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.
Yeah the cost of living on the west coast in screaming up, the COL in LA is probably really close to HNL, I know it is in Seattle now (which, once again was the fastest growing big city in America) regardless of what these internet sites may say. In any case, it's doable and another thing you want to consider is the potential future benefits. Taking a $75,000 job offer, even if it means a "lower" standard of living (this is still debatable IMO) is always good if it's a bump in the pay scale. You may decide later one you aren't interested in settling in Hawaii and want to move back to the mainland, but it's pretty unlikely that a job offer you'll receive elsewhere on the mainland will be less than the previous job you held/currently hold. I try to impress upon people how important it is to try and get your salaries up as high as possible while you're young, because in all likelihood future offers will almost always be in excess of your prior/current salary.
Give it a shot for a while and see how it goes, traffic will be much better than LA, the lifestyle is nice, and you have a chance to grow your salary.
Yeah the cost of living on the west coast in screaming up, the COL in LA is probably really close to HNL, I know it is in Seattle now (which, once again was the fastest growing big city in America) regardless of what these internet sites may say.
Subjective off-hand opinions by anonymous posters on the internet are worth.... well...
On the other hand Consumer Price Index (CPI) statistics, compiled by the US Department of Labor's monthly market surveys, provide objective apples-to-apples, oranges-to-oranges comparisons of typical consumer expenditures in key cities across the country. As such, it is simply the most reliable financial information upon which to begin to consider a move between two jobs in different cities.
So while LA is becoming more expensive, yes, it is still quite a bit less expensive overall than Honolulu is. 24% less expensive, on average, according to the latest figures.
And Honolulu, of course, is getting more expensive at exactly the same time that LA is, so the spread isn't changing much.
Subjective off-hand opinions by anonymous posters on the internet are worth.... well...
On the other hand Consumer Price Index (CPI) statistics, compiled by the US Department of Labor's monthly market surveys, provide objective apples-to-apples, oranges-to-oranges comparisons of typical consumer expenditures in key cities across the country. As such, it is simply the most reliable financial information upon which to begin to consider a move between two jobs in different cities.
So while LA is becoming more expensive, yes, it is still quite a bit less expensive overall than Honolulu is. 24% less expensive, on average, according to the latest figures.
Apples to apples is not LA to Honolulu. That's apples and green polka dotted fire trucks. LA is HUGE (10X population, 10X geographic size, etc) compared to Honolulu and includes industrial areas, ghettos (and I'm not talking Kalihi ghettos), manufacturing areas, suburbs, FAR away suburbs etc. Honolulu is literally one tenth the size of LA.
The biggest driver in overall COL is rent. Everything else is tiny. Miniscule. Rent in certain parts of LA can be $3,000+ for a two bdrm. And $1,000 for an identically finished and sized 2 bdrm in other parts of LA. In Honolulu, you are not going to see those kinds of wild variances and inconsistencies in rents. You can literally take every other COL figure (food, gas, energy, etc) and add 100% to them and it won't even come close to the difference in rents between higher rent areas of LA and lower rent areas in LA. In fact, there is not much deviation (~10% max) in gas, clothing, energy, food, etc in ALL parts of LA whereas rents can vary by 200% or more.
It depends SPECIFICALLY WHERE in LA you are moving from. It can be cheaper to live in Honolulu or more expensive. The 24% figure is way off IMO. Apples to apples would be to take the most desirable areas in Honolulu (close to central business district, plethora of activities and public attractions nearby, etc) and compare that to the most desirable areas in Los Angeles, it is going to be more expensive to live in LA hands down.
Thank you for the responses. We are leaning towards finding a single family home/townhouse or something with a small yard. I have seen some things online for around 1600. Just don't want to live on the west side of the island as work is in Honolulu and have gruesome traffic. Windward is what were trying to find if we can get lucky
Seeing it online doesn't mean it is legit. Something that low that says they allow large dogs honestly is a red flag for a scam around here. Some suggestions for house hunting around here- learn the average price for each area you are looking. Anything that looks reasonably affordable is probably a scam. Anyone who is willing to rent to you sight unseen is probably a scam. Anyone who says they aren't on the island and they don't have someone who can do a showing is *illegal* or a scam because by law to rent out a place you either have to be on the island or have a property manager on the island.
When renting on the island, the process goes like this: you contact the landlord/property manager and arrange for a showing (they may show just you, or they may have group showings scheduled.) You go to the showing and ask any questions you may have. Then you put in an application. Some companies will take applications before you go to a showing but usually will still insist that you go to a showing before they approve you. Anything that doesn't follow that process is sketchy at best and a scam at worst.
Please also keep in mind that as of November, landlords are now allowed to ask for a pet deposit up to one months rent which means to START you are looking at putting down one months rent, and the equivalent as a security deposit AND the equivalent in a pet deposit. So even if, by some miracle, you happened to find a place for $2000 (Which you won't. We have 4 cats and went through this process one month ago, so I have a pretty good idea of what is out there for pet owners.) you would need $6000 just to move in. Since you probably won't find anything under $2200 per month (and that is if you are willing to either live in a very small place or live on the leeward side) that means expect minimum $7k just to move in, on top of your other moving expenses. For reference, we are paying $2350/month in Ewa for a single family 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1150-ish square feet, 2 car garage, and a small yard. The places that we looked at closer to Honolulu (pearl city, and salt late areas) where smaller for more money with no garages and most were not single family homes and had shared yards or practically none at all with one exception.
Also, a quick google search tells me that electricity here costs roughly twice as much per kwh as compared to in LA.
I'm not saying it isn't doable living here on that income. Just making sure that you have all the info you will need to make this decision. As OpenD pointed out, it may be more income but that money won't take you quite as far as what you are currently making in LA so if you do make the move, make it with the understanding that it very likely will come with a bit of a lifestyle change.
You aren't going to find a place for $2,000/month that takes 2 large German Shepard dogs.
That and his electrical / water seem low if that's not included and no cable TV.
There are a lot of things come up that aren't listed there and you don't have much of a cushion.
Vet bills, doctor bills, and activity you want to take up...
__________________ ____________________________________________
My posts as a Mod will always be in red.
Be sure to review Terms of Service: TOS
And check this out: FAQ
Moderator: Relationships Forum / Hawaii Forum / Dogs / Pets / Current Events
That's probably because others (including myself) simply assumed that cost of living in LA is very similar to that of Honolulu. Depending on where exactly from LA the OP is moving from, living in Honolulu can actually be affordable. It mostly depends on what rents go for in the area as they will have (by far) the biggest impact on overall cost of living. Having said that, there are definitely places in LA that are much cheaper to reside in than Honolulu.
All this really boils down to what standard of living the person feels that they must absolutely have when moving out here...
Finding a place for your dogs will be difficult. 85% of the apartments will not take pets in Honolulu. My daughter had a dog and she had to delete many nice places because they would not rent to her. The apartments that allowed dogs looked run down and were willing to accept pets because the properties were difficult to rent. Also, she had to find someone to take care of her dog for six months stateside while it was under "quarantine." She finally found an efficency apartment ($1,000 a month) where the individual owner loved dogs and let her keep her dog in the high rise apartment. She had to walk her dog in the city park across the street because there was not any grass around the apartment building. Bums slept in the park and it was not very safe at night walking her dog. She finally managed to rent a house with a yard with two other roommates. The home owner again allowed the dogs because he knew one of her roommates. So two large dogs will be difficult. It is also very expensive in Honolulu and the traffic is a nightmare. She bought a motorcyle to save on gas. ($4.39 a gallon for regular) Shipping her car cost her $2,000. Are you sure you want to move to Paradise?
Subjective off-hand opinions by anonymous posters on the internet are worth.... well...
On the other hand Consumer Price Index (CPI) statistics, compiled by the US Department of Labor's monthly market surveys, provide objective apples-to-apples, oranges-to-oranges comparisons of typical consumer expenditures in key cities across the country. As such, it is simply the most reliable financial information upon which to begin to consider a move between two jobs in different cities.
So while LA is becoming more expensive, yes, it is still quite a bit less expensive overall than Honolulu is. 24% less expensive, on average, according to the latest figures.
And Honolulu, of course, is getting more expensive at exactly the same time that LA is, so the spread isn't changing much.
I gotta go with this. I've lived between San Francisco and Honolulu and the COL calculators were pretty spot on.
His budget has nothing for incidentals like clothes, haircuts, etc. If they come they probably won't stay.
The dogs will make it almost impossible to get a decent place.
__________________ ____________________________________________
My posts as a Mod will always be in red.
Be sure to review Terms of Service: TOS
And check this out: FAQ
Moderator: Relationships Forum / Hawaii Forum / Dogs / Pets / Current Events
I've found those COL calculators to be a bit too broad and general, at least for me. As someone who's lived in Seattle, LA, AND Honolulu I can tell you Seattle has been BY FAR the most expensive for ME to live in. I paid nearly $10k in property taxes (combined, still asinine) in Seattle thisyear alone, gas and food prices are pretty close to what my family members pay in Honolulu (Costco for pretty much everything, be smart and you won't pay as much as the doomsday crowd wants you to think). What's made it so expensive here in Seattle has been utilities and such, I know per kilowatt hour is more in Honolulu, but we use a TON more energy up here, you have to heat your house into June, it's pitch black in winter at 4pm (no joke) which leads to a lot more electricity use, and the weather is just plain horrible to me so I spent way, way more time indoors than I ever did in HNL or LA; this has driven the price of living up a lot for me here. In Honolulu I spent a lot more time outside and wasn't feeling like a prisoner indoors 10 months a year.
LA was costly as well, I didn't see a big difference between HNL and LA, with the exception of driving expenses; they were 10x higher in LA than Honolulu just due to the sheer size and sprawl of everything and the time you spend idling...think Ewa to Waikiki at rush hour, multiply the jam by 2, and add 15 miles to the distance. I still have nightmares about that, unfortunately it's getting nearly as bad in Seattle these days as well, and when I move back to Honolulu it's going to be bad as well, but at least there the sun will shine more than 30 days a year.
Last edited by thatguy950; 05-28-2014 at 11:38 PM..
I want to thank everyone for their input. I am leaning towards going and my gf will come a few months down the line, but if we cannot find something for our dogs we may have to hold off on her and the dogs moving until we find the right living arrangement. We do not mind a small single family home, just need to find something with the commute in mind in our range of $450k or less.
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.
