looking to move to FL - have a few questions about Jacksonville (Springfield: for sale, real estate)

[fsu813]

Riveree,

you can't live a couple miles from Downtown and be in the suburbs. that's a bit of an exaggeration.

[parks71]

If you got a RAISE while moving here, you definatly lowered your cost of living.


FSU, Arlingtion is 1-2 miles from downtown and kinda suburbs right? Thats the only one I can think of really but I dont think I would want to live there.

[tercel95]

Originally Posted by parks71

If you got a RAISE while moving here, you definatly lowered your cost of living.


FSU, Arlingtion is 1-2 miles from downtown and kinda suburbs right? Thats the only one I can think of really but I dont think I would want to live there.

Cost of living is static, even if I made the same amount of money as I was making in MD I would still have a lower cost of living down here... Without income tax alone I would be taking home hundreds more a paycheck...

[parks71]

No, your wrong. Usually, where the cost of living is higher, you are paid much more. Usually, in MD, you are paid more than down here. Your claim on state taxes may or may not be true, I am not sure if these cost of living calculators count on taxes but I would assume it would.

Sure, we dont have state tax here, do you think we dont tax in other ways to make up for it? ORRR, do you think our state doesnt provide certain things that states with state taxes do provide? We have some of the worst unemployment benifits in the country as well as workers comp and schools. Your state taxes are hundreds a pay check? You must make A LOT of money, good for you.

So my point is, your losing either way, for instance, the schools are absolutley horrible for the most part of jacksonville, some of the worst statistics in the country. With bad schools usually comes bad crime and so on.


Heres a website ranking states http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/...ndliest/8.html

As you can see from that site Florida gets you for about 10% where MD gets you for 10.8%, .8 of a percent isnt going to make nor break anyone. Then look at the median income, for MD, it is 49,300 compared to Florida which is 39,700. You arnt going to pay 10,000 more in taxes up there, just isnt going to happen.

[fsquid]

That 10.8% figure will shoot up when their tax hikes are enacted next year. You'll see businesses packup and head over the line to Virginia.

[tercel95]

Originally Posted by parks71

No, your wrong. Usually, where the cost of living is higher, you are paid much more. Usually, in MD, you are paid more than down here. Your claim on state taxes may or may not be true, I am not sure if these cost of living calculators count on taxes but I would assume it would.

Sure, we dont have state tax here, do you think we dont tax in other ways to make up for it? ORRR, do you think our state doesnt provide certain things that states with state taxes do provide? We have some of the worst unemployment benifits in the country as well as workers comp and schools. Your state taxes are hundreds a pay check? You must make A LOT of money, good for you.

So my point is, your losing either way, for instance, the schools are absolutley horrible for the most part of jacksonville, some of the worst statistics in the country. With bad schools usually comes bad crime and so on.


Heres a website ranking states Tax-Friendly Places 2007 | 8 | CNNMoney.com

As you can see from that site Florida gets you for about 10% where MD gets you for 10.8%, .8 of a percent isnt going to make nor break anyone. Then look at the median income, for MD, it is 49,300 compared to Florida which is 39,700. You arnt going to pay 10,000 more in taxes up there, just isnt going to happen.

These statistics you posted don't exactly reflect reality... I am telling you my personal experience and that of others I know that still live in MD... We are just misunderstanding each other... When I was talking cost of living, it was just that, the average costs for what it takes to live there... Not salaries or anything like that...

I was grossly underpaid in MD, that is probably why I was able to get such a good raise... However, even though the average salary is higher in MD for the same job, it won't make up for how much it costs to live there, trust me I was just there...

My personal experience has been that the only thing that has been more expensive down here has been renters/homeowners insurance... Everything else has been the same or cheaper... The cost of housing is way way way less...

I am also talking just Jacksonville, I know there are plenty of places in FL that can get expensive...

Jacksonville is cheap...period, there aren't many places where you can live in a major metropolitan city that is this affordable... I lived 1.5 hours from DC and Baltimore so even my experience isn't an apples to apples comparison...

[parks71]

Actually the statistics do reflect reality and maybe you are the one that doesnt??? I cross checked it with other sites and they are very close. You claimed Rent is TWICE as much there, I check, its about the same on craigs list. You claim you pay HUNDREDS of dollars a pay check in state taxes yet the tax rate is <5% and you state you are GROSSLY under paid so I find it hard to believe you paid hundreds a check. It might be a higher cost of living up there, but salaries are much higher on average. I am sorry you didnt have a good job up there but that does not mean it makes it a reality that people make more up there. Realtor.com shows theres plenty of affordable housing as well. A rough 21% average increase of income is HUGE up there and makes up for any kind of state income tax.

I am sorry, I just have issue with people posting information with nothing to back it up. Just because YOU didnt make decent money and YOU make more money down here does not mean its actually cheaper and IF it is cheaper its not that amount you are exaggerating it to be. I am however glad you like it here and that its working out for you.

[tercel95]

Originally Posted by parks71

Actually the statistics do reflect reality and maybe you are the one that doesnt??? I cross checked it with other sites and they are very close. You claimed Rent is TWICE as much there, I check, its about the same on craigs list. You claim you pay HUNDREDS of dollars a pay check in state taxes yet the tax rate is <5% and you state you are GROSSLY under paid so I find it hard to believe you paid hundreds a check. It might be a higher cost of living up there, but salaries are much higher on average. I am sorry you didnt have a good job up there but that does not mean it makes it a reality that people make more up there. Realtor.com shows theres plenty of affordable housing as well. A rough 21% average increase of income is HUGE up there and makes up for any kind of state income tax.

I am sorry, I just have issue with people posting information with nothing to back it up. Just because YOU didnt make decent money and YOU make more money down here does not mean its actually cheaper and IF it is cheaper its not that amount you are exaggerating it to be. I am however glad you like it here and that its working out for you.

Did you also factor in the income tax that gets taken out by county? Add another 3.5%(for the county I lived in) to the 4.5% for MD and that is a lot of taxes being taken out... I'm still not sure if they factor in income tax for cost of living, It would be interesting to know... My state + county tax which is counted as 1 wasn't exactly hundreds a paycheck but it was certainly noticeable... I made pretty good money for my age and would have been fine in JAX but it just wasn't enough in MD... Nearly the entire state of MD is expensive, at least there are some affordable options in FL...

Rent is roughly half, I was paying $1100/month for a 1 bedroom 600 sq/ft and I am paying $800/month for a 1200 sq/ft 2 bed 2 bath down here... There are plenty of 1 bedrooms around here for $500-600 a month... I'm sure you can more expensive places in JAX and slightly less expensive in MD but as a whole its roughly half...

If you look at this site Cost of Living by State you will see that the cost of living is 23 points higher than FL...

Again though instead of comparing FL to MD, for an apples to apples comparison, use Baltimore and Jacksonville... Seriously try and get a job up there and see if they will pay you enough to afford the same size house you can get in Jacksonville... Seriously look at the cost of a decent sized house in Baltimore...

I was just freaking there, I know how much it costs to live there, I spent 21 years of my life there...

[fsquid]

Who the feck wants to live in Baltimore though?

[belyseb]

Well thanks for the help...ill def look into Jacksonville Next time im there ill go for a visit. Thanks for all the info.