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Lately I have been surprised by the number of people that want to move to NY and the misconceptions they are given about the state.
Taxes are high? Well this is true you get what you pay for. Paying more insures better police and fire protection. (Recently Rochester was rated the second safest city for its size). Local school systems offer a great education and a large number of SUNY schools as well as private schools make it easy to continue your education. A great education ensures you and your kids are going to get better paying jobs that will more than make up for a few extra dollars in tax.
Living is expensive? According to "best places living" Rochester's cost of living is 15% percent less than average. Think about it, there is more to a place than taxes; you have to buy food and a house. Electric can be high but there are places that have municipal power. Municipal power in Spencerport is .02 per kilowatt or about 20 per month. Housing is very reasonable allowing you to get a great looking and sized home for easily under 200,000; a home that is sure to hold its value in this area.
Amazing parks that can help you get away from the city life and offer a low cost vacation. Great trails for hiking, photography and exercise.
Close to the boarder for a visit into another country or travel a few hours and be in the country's biggest city.
My main tip from living here is to keep your eye on the costs of living and find out where you can save money. There are cheaper houses, plenty of companies to switch and save money on electric, cable and phone.
I am sure there are things that I forgot so if you are a resident feel free to add what you like, If you think of something else to help anyone save money please post it.
Lately I have been surprised by the number of people that want to move to NY and the misconceptions they are given about the state.
Taxes are high? Well this is true you get what you pay for. Paying more insures better police and fire protection. (Recently Rochester was rated the second safest city for its size). Local school systems offer a great education and a large number of SUNY schools as well as private schools make it easy to continue your education. A great education ensures you and your kids are going to get better paying jobs that will more than make up for a few extra dollars in tax.
NY State is in the middle of the pack when it comes to public schools and achievement. Furthermore, most teachers in NY are way overcompensated, one of the reasons for the high taxes. Ditto for admins.
Make up for the taxes because of higher-paying jobs??? For the past 20+ years Rochester wages have lagged behind most of the rest of the country.
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Living is expensive? According to "best places living" Rochester's cost of living is 15% percent less than average. Think about it, there is more to a place than taxes; you have to buy food and a house. Electric can be high but there are places that have municipal power. Municipal power in Spencerport is .02 per kilowatt or about 20 per month. Housing is very reasonable allowing you to get a great looking and sized home for easily under 200,000; a home that is sure to hold its value in this area.
Salaries in Rochester are lower than in other metros with higher housing costs. Lower salaries+high taxes= less disposable income and money folks could spend on private schools for their kids, etc.
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parks that can help you get away from the city life and offer a low cost vacation. Great trails for hiking, photography and exercise.
Close to the boarder for a visit into another country or travel a few hours and be in the country's biggest city.
A very expensive city, at that, and, no, it's not a "few hours" away.
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My main tip from living here is to keep your eye on the costs of living and find out where you can save money. There are cheaper houses, plenty of companies to switch and save money on electric, cable and phone.
I am sure there are things that I forgot so if you are a resident feel free to add what you like, If you think of something else to help anyone save money please post it.
I guess paying $6K+ in property taxes on a post-war house is OK for some people. Most of America would disagree. Someone brought up New Jersey in another thread. Nice apples to oranges comparison, on that one NJ has very little in common with Upstate, NY, mostly, and one can't compare tax bills, dollar for dollar, and come away with any rational conclusions. NY has like 20 of the 25 highest-taxed counties in the country, re: property tax rates, and one might be shocked to find some of those counties near to the top are mostly rural in nature. No wonder people continue to flee NY.
NY is middle of the pack because the biggest school district in the country is in our state and it is urban(NYC public schools). Urban districts around the country by and large struggle in comparison to other districts. So, that is misleading. While I think there needs to be some consolidation, the pros and cons of that need to be weighed as well.
While pay may or may not "lag" behind some others, cost of living has to be put into perspective. So, people are leaving for areas that are either paying less or about the same, give or take, due to a similar overall cost of living.
Why would people in the Rochester area HAVE to pay for private school when pretty much all of the schools outside of the bulk of the RCSD schools are good? Many area public HS's are highly regarded on a national level.
You can get breaks on property taxes if you challenge assessments, are a veteran and with STAR. Here's some tax information that you can compare with other states: http://retirementliving.com/RLstate3.html
NY State is in the middle of the pack when it comes to public schools and achievement. Furthermore, most teachers in NY are way overcompensated, one of the reasons for the high taxes. Ditto for admins.
Make up for the taxes because of higher-paying jobs??? For the past 20+ years Rochester wages have lagged behind most of the rest of the country.
Salaries in Rochester are lower than in other metros with higher housing costs. Lower salaries+high taxes= less disposable income and money folks could spend on private schools for their kids, etc.
A very expensive city, at that, and, no, it's not a "few hours" away.
I guess paying $6K+ in property taxes on a post-war house is OK for some people. Most of America would disagree. Someone brought up New Jersey in another thread. Nice apples to oranges comparison, on that one NJ has very little in common with Upstate, NY, mostly, and one can't compare tax bills, dollar for dollar, and come away with any rational conclusions. NY has like 20 of the 25 highest-taxed counties in the country, re: property tax rates, and one might be shocked to find some of those counties near to the top are mostly rural in nature. No wonder people continue to flee NY.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 01-27-2012 at 06:39 AM..
Recently Rochester was rated the second safest city for its size
Can you provide the citation / reference on this? I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to read it. I'm always looking for statistically-based assessments to combat the caustic attitudes that lurk in some parts of the city (and this forum ;-).
Im wondering when they say that, it is for the metro?
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NJ has very little in common with Upstate, NY, mostly, and one can't compare tax bills, dollar for dollar, and come away with any rational conclusions. NY has like 20 of the 25 highest-taxed counties in the country, re: property tax rates, and one might be shocked to find some of those counties near to the top are mostly rural in nature. No wonder people continue to flee NY.
