How much of a Salary hit did you take? (Dallas: transplants, for sale)

[Rollingon]

For those of you who moved to Dallas from California, New York, New Jersey, Boston, Seattle - the high cost areas to Dallas how much of a hit did you take on salary? If you could share percentage eg 5/10/15/20?

This is especially towards Fiance, IT, Pharmaceuticals professionals with 15/20 years of service experience and in executive roles?

Thanks

[Beardown91737]

I work in IT and definitely non-executive. I was relocated from working in San Bernadino, CA to Plano, TX. (I did not live in San Bernardino and the office was in a low-crime area that bordered Loma Linda).

I moved 6 years ago. It was one of those "or else" propositions and I was in my late 50s at the time. No salary hit and they fully paid relocation, so I brought everything and let the TX landfills hold the junk I brought.

I also got a 1 week trip to work with a realtor and see houses, none of which interested me so I rented an apartment and the realtor eventually found some new construction. The members of this forum say that transplants tend to choose new construction.

I had no salary hit and got the average raise for the company over the past 6 years.

As far as expenses, housing is less costly, but that has narrowed in the past 6 years as more relocations have increased the demand. It used to be that $100 per square foot was a rule of thumb, but that went out the window in 2014.

General cost of living, groceries, retail, restaurant meals, is about the same as in Inland Southern California. Surprisingly, you won't save a bundle on auto insurance due to the chance of hail damage.

The other surprise may be property tax, which is about 2.5% of your assessed value. Transplants from California need to know that in other states like TX, your home can be reassessed every year and your property tax increases while you are living in it. (It might freeze after you turn 65)

[Rollingon]

Thanks for your detailed reply. Cheers

[texstout]

I moved ten years ago from D.C. so my data may be out of date, but I took 0 difference even though I moved companies. (Hi-Tech). We were renting in D.C. so moving afforded us the opportunity to live in an inner Dallas neighborhood (our preference). Our home that we bought has probably increased in value close to 50% since we moved here (popular neighborhood). Real Estate taxes are bad though.

[albert648]

Originally Posted by texstout

... Real Estate taxes are bad though.

I imagine those taxes are a big part of what keeps DFW housing affordable, so I suppose it's a double edged sword.

I stopped looking in California/NY fairly early in my job search process but I was looking at maybe a 20% pay increase in San Francisco/NY vs. DFW. Between taxes and higher cost of living, wasn't worth the trouble. Didn't bother looking in Seattle as the numbers didn't make sense, but only a slight bump to DFW with a significantly higher cost of living. Chicago was more or less comparable in expected pay vs. DFW (less than 5%) but on the higher end of the range, North Carolina was ~10-15% lower than here. Colorado was more or less similar but on the lower end of the DFW range. Non-executive IT role here.

[LakeLifePA]

Texas has high real estate taxes, but no income tax, so it's a wash depending upon your income and/or house value.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Robert20170

Texas has high real estate taxes, but no income tax, so it's a wash depending upon your income and/or house value.

Vs. higher tax states starting at about median income it is definitely not a wash. However, as you say one can self select into more and more taxes by buying more and more house around here.

A new issue is NY and CA for sure and NJ and MA and a couple of others are seeing increased out-migration due to covid and related issues.....they'll be looking to increase taxes on those who stay.

[Treasurevalley92]

Originally Posted by albert648

I imagine those taxes are a big part of what keeps DFW housing affordable, so I suppose it's a double edged sword.

Building lots of new homes to meet demand is the main reason housing has stayed affordablish, it really is that simple.

[texstout]

Originally Posted by Treasurevalley92

Building lots of new homes to meet demand is the main reason housing has stayed affordablish, it really is that simple.

Exactly why my home has appreciated so greatly. Inner Dallas neighborhoods have appreciated a lot compared to outer suburbs due to scarce resources. For those people that want to live inside the loop (which I define as Northwest Highway/Loop 12 or even I-635), housing prices have increased greatly. The Lower Greenville home I bought in 2001 (prior to moving to the East Coast) for $175K I sold in 2003 for $215K..modest bump ..but I saw recently it was for sale around $700K without significant remodeling.



In the outer burbs, prices have increased, but not as high due to the ability to continue to build new builds in older farmerland. As available land decreases, prices will of course increase as well as with recent high profile company re-locations to the Northern area (e.g., Toyota).

[Clever nickname here]

Texas is fairly middle of the road for complete tax burden.
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-wit...-burden/20494/