CA-MA cost of living comparison help needed (Boston, Pepperell: sales, real estate)

[lisa g]

Found this site after a fruitless search for an intelligible cost of living comparison online. We're looking at a possible relocation from Santa Clarita, CA to either Dunstable, Groton, or Pepperell, MA. Trying to negotiate a reasonable salary so we can maintain a similar lifestyle there. Does anyone know how the two areas compare? For example, if one is making 150k/annually in CA, what's the comparable salary needed to live in the small W. Central towns I've named without making any dramatic sacrifices? We are certain of the quality of life benefits, but while an improvement in quality of life is tremendous, it doesn't pay the bills. We didn't do our homework when moving from S. NH-CA 10 yrs ago and paid for it dearly. Any help will be wholeheartedly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

[skytrekker]

Those towns you mentioned Lisa are located northwest of I 495 not far from the New Hampshire border. They are in an area where real estate will be less money then east of I 495 and with closer proximity to Boston.

Compared to Santa Clarita it should be much less expensive-
for example a 3 bedroom home with two baths 1680 square feet will run between 330K and up see http://homes.realtor.com/prop/1077362919

Dunstable will be about 350K and up for 1700 square feet and up 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.

Comparable homes in Santa Clarita would be 650K and up.
Taxes here will be a bit higher. Gasoline lower. Frankly the differences in overall quality of life should be greatly improved for you.

Since you are a former resident of New England, adapting to the colder and changeable climate should be easy. At 150K a year, you should see an improvement in your finances.

Good luck.

[lisa g]

Thank you for your reply. The truth is I'm dying to get out of Santa Clarita & back to New England, but cannot fall into a money hole doing so. I already know we won't be offered the 150k we make here, but need to know what one would expect the approximate equivalent would be there. Would 130k in Dunstable, Groton or Pepperell be roughly the same as 150k in Santa Clarita? 120k? We're already cramped in our 2500 sq ftr. here, but we're on a postage stamp, comparatively speaking, have minimal storage space and my driveway is *just* long enough for my car if you kwim. >sigh< Trying desperately to make this opportunity work so I can get my family to a better place. Again, any insights will be appreciated!

[skytrekker]

Lisa G

Its hard to say- when did you buy your home? What amount down? What kind of equity do you have? If you bought 3 or 4 years ago- you should be ok.

Real estate is correcting quicker in Mass then in southern Cal.
If you put down even 50K on a 2500 square foot home here you should be ok.
Lets say you put 50K down on a home here that is 375K- your mortgage will be at 325K. Even at 120K a year should live decently- and be out of the crime, gangs, smog of southern CA.

[2KidsforMe]

Lisa, you should pay less state income tax here in MA. 5.3%. My hubby would pay 8.75% (or there abouts) with his income in CA. Also, you will pay less sales tax, onlt 5%. In CA I know it can vary from 7.75-8.25% We don't have sales tax on clothing, which is a nice perk! One not so nice suprise is the vehicle excise tax you will have to pay each year, but if I remember, CA had high registration fees for cars. Not too bad here.

[smarty]

Just search cost of living calculator on the web. There are hundreds of them. It'll give you some idea. However, it could vary quite a bit based on your choices of house, house location, house size, mortgage rates, ... etc.


San Jose, CA - Boston, MA
Cost of Living Calculator
Our special Cost of Living feature lets you compare two cities side-by-side in all the categories you need, such as taxes, housing, food, and other costs. You can enter your salary and our built-in Salary Calculator will determine how much more (or less) you need to maintain your same standard of living.

To maintain the same standard of living, your salary of $130,000 in San Jose, California could decrease to $98,177 in Boston, Massachusetts
Stated another way, it's 24.5% cheaper to live in Boston, Massachusetts than San Jose, California

Salary

Cost of Living Indexes San Jose, CA; Boston, MA; United States
Overall 192.2;145.3; 100
Food 119.2; 110.3; 100
Housing 318.9; 200.7; 100
Utilities 128.4; 125.2; 100
Transportation 122.8; 113.4; 100
Health 155.1; 127.3; 100
Miscellaneous 109; 110; 100

[lisa g]

Thanks for all your replies! We're headed East and have decided to research Hollis, NH. I guess I should move to the NH forum to ask q's there too. If anyone has any feedback about pros/cons of living in NH & working in Mass, I'm all ears.

[aleigho]

We are in a similar situation. We are moving from the San Jose area to the same towns you are looking at- Hollis NH, Pepperell,MA, Groton MA etc. My husband will have the same salary, but I'm planning to stay home a few years until my sons get older, which should save us about 1.5K per month in daycare + private school tuition (another 400/mo) to an overall savings of about 2K per month, which is basically my takehome salary. We've figured all this out with the rationale that those towns have good public schools, and we won't have to do private school, and they have room for cars, a pool etc. We are curious as to how things turned out for you. Which town did you pick? Are you happy? Any suggestions on those little towns would be great. We are having a hard time narrowing down our house search. Thanks.

[brightdoglover]

If anyone has any feedback about pros/cons of living in NH & working in Mass, I'm all ears.

In a word (or two):
Real Estate Taxes and
Traffic coming down 93 from NH to anywhere in Mass. You can practically walk to work on the tops of the cars waiting in line to get down from NH to Mass during normal business hours.
And the main reason is because people can get more house in NH for their money. However, the R.E. taxes in NH are brutal, as they are the only taxes the state collects.
I personally favor Groton, MA. A gorgeous old New England town, and very good schools.

[Jenbott]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

If anyone has any feedback about pros/cons of living in NH & working in Mass, I'm all ears.

In a word (or two):
Real Estate Taxes and
Traffic coming down 93 from NH to anywhere in Mass. You can practically walk to work on the tops of the cars waiting in line to get down from NH to Mass during normal business hours.
And the main reason is because people can get more house in NH for their money. However, the R.E. taxes in NH are brutal, as they are the only taxes the state collects.
I personally favor Groton, MA. A gorgeous old New England town, and very good schools.

We are moving from New Jersey to New England next year, and are also doing research about the best place to live. I think Groton is beautiful. It is my dream to live a pretty New England town that looks just like that - quaint downtown, old colonial feel, excellent schools. Are there any towns similar to Groton that have that same feel that we could consider? We both love winter, and need to be near a city where he can get a job (he's a computer programmer). Any suggestions?