Wages Vs Cost of Living (Las Vegas, Reno: section 8, apartment, rental)

[letstwistagain]

Agreed with previous posters.

My fifty cents for comparison purposes: I pay $675 for rent in a good area of South Reno: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, in unit laundry room, balcony, and fireplace in a complex. I make slightly under 40k, but choose not to own a car due to expenses.

[RFF]

It's very difficult for a lot to try and survive in this region because of how much things cost. I just saw my home value jump 60,000 dollars in two years. I bought a home when the time was right. My yearly wage has only increased 2% in two years. I guess I'm lucky to even get a salary raise as it is.

[toomuchthinking]

The Unfortunate Consequences of Reno’s Tech Boom

not sure if I can post this? It talks about the problems of Reno's growth and lack of affordable housing

the public-school system is among the worst in the country. The unemployment rate is 5.5 percent in the Reno-Sparks area, more than half a point higher than the national average. Median household income in Reno is less than $47,000, and the poverty rate is 18.6 percent, three-and-a-half points higher than the national average. - from the article

[Northnvdn]

I have lived in Reno/Sparks area for almost 40 years and there has always been a high cost of living versus wages. The only difference is now a flood of people started moving in since the tech companies came and recreational weed was implemented causing rents and house prices to go artificially high. Warning to newcomers: we have seen this before and you may lose a lot of money on a real estate purchase. Most of the jobs created by these tech companies are $12-$15 warehouse jobs, nowhere near the $75,000 per year you need to make to afford the cost of living here. And Nevada cannot afford the social programs to help those who fall through the cracks. The reason taxes and fees are so high here: the Nevada Constitution prohibits things that could help the tax revenue such as state income tax and lottery. Instead sales, gas, and property taxes are the options. Also the tech companies got sweet tax-free deals so the revenue is all on the backs of the residents. The real reason to not move here is the crime and the lack of community. All of the young people coming here from outside are not contributing. In the 1990's we had an influx of Californians moving in, starting businesses, buying homes, and paying taxes. The new younger arrivals are unable to do this. According to one crime tracking site (where 100 is low crime and 0 is high crime), Reno dropped from a 24 to a 10 in a little over one year. The evening news is full of shootings, stabbings, robberies, unsolved murders. At one point, I saw RPD was looking for 63 officers. I look up these people they do arrest and often they are from SF or Sacto. The sense of community is gone because the newbies are trained to look the other way, rather than reporting crimes. There is also a lot of vandalism of things we don't have the tax money to repair, like parks. Reno is on the decline, regardless of what the stupid elected officials delude themselves into believing. I never thought I would consider leaving the area because I used to love it, but between the drought issues and more demand on water, the crime issues, the economic instability of the real estate market, the low wages, the hotter year-over-year temps, and the worsening air quality from lack of precip and year-round wildfires, I am looking to escape after 4 decades.

[weiwuwei]

It's hard to get a handle on this as you have some people saying they pay 675 a month for a one bedroom in a nice area and then others saying it is out of control. Maybe they are sayign it is relatively out of control compared with what costs used to be? $1000 a month for a one bedroom is not very expensive for any desirable area in the country, compared with what I am used to at least.

Also there are may different opinions about the outlook as to whether it will keep rising up at the current rate or will level off as the 'Tesla effect' wears off.

[Northnvdn]

A lot of these posts are from 2016 and are not accurate. Keep in mind a lot of Reno investors (or slumlords) already unloaded these rental properties and the new owners are charging more. You won't find anything good for that price now. The funniest part of the real estate market gouging is how new-to-the-area realtors have re-branded crappy areas of Reno as "popular" or "sought after" areas of town. For decades only South Reno (the SW part, not to be confused with South Meadows) was the desirable area. Now people are moving to the North Valleys, where only meth people and poor people used to live, and to South Meadows, a wetland and last area to be developed where out-of-state contractors built cheaply on slab. And, it really doesn't matter how nice the neighborhood when some person high on marijuana crashes into your home- happened again, saw it on local news today, on Double R Blvd. Lady said she was lucky to not be on her couch when this guy crashed through an iron fence and into her living room. Best place to live- anywhere but Northern Nevada.

[Lazydriver]

There is a mismatch.

It's because there's low housing supply. It'll correct itself in a few years, but I'll probably be moving out of Reno. $1200/mo for a bad one bedroom from the 1970s is insane. I currently have roommates, and keep my cost of living low, but this is stupid. Only good deals are subleasing through craigslist now. Even the ghetto apartments are expensive - I saw 400sqft go for $750, in a very bad part of town.

[Nn2036]

Originally Posted by Northnvdn

I have lived in Reno/Sparks area for almost 40 years and there has always been a high cost of living versus wages. The only difference is now a flood of people started moving in since the tech companies came and recreational weed was implemented causing rents and house prices to go artificially high. Warning to newcomers: we have seen this before and you may lose a lot of money on a real estate purchase. Most of the jobs created by these tech companies are $12-$15 warehouse jobs, nowhere near the $75,000 per year you need to make to afford the cost of living here. And Nevada cannot afford the social programs to help those who fall through the cracks. The reason taxes and fees are so high here: the Nevada Constitution prohibits things that could help the tax revenue such as state income tax and lottery. Instead sales, gas, and property taxes are the options. Also the tech companies got sweet tax-free deals so the revenue is all on the backs of the residents. The real reason to not move here is the crime and the lack of community. All of the young people coming here from outside are not contributing. In the 1990's we had an influx of Californians moving in, starting businesses, buying homes, and paying taxes. The new younger arrivals are unable to do this. According to one crime tracking site (where 100 is low crime and 0 is high crime), Reno dropped from a 24 to a 10 in a little over one year. The evening news is full of shootings, stabbings, robberies, unsolved murders. At one point, I saw RPD was looking for 63 officers. I look up these people they do arrest and often they are from SF or Sacto. The sense of community is gone because the newbies are trained to look the other way, rather than reporting crimes. There is also a lot of vandalism of things we don't have the tax money to repair, like parks. Reno is on the decline, regardless of what the stupid elected officials delude themselves into believing. I never thought I would consider leaving the area because I used to love it, but between the drought issues and more demand on water, the crime issues, the economic instability of the real estate market, the low wages, the hotter year-over-year temps, and the worsening air quality from lack of precip and year-round wildfires, I am looking to escape after 4 decades.

You said you live and Fallon. Why commenting on Reno stuff?

What do you mean by All of the young people coming here from outside are not contributing?

If they live here, they pay sale tax and gas tax. If they rent, they pay money to landlords for property tax.

All the tech companies got sweet tax-free deals from the STATE which most of the money come from the Vegas taxpayer and tourist.

Originally Posted by Northnvdn

The funniest part of the real estate market gouging is how new-to-the-area realtors have re-branded crappy areas of Reno as "popular" or "sought after" areas of town. For decades only South Reno (the SW part, not to be confused with South Meadows) was the desirable area. Now people are moving to the North Valleys, where only meth people and poor people used to live, and to South Meadows, a wetland and last area to be developed where out-of-state contractors built cheaply on slab. And, it really doesn't matter how nice the neighborhood when some person high on marijuana crashes into your home- happened again, saw it on local news today, on Double R Blvd. .

Ever heard of Gentrification? It is happening all over the country.

[ItIsWritten.]

You could always go a bit over the border into California and get paid about $5 more per hr

Then drive back home to Reno.

[weiwuwei]

Originally Posted by ItIsWritten.

You could always go a bit over the border into California and get paid about $5 more per hr

Then drive back home to Reno.

My thoughts exactly! Given how virtually all of the Nevada population more or less borders California I have to believe the minimum wage will follow suit shortly, but I don't know a ton about the state legislature. I'm guessing the entertainment industry has quite a bit of clout and doesn't want to see the pay for its workers going up at all.

Also, is crime/neighborhoods in Reno really that bad compared with other comparable cities? I can see that the downtown would be a bit sketchy and have its share of problems just by the nature of the business but is the city itself bad outside of that?

Yes, there are 1 br apartments for 1200 on craigslist but these look very new and nice. I see plenty that seem average for cheaper than that..