.
Without knowing what kind of work the OP does it is impossible to tell if 83K is a good offer.
If it is engineering/programming - I'd say it is pretty low. And with Chicago cost of living this will be stretched thin.
You can take that money and live in the southern states and be much more comfortable. That salary for engineering/comp would be fine there, although it would not be considered a high compensation for the profession.
83K a year gross is 7K a month gross, which would probably leave OP with 5K monthly after taxes and insurance premiums. Not to forget that there are copays and deductibles when going to the doctor/pharmacy. Employee sponsored insurance plan does not mean 100% covered. Many europeans (from my experience) do not realize that.
Rent would probably be 2K/month. Food - as low as $500/mo if you don't eat a whole lot, or $750-1000. You will need to find where prices are better. I found Jewel/Osco to be quite expensive. About 30-40% more expensive compared to a large grocery chain in the state I moved from.
Do not forget gas/electric bills. An apartment with inefficient electric heater will bring your utilities bills to an amount you never thought was even possible.
Most importantly OP should evaluate why they want to leave their country to work in the US. Will it be invaluable experience for career advancement? Is it a much better pay (when considering all the expenses) than in their home country? Will they eventually want to raise family in the US?
The other thing nobody mentioned on here is vacation/sick leave. Those differ quite a bit from what OP may be used to in Europe. And if the company here in the US uses accumulating PTO system (as opposed to stated sick/vacation days up front) that may be even less.
It's very realistic for a couple to get by on $500 per month on food as a couple if you eat normal food and not even put in an effort to clip coupons. My wife and I bought some things at Aldi, Jewel and Trader Joe's as recently as 12 months ago as just a couple and averaged about $100 per week, including some things like toiletries, garbage bags, paper towels, etc. Occasionally, it would cost more if we knew we were having a couple friends over and bought a case of beer in advance or something like that.
It's very realistic for a couple to get by on $500 per month on food as a couple if you eat normal food and not even put in an effort to clip coupons. My wife and I bought some things at Aldi, Jewel and Trader Joe's as recently as 12 months ago as just a couple and averaged about $100 per week, including some things like toiletries, garbage bags, paper towels, etc. Occasionally, it would cost more if we knew we were having a couple friends over and bought a case of beer in advance or something like that.
From the retirement thread.
A RETIRED couple spends $7500 a year ($625 a month) on food. They say they don't eat much. And that's in Florida, where food is cheaper. $500 a month for 2 people is going to be very difficult to pull. Insurance/gas expenses are also well described there. How much it costs for a dream retirement in the Sunshine State
From the retirement thread.
A RETIRED couple spends $7500 a year ($625 a month) on food. They say they don't eat much. And that's in Florida, where food is cheaper. $500 a month for 2 people is going to be very difficult to pull. Insurance/gas expenses are also well described there. How much it costs for a dream retirement in the Sunshine State
$500 a month on groceries "being difficult" is an opinion, not a fact. I do it with little effort. The only thing I use coupons for these days is baby formula, and that was excluded from my previous analysis of when my wife didn't have a child. I'd have to actually buy several items I didn't need to spend $625 per month on food.
Edit:
I read the post you're referring to. So a retired engineer, who can afford to lease a car at $400 per month and pay $160 per month in lawn maintenance is probably not the greatest point of reference as to what food costs. It sounds like either he's bad with money, or he's done pretty well for himself and is enjoying his retirement.
I've had my car paid off for 7 and a half years and between gasoline, oil, 2 years worth of fertilizer, and buying a lawn mower have spent about $600 on my lawn in 2 years. This means nothing except to say that it's anecdotal, as is the retired engineer you're referring to.
The MSN article referenced in that thread says retired couples on average spend $4k per year on groceries, or $333 per month. Personally, that does sound low to me, but I'm not retired. It wouldn't surprise me if my older unretired parents spend about $400 per month.
Last edited by fusillirob1983; 07-17-2018 at 04:00 PM..
Reason: I read the post in reference and decided to say more
I think you're right that you don't need to live in a "ghetto" to find a decent tax rate. In fact, you probably can find a home in a "better than average" location with pretty good tax rates.
There are some towns around here with pretty high taxes. Oak Park and Riverside come to mind immediately. When I moved a couple years ago, I ruled out Glen Ellyn because the taxes seemed pretty high on some houses. Plainfield seems a bit out of control in some parts. Naperville and Downers Grove both have pretty reasonable taxes. I'm in Naperville and just over $6k with a pretty well updated 3br/2ba house. Perhaps I can find a similar home and town in NW Indiana (I'm not sure, do any school districts there compare to Naperville?) and save a couple thousand a year. What I have is probably a better bang for my buck than most of the Chicago suburbs at the moment.
The only reason why I used the term was because again, all the towns you mentioned are basically upscale (at least to my standards). There's not one mention of Joliet, Romeoville, Crest Hill, Lockport, Hickory Hills, Mokena, Yorkville, etc., and all the other SW towns that are decent and still have low tax bases (though Lockport is changing). Yes those towns have some bad spots but there are also good places there to live without having to pay taxes out the wazoo, those towns are never talked about when considering a place to live in the suburbs, it's usually Naperville, Downers Grove, Darien, Westmont, and maybe Bolingbrook. Plainfield taxes used to be low like those towns until everyone decided to move there as well as Shorewood. Again, you mention Naperville and Downers Grove, those are traditionally pretty high tax bases and places where people want to live, but yet complain about the high taxes. Consider yourself fortunate to have taxes just over $6K in Naperville, but just like DG, it depends on what part of the town you live. If it's school districts, then you have to factor that in.
True, but I also earn quite a bit more than I could make at a similar job in a neighboring state, without having to live in a neighboring state. I'm sorry, but other than lower cost of living, Indiana has absolutely nothing that Illinois doesn't have.
I agree, if it weren't for Chicago in my case, I probably wouldn't be living back here in IL. Even people in the neighboring states flock to Chicago for leisure. I don't see myself going to Indianapolis, St. Louis, or Milwaukee anytime soon, no offense to those towns. If anything, I'd take the long drive to Mackinaw Island and Mackinac for a getaway in the midwest, otherwise, I typically fly somewhere else.
The only reason why I used the term was because again, all the towns you mentioned are basically upscale (at least to my standards). There's not one mention of Joliet, Romeoville, Crest Hill, Lockport, Hickory Hills, Mokena, Yorkville, etc., and all the other SW towns that are decent and still have low tax bases (though Lockport is changing). Yes those towns have some bad spots but there are also good places there to live without having to pay taxes out the wazoo, those towns are never talked about when considering a place to live in the suburbs, it's usually Naperville, Downers Grove, Darien, Westmont, and maybe Bolingbrook. Plainfield taxes used to be low like those towns until everyone decided to move there as well as Shorewood. Again, you mention Naperville and Downers Grove, those are traditionally pretty high tax bases and places where people want to live, but yet complain about the high taxes. Consider yourself fortunate to have taxes just over $6K in Naperville, but just like DG, it depends on what part of the town you live. If it's school districts, then you have to factor that in.
I still think the term "ghetto" is an exaggeration even with the towns named above. Most of those are either pretty good overall, or some that have some rougher spots like Joliet but also have some decent spots.
Some of those towns aren't mentioned as often as others on this board because posters are frequently looking for good train commutes.
Naperville has many upscale subdivisions and many that are pretty middle to upper middle class.
I'm not sure anyone looking with an objective eye would consider Westmont or Darien to be comparable to any of the towns I named. They have some positives like many of the other towns you named while being more affordable than towns that surround them.
That being said, the point of my prior post was that not only are decent towns available with affordable property taxes, but so are towns that are considered more desirable.
From what I've seen glass door and Payscale and the like usually predict higher salaries than what people actually earn. That's just my (very limited) experience with those types of websites.
With $83,000 for just 2 people you will be absolutely fine in Chicago, especially if you're good at staying on budget. Chicago is an extremely affordable city. When I first got out of college during the recession, my boyfriend and I were making like $30,000 combined and we managed to live in a decent 1 bedroom in a pretty safe neighborhood, have a pretty nice used car, etc. We never went out, cooked on a budget, shopped sales and at thrift stores, etc, but that should give you an idea of how inexpensive Chicago can be.
If you're interested in saving money, stay away from apartments downtown, in the Gold Coast, and in Lincoln Park. These neighborhoods are expensive. I used to work for a real estate company and we were renting tiny apartments that smelled like rotten Italian salad dressing for ridiculous prices just because it was Lincoln Park. Just my 2 cents.
That's not a lot of money. That's stretching it for two people in Chicago, or any major city for that matter.
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.
