Thinking of moving from Minneapolis to Bismarck (how much, salary)

[Minneapolis Guy]

My number once concern/reservation is lack of opportunities and pay. My fiancee and I are both accountants and I plan to continue a career in public accounting while she wants to work in private. We worked our butt off to get our degrees and finish our respective certifications and obviously want to have opportunities and be paid fairly. Based on my limited research, it appears that Bismarck firms charge clients about the same as Minneapolis firms, yet the pay bismarck accountants get does not even come close to the pay in Minneapolis.

Yes, I know housing is a little cheaper, but not that much cheaper to justify a huge pay cut, maybe enough to justify a 5-10% pay cut.

I know that in Minneapolis you can basically get a job anywhere and you will have companies competing to get you. (yes even in the current economy)

Does anyone have any insight into what to expect for pay compared to Minneapolis? What should you expect for a starting salary in public accounting with 3 years of experience and being a CPA in Bismarck?

Thanks for any help.

[ebitdadada]

Not sure if I can help you w/ the pay question for public accountants but I'd look into MDU Resources & Basin Electric. They're both headquartered in Bismarck & likely need CPAs. Not sure what they pay but its probably worth a shot.

[Roloff1976]

I'm not sure of the pay for accountants in Bismarck either, but a couple other firms to check out might be Eide-Bailey, and Brady Martz. I know they do a lot of contracted audits for North Dakota companies, and state agencies.

[Minneapolis Guy]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

I have contacted a firm already and received one job offer, just not sure if the offer represented the low end of pay in Bismarck or if it was average.

[huttah]

60k is comfortable in Bismarck

100k is very comfortable

[Cain]

Best bet is to price it out and see how it goes from there. I made the move from CT and was in the IT field. Making what appears to be really good pay, but, things even at that time (2000 - 2004) were not that affordable.

Took a 30% cut, and I actually am living better, have a home, etc. than out there.

Will you take a paycut to move, sure. How much of a paycut are you looking at exactly and how much is actually acceptable. There is more to life than just money, weigh how much of a better quality of life is important to you versus that, and go from there.

For us, it was easy, what good is 100k jobs if the environment is crappy in general?

[akire]

Why not just apply for some jobs and see what happens?