Cost of Living Not As Low as They Say It Is (Knoxville: sales, apartment complexes)

[p_ano_man]

I moved from Atlanta about 4 months ago. All the research I did online prior to moving said the cost of living in Knoxville was around 15% less than Atlanta. I've been here 4 months and so far I do not see it. My rent is the same, my utilities are the same, my gas costs the same, if I go to McDonalds it costs the same, and my groceries are actually alot more since sales tax is higher here. Sure, I bring home more because of no state income tax, but the cost to live is the same or more. So where do these websites get 15% less?

[Barking Spider]

I know when I moved here, my car insurance dropped in half. The car tags were about 10% of what they are in CA.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by p_ano_man

I moved from Atlanta about 4 months ago. All the research I did online prior to moving said the cost of living in Knoxville was around 15% less than Atlanta. I've been here 4 months and so far I do not see it. My rent is the same, my utilities are the same, my gas costs the same, if I go to McDonalds it costs the same, and my groceries are actually alot more since sales tax is higher here. Sure, I bring home more because of no state income tax, but the cost to live is the same or more. So where do these websites get 15% less?

Rental rates are available online. Didn't you look that up before you moved here? It's only a 2.5 hour drive from Atlanta to Knoxville. Didn't you come up here before moving here to see what groceries cost? Didn't you look up utility rates before moving? It doesn't sound like you really did a whole lot of "research" before moving here.

I bought a house here in Knoxville for $70k. A similar house in a similar neighborhood in Atlanta would be at least $150k.

I don't know where in Knoxville you live. But here in North Knoxville it's a heck of a lot cheaper than similar neighborhoods in Atlanta. If they even exist. In Atlanta, an in-town neighborhood like mine would be riddled with crime which is certainly not the case here. In addition, property taxes here are considerably less than in the city of Atlanta.

That cost-of-living difference you quoted is the AVERAGE. It doesn't mean that everyone who moves from Atlanta to Knoxville will see a 15% reduction in their cost of living. If you move from suburban sprawl Atlanta to suburban sprawl West Knoxville you'll likely not see any difference. But if you move from urban Atlanta to urban Knoxville (such as what I did) there will be a gigantic savings in cost of living.

[younglisa7]

Florida property taxes $4500.00 per year. TN property taxes $112.00 per year.

[William Sold]

I bought a house here in Knoxville for $70k. A similar house in a similar neighborhood in Atlanta would be at least $150k.

As JMT just wrote, most of the fluctuation seen in price of living comes from housing. What you can afford to purchase here as opposed to in Atlanta is often surprising. Rental rates are hard to surmise. Rental rates are rental rates, and are quite comparable with here and Atlanta, unless you're speaking of the true downtown Atlanta. Highly occupied urban areas will raise on rental averages (New York, Miami, Chicago, Dallas) in the downtowns, but anywhere with an influx of comer's and goers' and sprawling communties with abundant apartment complexes, rental rates will often be comparable. Property taxes are much less, though rentals don't reflect this as only homeowners catch the benefit. Groceries and perishables will often be close in price, outside of beer and tobacco and produce. State income taxes help here, depending on your job they can be very helpful. All in all, I'd have to say 15% sounds fair. As always, stats are stats and can be figured and seen in numerous different lights . One of the benefits of homeowning is reaping all the positives in lower housing costs, though renting has its advantages as well, just not as heavily in a cost of living scenario. My two cents...

Also, to truly understand the cost of living, a good explanation is that it compares your cost of living and salary in one location with the expected cost of living and salary in another location. Or, it is a measure of how much it costs to live in an area. The cost of living is based on the prices of a marketbasket of goods and services typically consumed, including principally housing but also taxes, food, clothing, transportation, healthcare, etc. Another key note to look at is the CPI, or consumer price index, a measurement of prices for a range of consumer products. It is calculated in urban areas and provides a fairly good look at how much inflation has occurred in the country. This type of index is widely used and similar in most ways to a cost of living index, though for your scenario is a better bet, as it mostly takes housing more out of the equation, and actually bases their housing estimates on a "rental basis." Or, how much average homes would be proposed on rent, since it is consumer based.

[marmac]

younglisa7 says-------"Florida propert taxes $4500 per year. TN property taxes $112 per year"

I doubt you are comparing similar properties.

If you are not, what is your point ?????????

[Pam& Bill]

Originally Posted by marmac

younglisa7 says-------"Florida propert taxes $4500 per year. TN property taxes $112 per year"

I doubt you are comparing similar properties.

If you are not, what is your point ?????????

I'd guess that Lisa has more property here for less taxes then Fl. There is the point.
As for the OP, I have to ditto what JMT said. Often lower cost of living is confused with "cheap" Depending on where one comes to from their former region, most times it is more affordable in Tn. In this case, I'm not sure if the OP thought he'd have 15% more in his pocket monthly or if the grass seemed greener on the other side of the fence at the time he researched? In my case when I first arrived here, everything from rent, taxes and utilities and groceries were cheaper then upstate NY. But I fell into the trap of more disposeable income got spent in stores because prices were cheaper here. I just spent the money some place else on a monthly basis.
Pam

[snapdragon]

Originally Posted by younglisa7

Florida property taxes $4500.00 per year. TN property taxes $112.00 per year.

What? This looks like comparing apples to oranges. I am certainly paying a ton in property tax.

As for the OP, they did research. And they did not say this was so upsetting to them for some of the reactions they have received. They just simply asked were the sites get the info on cost of living. I'm sure they knew what the rent would be and for what they were getting before moving here. I think it's a valid question.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by snapdragon

What? This looks like comparing apples to oranges. I am certainly paying a ton in property tax.

As for the OP, they did research. And they did not say this was so upsetting to them for some of the reactions they have received. They just simply asked were the sites get the info on cost of living. I'm sure they knew what the rent would be and for what they were getting before moving here. I think it's a valid question.

Sorry, I disagree. If the OP had really done his research, he would've found that homes in general are less expensive in Knoxville than in Atlanta. He could've easily done better research on his own rather than blindly believing that everyone who moves from Atlanta to Knoxville will automatically have 15% more cash in their pockets at the end of the month. In this day of the Internet, and particularly since the OP was a mere 2.5-hour drive away, there is absolutely no excuse to move here and then not understand why it isn't what he thought it would be.

[marmac]

Pam and Bill-------- do you know many houses that I can buy in TN and only pay------$112--a year property taxes on ?

No dumps , please.

I am used to living in a house in Florida that has taxes of ---$4500 per year--(SARC)