Have to move. Young and single..Asheville suburbs vs Boone?

[StreetSmarts]

Originally Posted by carolinadawg2

He/she did: "Just checked the average salaries for these professions in my home town as compared to Asheville. They're just about the same."

You're right. He/she did in fact say that, surprisingly. My bad.

[StreetSmarts]

i have family there! i am very, very surprised to hear that. i didnt realize pay was so low there, yikes.

[ucctgg]

Originally Posted by westboundrambler

Just checked the average salaries for these professions in my home town as compared to Asheville. They're just about the same. The min. wage is lower than Michigan in NC, but not by much and it looks like the cost of living as compared to quality of life is higher in Asheville. All and all with a give and take it's a wash. But with the OP comparing it to Chicago, well Chicago has one of the worst quality of life to cost of living ratios, so I don't think anything would shock someone coming from Chi.

There has been so much going back and forth on this that I looked up some real numbers.

All of those "salary....com" type sites vary a great deal for the same job in the same city,
so I went to the actual city websites.

Grand Rapids and Asheville are both advertising for beginning firefighters.

Asheville salary: $30,832
GR salary: $39,417

[westboundrambler]

Hmm, the numbers i saw were approx.

Asheville:32,000
GR:34,000

Don't recall what site I used now, 2,00 isn't much of a difference, but 9 is. Granted, I don't think anyone here is planning on being a fire fighter. Carry on.

[poppydog]

I'm not in Asheville, but there was a thread recently on the Triangle board about Wake Co being the "richest" (highest income) county in NC, so I looked up some other NC counties on city-data to compare. Buncombe (Asheville) is at the bottom of the counties I looked up (I just looked up the biggest cities & tourist destinations, trying to find the highest incomes, I'm sure there are counties with much lower incomes). So when people say the pay is low in Asheville, I think they're also comparing it to pay elsewhere in NC.

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Wake (Raleigh suburbs)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $63,609 ($54,988 in 1999)

Union (Charlotte suburbs)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $62,387 ($50,638 in 1999)

Mecklenburg (Charlotte)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $52,881 ($50,579 in 1999)

Cabarrus (Charlotte suburb)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $51,846 ($46,140 in 1999)

Orange (Chapel Hill)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $50,158 ($42,372 in 1999)

Johnston (Raleigh suburbs)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $49,102 ($40,872 in 1999)

Durham (Durham)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $48,457 ($43,337 in 1999)

Chatham (Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh suburbs)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $47,761 ($42,851 in 1999)

Iredell (outlying Charlotte suburbs/Statesville)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $47,344 ($41,920 in 1999)

Dare (Outer Banks)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $47,270 ($42,411 in 1999)

Lincoln (outside Charlotte)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $47,242 ($41,421 in 1999)

Forsyth (Winston-Salem)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $45,583 ($42,097 in 1999)

Currituck (Northern Outer Banks)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $45,499 ($40,822 in 1999)

Moore (Pinehurst/Southern Pines)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $45,193 ($41,240 in 1999)

New Hanover (Wilmington)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $44,334 ($40,172 in 1999)

Guilford (Greensboro)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $44,176 ($42,618 in 1999)

Cumberland (Fayetteville)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $40,834 ($37,466 in 1999)

Buncombe (Asheville)
Estimated median household income in 2009: $40,675 ($36,666 in 1999)