move to anchorage from NYC (Palmer, Craig: sales, real estate, 2015)

[tanvirfaeque]

hi i am 26 yrs man working in a bakery in Manhattan get paid like 9$ an hrs which is not enough to live over here, so i decided to move in Alaska (Anchorage) on august, i also saved like 2000$ to move over there. so i need some advice about job, living expense, transportation etc about Anchorage. thank you.

[AKStafford]

If you go to get an apartment, first/last month rent & deposit will eat up most of that $2000. How are you getting here?
Jobs: www.CraigsList.com or Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Anchorage has a bus system: People Mover

You'll find a ton of information on these forums. Read as much of them as you can.

Personally... I think $2000 isn't quite enough to start life over in Anchorage. And coming up here without a job is risky.

But... Other's have come with less and done fine. Of course, some have come up with more and failed...

[tigre79]

What made you decide on Anchorage?

[claycassden]

That's a pretty radical change. 2k? Man... not good, you can make it work but you're going to rough it for sure.

I'm not even confident and I have $4,700 saved up for a move.

[stiffnecked]

If you stay down at Brother Francis while you're looking for work you can make that 2K stretch a long way. Just live very frugal and you'll make it.

[Dakster]

I don't mean to bust your bubble, but rather protect you from failure.

Is this $2k just liquid capital and you have credit cards that will carry you? IS this $2k supposed to get you TO Alaska as well? Even if it isn't, I agree that $2k isn't enough to move anywhere, even if all you move is a suitcase and the clothes on your back... ESPECIALLY if you do not have a job lined up- What are your skills? What are you planning on doing?

I am not sure that $2k will get you a place to stay and utilities turned on. Even if it did, how do you eat?

Hopefully you have figured all this out. This goes for WHEREVER you would move to, not just Alaska...

[Kaul]

Many people do not realize that Alaska is actually an expensive place to live . Alaska is ranked higher than New York and California for the cost of living. .
Cost of Living 1st Quarter 2011

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by Kaul

Many people do not realize that Alaska is actually an expensive place to live . Alaska is ranked higher than New York and California for the cost of living. .
Cost of Living 1st Quarter 2011

I have been to New York and the cost of living in Alaska is not as expensive as NewYork, I assure you. Spent a couple months there and husband is from there. Their sales tax is probably close to 9% now and we won't talk about property and school taxes.

BTW if it were as expensive as NY we wouldn't be living here! In the bush, it's a different story.

[tigre79]

You can't really compare cost of living state-to-state, since there's so much variation. Manhattan is quite different from towns upstate, and Anchorage is different from Palmer, which is different from McGrath, etc. And even with a similar cost of living, the cost breakdown may be different. Around here, the groceries and gas and heating bills are spendy, but housing prices are pretty reasonable. In Anchorage, real estate is more but just about everything else costs less. So the best strategy to save money may vary between places, even if the overall outlay is similar.

[Alaskapat528]

I don't see much difference from Anchorage to Palmer...and N.Y. is crazy with taxes. I should have added the smaller communities up here when I said the bush is a different story. And, NY is defintely more expensive than Anchorage, E River and the Valley.