It is obvious that putting Cleveland against Philadelphia in a city battle would be useless (as we all know who would win that one), so I've decided to make the game a bit more fair.
You may (or may not) have seen my posts, or recognize my name, but in short I am planning a move in Early 2013 to what looks like Cleveland. However, Philadelphia also looms over head as well. So to cover all of my bases I would like to get thoughts on how vast the gap will be in a cost of living factor.
So here is the situation (please keep these numbers in mind)... I will be moving to Cleveland with a car and roughly $8,000 in hand. Or I will be moving to Philadelphia without a car and roughly $12,000 in hand. Also let it be known, I am single without kids or much of any debt.
Here's the criteria...
1) With the above numbers, which city will give me more for my money? Which city will I have more of a fighting chance with? Keep in mind, I will have $4k extra in Philly, but how far will that stretch? Also keep in mind that I'll have a car in Cleveland (although great to get around) that adds extra cost and I'll have $4k less to work with. See? Isn't this game fun? Cleveland is probably more cost efficient, but when you factor all these things in it makes for a pretty even playing field.
2) Employment - Where are jobs more plentiful/in demand (factories or customer service), and where do the jobs pay more in comparison to their COL? I make $11.59/hr right now, where do I have a better chance of getting that pay again?
3) Taxes - I figure I'd throw this in for good measure. I don't care about home/property taxes at all. I simply care about how hard the City, State, and Government is going to screw me without lube on a weekly basis. I will be living AND working in the city proper. No suburbs for me thank you very much!
4) Apartments - I have a budget of $500-$600 a month for a place. Where will I get more bang for my buck?*
5) Food and Miscellaneous - Which city is more cost efficient for food & entertainment? And yes, I know everyone has different ideas of "fun". Let's just say as for yourself if you were in each city for one night, where would you be getting a better value?
6) Anything else you may want to add.
* Please do not include safety of neighborhoods or anything else as I will include that in the QOL Battle. I simply want to know which city will give me more square footage and a better value in my place.
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