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SACRAMENTO: 0 Days: Temps never stayed in the 70's during the night and morning. Always dropped to 50's and 60's.
Sacramento is on average 15-20 degrees cooler than Austin durning summer evenings, nights, and mornings. This means Air Conditioning needs to run twice as long or more in Austin compared to Sacramento.
Sacramento has 8 hrs of coolish-comfortable temps per day; that is 8hrs more than Austin per day on average during the summer.
Hi all. My husband and our two small children are looking to relocate for a variety of reasons, but mainly for more job opportunities for DH who works in marketing. We love Sacramento, but the jobs here are limited and home prices only keep increasing. We've looked into many cities, and as far as we can tell, Portland, Raleigh and Austin appear to be good contenders. (We also looked into CO Springs and Salt Lake City, but we're not snow people. Boise looked good, but no jobs there.)
How would you compare these cities in terms of being family-friendly? That would include low crime, number of parks, outdoor recreation, libraries, slower pace of life and overall family values. We will be homeschooling, so schools are not a factor for us. We'd also love to have a good-sized back yard, since that is nearly impossible to attain in our area. Weather matters as far as how much outdoor time we can enjoy.
If you're familiar with Sacramento, how does it compare to living in these cities?
Your input is much appreciated!
Im from the Lodi area, and know Austin very well. Only visited Portland and Raleigh.
Portland would be the most similar only because its a west coast city. Its the only one where you will be as comfortable outside as Sacramento. Also considering Sacramento's proximity to mountains and coast.
Austin is a boomtown and theres a ton going on there. Job wise would probably have more opportunity, it would be like Sacramento but with a significant tech industry. Weather will be a shock, while the summer highs arent much different, its much more uncomfortable. You will run AC from May to September 24/7.
Raleigh is a nice town, but if you are west coast coast people, it would be tough to be that far from home. Initially you would like any of these towns, but it does wear off. Weather in Raliegh would be a shock as well just because of the higher humidity. We moved to the Ft Worth area, which is a great town and enjoy it here, but its much more limited than Sacramento on the outdoor and weather front. In California in general, buying a home is different, you really have to prepare and budget and ride out the highs and lows. The other cities will be cheaper, but you want see the dramatic rise in prices. This is nice, but you will never see much appreciation either.
slo1318 - Thank you for your helpful observations. I think you're right about us being west coast people and Raleigh being so far. While it may be a good fit, being somewhat close to family is certainly a big plus. The weather, though in can be inconvenient, isn't necessarily our top priority, otherwise we would stay here; we have great weather in Sac. But I do appreciate your comparisons and it's good to hear that information from a local.
Not that old chestnut. I'm sorry to bring facts into play but the most recent statistics I could find ranks the state's tax burdens as (the lower the number, the higher the burden) and the per capita tax burden as:
California #6 $4,934
Washington #14 $4,261
Oregon #21 $3,729
North Carolina #28 $3,535
Texas #37 $3,104
But you are right that the climates are very different between Portland and Sacramento or Austin; while the culture is very different between Sacramento and Austin or Raleigh.
I don't know how they calculate those taxes but you have to calculate your situation to have any meaning to you. In my case, I worked as an international consultant for the last 10 years...had I stayed in Oregon rather than moving to Washington, I would have paid an additional $300,000 in state taxes during that time period. So 'facts" calculated on some other person's situation mean nothing.
They calculate it by looking at ALL the taxes we pay to our respective states ... not just focusing on one type of tax (like income).
If you think you didn't pay that same amount in taxes to Washington during that time period, you'reidding yourself.
No I didn't pay anything close to $300,000 in state taxes in Washington the last 10 years....probably about $40K so I saved about $260,000 in Washington. That's why you have to calculate what you pay in taxes in a given state.
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