Cost of living (Anchorage: sale, cheap apartment, rental)

[Daconseen]

I am currently debating moving to anchorage. I was offered a Job and was wondering if anyone could tell me if it will be enough to live on. I've looked at websites but they don't really makes sense to me.

[Nephler]

Depends on how much the job is paying.

[bushea]

Here's something to consider Not only is the money enough. But Are you leaving a career or job you have been with for many years. Is it a stable company and does it offer real job security. Also your age if you are considering a change for all the right reasons are you able to be with out employment for extended periods of time if the new job doesn't work out. Remember the older you get the harder it becomes to compete in the job market. This most definitely isn't a good time as far as the economy stands
to leave a long time career unless you are truly equipped to to manage for a good year without employment if things go bad.

[Trevor123]

I'm sure you don't want to post your personal info like what you were offered, so is their specifically something you don't understand on the CoL calcs? The folks here seem to bend over backward to help folks, so the more info you can provide the more helpful they can be.

[Daconseen]

My biggest concern is that the median salary is 77,000 and I was offered half that. I am currently unemployed and this would be my first job in my field. They are offering full benefits and a signing bonus.. I just want to be sure before I move that I can easily survive on the $.

[danreynolds1975]

I'll preface this by saying that I haven't lived in Anchorage yet (we're moving up there next month), but I have been doing a LOT of research into the cost of living up there for for the last six months or so.

We currently live in California, and have experienced the cost of living both in the cheaper areas of California (the central valley, where we currently live), and in the higher priced areas (the bay area, where we used to live). I personally have also lived in both the midwest, southwest and southeast regions of the country (yes I've moved around a lot in my lifetime).

So far my research on living costs for Anchorage are that they are pretty comparable to California. The groceries seem to be pretty comparable to prices in California. Right now I'm looking at the weekly specials for Carr's in Anchorage, Raley's in Merced, safeway in San Francisco and Kroger's in Altanta, Ga. These are all large grocery chains that are mid to high end quality. I didn't want to use any bargain basement or high end boutique types businesses to keep as close a comparison as possible.

The 80% lean ground chuck is on sale in Anchorage for $2.79 per pound. The same product is advertised at Raley's in Merced for $2.99 per pound, in S.F. the closest was 93% lean ground beef for $3.99 per pound (I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they just turned their noses at you if you asked for 80% ground chuck there). In Atlanta ground chuck is selling for $2.50 per pound.

Eggs are a bit more expensive in Anchorage, $3.00 for a dozen eggs there compared to $2.78 for an 18 carton of eggs in Merced. In S.F. eggs clocked in at $2.50 per dozen. Kroger of Atlanta has a dozen eggs for $1.18.

For breads I was able to find the store brand on sale. In Anchorage a loaf of safeway's kitchen variety bread is $2.29 per loaf, while raley's split top bread is $2.28 per loaf. In the bay area safeway a loaf of bread was on sale for $2.50. Atlanta didn't have the store brand on sale, but pepperidge farms was selling for $1.99 a loaf, so I would assume store brand would be around $1.50 or so.

A 2 liter bottle of coke is selling for $2.00 in Anchorage, $1.25 in Merced, $1.79 in S.F. and $1.00 in Atlanta.

For produce I had to do things a bit differently because the items were so different, so I went to a direct comparison between Anchorage and another city. Sweet corn in Anchorage is 4 for $2, in Merced it's 5 for $2. Apples in Anchorage are $2.49 per pound and $1.99 per pound in S.F.. Baby carrots are $4.00 for two 16 ounce packages, in Atlanta it is the same price for organic carrots, so you can assume non organic would be cheaper.

For gas prices I used gas buddy.com to look up local gas prices. I went with regular and choose the midpoint of the low price range (to factor out any super low blowout deals that might skew the regular prices). Anchorage was running at around $3.87 per gallon, Merced at $3.62, S.F. was $3.65 and Atlanta was $3.55.

Rental prices are a bit trickier. We all know that you can find a dirt cheap apartment anywhere (but usually you get what you pay for), and also rental prices can vary wildly within a single city due to what neighborhood you choose. What I did was use apartments.com and choose a 2 bed/1 bath apartment in the city. I then sorted by price, low to high and just came up with an average of what that might cost from the first page. I know it's not very scientific, but it does give a rough estimate of price range. For Anchorage I came up with a range of $950-1200, Merced only had one property come up, so I went with the closest large city, Fresno, which was $750-1000. S.F. was $1100-2000 and Atlanta was $550-900.

Unfortunately, I had some trouble finding average cost of utilities one one single website for all the cities I'm using for comparison. I did however, find a good website, payscale.com that includes a cost of living calculator. I was able to use it to compare the average utility costs as a percentile score between the cities (these numbers are going to seem low to anyone living in Alaska because I know heating bills can get pretty high in the winter months, but before any of you Alaskans start calling B.S. on me, remember that in the lower 48 people have to cool their homes in the summer, and that can be just as expensive a proposition). For Merced vs. Anchorage, the average utilities cost is 21% lower in Anchorage (this seems skewed, but here in the central valley temperatures will reach 100+ for fairly long streches, and electric bills in the summer soar due to the need to cool the house. It's kind of Anchorage in reverse). For S.F. the average for utilities are 5% higher in Anchorage than in S.F.. In the comparison between Atlanta and Anchorage, the average utility bill is 15% higher in Anchorage.

So it will cost you more to live in Anchorage than it will in the lower 48, but the degree of difference will vary wildly depending on where you are moving from. If you're coming from a high cost of living area such as California, Hawaii or New York City the difference won't be that bad, or may even be negligible. If you're coming from one of the more affordable areas of the country though (the midwest or the southeast for example), be prepared for a significant difference in cost of living, and by all means plan accordingly.

[TL551]

danreynolds1975 - I know what you mean about the summer heat and airconditioning in the lower 48. I lived in Kansas and Colorado where it would get hot! It seemed you couldn't get away from the high cost of electricity in the summer and gas in the winter! For daconseen - you may pay more here for gasoline for your vehicle. I don't know what you are spending now however. What type of a job are you looking at? Will it consist of travel?

[roadfamily6now]

Originally Posted by Daconseen

My biggest concern is that the median salary is 77,000 and I was offered half that. I am currently unemployed and this would be my first job in my field. They are offering full benefits and a signing bonus.. I just want to be sure before I move that I can easily survive on the $.

Are you single? Do you have children? what is your current debt load?

1/2 of $75K is pretty low for Anchorage but if you are single and have no debt, you might be okay.

How does the company look? Chance for promotions high? Long term employment?

[Dreams2Plans]

Originally Posted by Daconseen

My biggest concern is that the median salary is 77,000 and I was offered half that. I am currently unemployed and this would be my first job in my field. They are offering full benefits and a signing bonus.. I just want to be sure before I move that I can easily survive on the $.

In this case, I'd take it gladly!!

And don't worry too much about salary - I don't think that, being unemployed now, you are used to the kind of lifestyle that you won't be able to afford here with that! There are many ways to save, too... still, seriously, almost $3K a mo is living like a KING, in my book!

Besides, they are offering full benefits and a signing bonus... yahoo! Still thinking?

[naturesdreams]

DanReynolds... wow... you've done your homework for sure... I live in Madison, Wisconsin and the cost of living here (great mid-west) has been ranked 6th highest (tax wise)... I love the detail and thank you since I am considering visiting and looking into Anchorage myself. I do like the SE of Alaska but the cost of living there can be OH so high. Jobs for me would probably run about the same but the advantage I have is I own my own home so i would be purchasing a much more modest home when I move. That should keep my cost down... maybe if you have savings look into a condo?? something to build equity on?.. I think it sounds like a winner for you all the way around. With a job in your field, bonus and everything else... sounds like a great adventure to me... after all, what's life without great adventures?? Good luck