Raleigh/Durham or Dallas/Fort Worth? (condos, beach, title)

[anyhoo73]

The cost of living is not actually cheaper in Dallas when you consider what it costs to pay for the utilities on aforementioned "McMansion" and don't forget about the unbelievably HIGH property taxes.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by anyhoo73

The cost of living is not actually cheaper in Dallas when you consider what it costs to pay for the utilities on aforementioned "McMansion" and don't forget about the unbelievably HIGH property taxes.

I think your numbers are very wrong.

Wake county (Raleigh) in North Carolina, has a median household income of $81,000, and the property taxes are 2% of income, or $1,620

The North Carolina income tax law says "If your income range is between $60,001 and $120,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 7.75%.". That means that the median family pays $6,277.50.

So the total income and property tax in Wake county is $7,897.50

The median income in Dallas county is $62,593, and the property tax takes an average of 4.3%, or $2,691.50.

Wake county taxes: $7,897.50
Dallas county taxes: $2,691.50.

Any more questions?

BTW, the North Carolina income tax guide is at North Carolina Income Tax Rates - North Carolina & other state tax rates information. NC tax calcul

[aceplace]

What about weather differences? Raleigh has more humid summers, but how humid?

For June, July and August, Raleigh has an average of 3.9 in, 4.6 in, and 4.3 in of rain, or 12.8 inches for the summer.

Dallas has 3.5 in, 2.4 in, and 2.3 in, for a total of 8.2 inches.

Dallas: 8.2 inches
Raleigh: 12.8 inches

The amount of water falling out of the sky correlates to the relative humidity, so as a rough estimate, we might say that Raleigh summers are about 50% more humid than Dallas summers.

But there's evidence of further pain to come.

If you discount June, since half of a Dallas June is fairly pleasant, and only consider the really hot days of july and August, the numbers are even worse for Raleigh.

Dallas: 4.7 inches
Raleigh: 8.9 inches

So, in the two hottest months of a Dallas summer, Raleigh may be twice as wet and humid as Dallas.

http://countrystudies.us/united-stat...xas/dallas.htm
http://countrystudies.us/united-stat...na/raleigh.htm

[unexpected]

Originally Posted by aceplace

What about weather differences? Raleigh has more humid summers, but how humid?

For June, July and August, Raleigh has an average of 3.9 in, 4.6 in, and 4.3 in of rain, or 12.8 inches for the summer.

Dallas has 3.5 in, 2.4 in, and 2.3 in, for a total of 8.2 inches.

Dallas: 8.2 inches
Raleigh: 12.8 inches

The amount of water falling out of the sky correlates to the relative humidity, so as a rough estimate, we might say that Raleigh summers are about 50% more humid than Dallas summers.

But there's evidence of further pain to come.

If you discount June, since half of a Dallas June is fairly pleasant, and only consider the really hot days of july and August, the numbers are even worse for Raleigh.

Dallas: 4.7 inches
Raleigh: 8.9 inches

So, in the two hottest months of a Dallas summer, Raleigh may be twice as wet and humid as Dallas.

Dallas Weather - Texas - Average Temperatures and Rainfall
Raleigh Weather - North Carolina - Average Temperatures and Rainfall

or, you know, instead of trying to correlate humidity with rainfall numbers, you could, actually, LOOK AT THE HUMIDITY NUMBERS THEMSELVES:

Moderator cut: links to competing sites not allowed

And when you look the ACTUAL HUMIDITY NUMBERS, you would see that during the summer, yea RDU is 10% more humid than DFW. Great. Not the "twice as humid" that you speak of. Of course, you probably saw these numbers, realized that they didn't support your POV, so you ignored them, and are going to keep trying to push a point, which has essentially been debunked in this thread by people that have actually lived in in this area long enough to comment about it.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by unexpected

or, you know, instead of trying to correlate humidity with rainfall numbers, you could, actually, LOOK AT THE HUMIDITY NUMBERS THEMSELVES:

Moderator cut: links deleted

And when you look the ACTUAL HUMIDITY NUMBERS, you would see that during the summer, yea RDU is 10% more humid than DFW. Great. Not the "twice as humid" that you speak of. Of course, you probably saw these numbers, realized that they didn't support your POV, so you ignored them, and are going to keep trying to push a point, which has essentially been debunked in this thread by people that have actually lived in in this area long enough to comment about it.

Unexpected, do you realize that your links are invalid? They both point to the same DFW page.

Basically, I don't put much faith in your numbers, and anybody can put anything on a web page. That does not make it factual. Plus the fact that there is no such thing as "average humidity for a month". In fact, there are no averages in the natural world.

There is the old story about the statistician who drowned in a pond because he read it had an average depth of 12 inches.

The numbers for total rainfall for a month contradict your figures, and the rainfall numbers are actual measured values, not "averages", cooked up by some unknown mongrel calculation. In fact, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of ways to calculate an average, and they all give different values.

The bottom line is that if twice as much water falls out of the sky, there was twice as much water vapor there to begin with, and this materially damages the ability of the body to shed heat by perspiration.

Another indicator, or proxy as we call it, is the types of vegetation in Raleigh in the summer, versus Dallas in the summer. Dallas summers are dried-out grasses, very shotr trees clumped next to lakes and streams, and not much water. Raleigh is very lush and green, a continuous spread of pine trees, and is a biome that requires a wet, humid climate. This supports my thesis of twice as much water, twice as much humidity.

[unexpected]

Originally Posted by aceplace

Unexpected, do you realize that your links are invalid? They both point to the same DFW page.

Basically, I don't put much faith in your numbers, and anybody can put anything on a web page. That does not make it factual. Plus the fact that there is no such thing as "average humidity for a month". In fact, there are no averages in the natural world.

There is the old story about the statistician who drowned in a pond because he read it had an average depth of 12 inches.

The numbers for total rainfall for a month contradict your figures, and the rainfall numbers are actual measured values, not "averages", cooked up by some unknown mongrel calculation. In fact, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of ways to calculate an average, and they all give different values.

The bottom line is that if twice as much water falls out of the sky, there was twice as much water vapor there to begin with, and this materially damages the ability of the body to shed heat by perspiration.

Another indicator, or proxy as we call it, is the types of vegetation in Raleigh in the summer, versus Dallas in the summer. Dallas summers are dried-out grasses, very shotr trees clumped next to lakes and streams, and not much water. Raleigh is very lush and green, a continuous spread of pine trees, and is a biome that requires a wet, humid climate. This supports my thesis of twice as much water, twice as much humidity.

You make RDU sound like a rainforest. My biggest problem with your thesis is you're drawing a one to one correlation between rainfall and humidity. There are many factors involved in making rain, humidity being only one of them.

You can measure average humidity by measuring the humidity each day, then dividing it out by the number of days in a month. not some "mongrel calculation"

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by unexpected

You make RDU sound like a rainforest. My biggest problem with your thesis is you're drawing a one to one correlation between rainfall and humidity. There are many factors involved in making rain, humidity being only one of them.

You can measure average humidity by measuring the humidity each day, then dividing it out by the number of days in a month. not some "mongrel calculation"

No, I'm drawing a correlation between the amount of water vapor in the air available to make rain, and the amount of eventual rainwater. That would seem like a pretty cut-and-dried relationship.

The method of averaging you described would be meaningless, since relative humidity varies during the day. Plus, you can't physically measure relative humidity, it's a calculated, not measured, number. That's why the word "relative" is in the phrase "relative humidity".

By the way, your averaging method is missing a step. You forgot to mention that you need to add all the measurements for a month before you divide by the number of days in a month.

[unexpected]

yes, i figured someone with your esteemed intellectual abilities would be able to figure out that I missed a step.

but sure, 4 inches of rain a month, which basically amounts to an extra thunderstorm or two a month, essentially means that RDU is twice as humid as DFW throughout the whole month.

I can't figure out if you're serious Moderator cut: deleted

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by unexpected

yes, i figured someone with your esteemed intellectual abilities would be able to figure out that I missed a step.

but sure, 4 inches of rain a month, which basically amounts to an extra thunderstorm or two a month, essentially means that RDU is twice as humid as DFW throughout the whole month.

I can't figure out if you're serious Moderator cut: cut .

If your garden-type thunderstorms produce 1 inch of rain each, you must be swirling in humidity.

Good luck.

Moderator cut: not necessary

[Beretta]

Mod Note:

Thanks so much for your spirited posts. No doubt your posts have given the OP much to consider. We ask that you please stay on topic and debate the OP's question and not each other. There have had to be several post edits deletions, unfortunately. We really don't want to have close this thread or issue infractions. As a reminder, if you have a problem with a particular post please use your Report icon in the upper right hand to call a Moderator. Please don't make rebuttal posts.

Thanks from your Dallas Mod Team!