True Cost of Living (Pittsburgh, York: for sale, schools, median income)

[MathmanMathman]

I'm not vouching for its accuracy but here is a page gauging median income with cost of living for US metro areas.

True Cost of Living

Unfortunately, Pittsburgh scores very low, #40. About the same with Buffalo and Cleveland. Cincinnati surprisingly is #8 with Atlanta at #1, Indianapolis #2, and St. Louis #3. Even Philly comes in at #14 and Chicago, Boston, and New York score better.

[Gnutella]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

I'm not vouching for its accuracy but here is a page gaging median income with cost of living for US metro areas.

True Cost of Living

Unfortunately, Pittsburgh scores very low, #40. About the same with Buffalo and Cleveland. Cincinnati surprisingly is #8 with Atlanta at #1, Indianapolis #2, and St. Louis #3. Even Philly comes in at #14 and Chicago, Boston, and New York score better.

Pittsburgh's median income is skewed downward by the large elderly population.

[h_curtis]

Also the huge school tax burden kills us.

[squarian]

Pittsburgh's median income is skewed downward by the large elderly population.

Also the huge school tax burden kills us.

Clearly we need to eliminate anyone under 18 and over 60.

[BrianTH]

But if we paid teachers more, we could raise the median income and it would all be good.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by squarian

Clearly we need to eliminate anyone under 18 and over 60.

^ This.

[soniqV]

Let's just pay everyone more, and rocket to #1!

And mass age-icide!!

[Caladium]

The recent discussion on property tax has been very thought provoking. When rates get that high it can become a real burden. Yet, what is the alternative? I don't know.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Caladium

The recent discussion on property tax has been very thought provoking. When rates get that high it can become a real burden. Yet, what is the alternative? I don't know.

In a nutshell, the alternative is to raise other taxes so you can lower property taxes. Which on some level everyone knows, but for political reasons it is difficult to accomplish.

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by Caladium

The recent discussion on property tax has been very thought provoking. When rates get that high it can become a real burden. Yet, what is the alternative? I don't know.

One thing about taxes, they will just keep going up. School teachers will keep making more and more money with no end in sight. Just look at all the posts on here saying pay the teachers more and more. I find it really odd, but the tax burden will just be here, make growth slower and only teachers benefit. Most parts of the country don't have those kind of salaries which gives those other areas a much better advantage for growth and most of those areas have schools that rate as high as here. It is in place and will always be a problem here. I suspect it will get worse in July when people get a letter from the county saying what the new assessment will be. Wonder how many more properties will then be for sale flooding the market. I suspect it will have an effect. I might sell and I am just one person on this forum. I am sure there are countless people that won't afford the new assessments. It will hit the older people the most since they can't get seconds jobs and many are on fixed incomes, that don't resemble a teacher's retirement package. Teachers have it nice though. Good for them.