[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by Sugah Ray

I think the numbers were manipulated but I also believe there is a lot of poverty in central Florida because Coastal areas tend to attract wealthier people. It is just much easier to buy a home inland. They probably included a lot of those poor counties in central FL when they did their calculation.

I have seen some areas that look almost like ghost towns

Yes, the cheerleading hometown rag (Orlando Sentinel) manufactured numbers. Furthermore they didn't randomly add counties as the metro area includes Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake Counties. It is what it is..

[The b8nk]

What I would like to know is, if OP or the other guy has actually been anywhere outside of their neighborhood. Driving around Central Florida you can see the poverty, and even though statistics prove it, I can visually see that FL is hurting economically as well. So they are building more ginger bread houses, what does that even mean? Check the job listings, we lose good potential employees to states like TX, CA, NC and NY who thrive in the financial, manufacturing and high tech industries.

[Trigger-f]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

The problem I find with the articles quoted is that none of them state what types of jobs make up the "study"

I would think if was as bad as your sources say it is, there would be thousands and thousands of people living on the street or living in tent cities and that any charitable resource would be overwhelmed on a daily basis providing for all the people who are in the quoted 37 percent. Businesses would shut their doors en masse due to the fact that no one could afford anything they sold. Apartment complexes would turn into ghost towns as there wouldnt be enough people to rent the apartments. Crime would be outrageous as the have nots rob the haves blind. Is it that 43 percent of the working population supports the economy?

The Cities Where A Paycheck Stretches The Furthest | Newgeography.com

""Over time, it seems clear that, for the most part, the best prospects for the future lie in places that both experience income and employment gains but remain relatively affordable. ""

After you take into account/calculate the COL for example, Tampa Bay is less than $4K ($54,969) below DC ($58,672) which supposedly pays a lot more. Either way most cities are within $50K-$60K.

Watch them trying to disprove this now..

[The b8nk]

Not sure what your rant was above but Im sure the stats are disproving it, LOL

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL $50,462 Rank 43


Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV $79,852 Rank 2

Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando had some of the lowest AVG salaries on that list...

[Trigger-f]

Originally Posted by The b8nk

Not sure what your rant was above but Im sure the stats are disproving it, LOL

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL $50,462 Rank 43


Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV $79,852 Rank 2

Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando had some of the lowest AVG salaries on that list...

After COL is calculated, DC wages go down to $58,672 (Tampa goes up to $54,969). This is negligible, which is my point. People make more up North but they also spend more. You make less down here because COL is lower (salaries and COL go hand in hand), but it's too complicated to understand right?

Here's a list from 2013 for job growth.

Large Cities Rankings - 2013 Best Cities for Job Growth | Newgeography.com

Look how many major cities are below Tampa(28) (btw, DC is 26th) (even Jax and ORL are not what you paint them to be). LA is 49, Chicago 52.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by Trigger-f

After COL is calculated, DC wages go down to $58,672 (Tampa goes up to $54,969). This is negligible, which is my point. People make more up North but they also spend more. You make less down here because COL is lower (salaries and COL go hand in hand), but it's too complicated to understand right?

:crickets:

[LordHomunculus]

Originally Posted by Trigger-f

The Cities Where A Paycheck Stretches The Furthest | Newgeography.com

""Over time, it seems clear that, for the most part, the best prospects for the future lie in places that both experience income and employment gains but remain relatively affordable. ""

After you take into account/calculate the COL for example, Tampa Bay is less than $4K ($54,969) below DC ($58,672) which supposedly pays a lot more. Either way most cities are within $50K-$60K.

Watch them trying to disprove this now..

Good article. I also noticed that their CoL data comes from C2ER, which is a source that I have talked about a lot before. I actually think that C2ER is the only group that has attempted in producing good CoL indexes and they're even referred to by the Census. I would believe this is where the CoL indexes would come from?:

http://www.comparebloomington.us/inc...2541343573.pdf

But there are a few things I should point out. Even though C2ER seems to be the best source for CoL data (well, from what I've found) and I also refer to them, I'm also aware that they didn't acknowledge a few things. For example, C2ER uses gas and auto maintenance prices for their indexes (its under Transportation). Of course, gas prices and auto maintenance prices are very important. But it seems like C2ER doesn't acknowledge that those two things are heavily dependent on how car orientated an area is, whether there is good public transportation, sprawl, etc. They also didn't acknowledge the average price of a car, which is important if you're living in an area that is heavily car orientated and requires...well...a car. Also, if the "weights" of those categories mean what I think they mean, then "Gasonline" and "Auto Maintenance" are two factors that have a huge weight in their overall CoL index value. Therefore, that's definitely something to consider.

Another thing is the "Telephone" factor under Utilities. I think that value is based on prices for an actual house phone. I would think that many people are using cell phones nowadays and I think cell phone prices and plans have the same prices everywhere.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by Trigger-f

After COL is calculated, DC wages go down to $58,672 (Tampa goes up to $54,969). This is negligible, which is my point. People make more up North but they also spend more. You make less down here because COL is lower (salaries and COL go hand in hand), but it's too complicated to understand right?

Here's a list from 2013 for job growth.

Large Cities Rankings - 2013 Best Cities for Job Growth | Newgeography.com

Look how many major cities are below Tampa(28) (btw, DC is 26th) (even Jax and ORL are not what you paint them to be). LA is 49, Chicago 52.

That sure is an interesting spin on things and would explain why people are leaving DC in droves.....LOL. Washington, DC - In Photos: America's 20 Fastest Growing Cities - Forbes

Furthermore people have more to spend up north, versus say Tampa (the home of Amscot). The U.S. Cities With the Most Leftover to Spend ... After Paying for Housing - Richard Florida - The Atlantic Cities If you're looking for Florida cities, they're well below the line and to the left...of course.

[8to32characters]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

The facts would indicate it's closer to the truth. Central Florida sits a few thousand above 25K on average, so it wouldn't be a far cry to suggest 25K as a statewide average.

It's no mystery that Florida lacks well-paying jobs and that most people make under $30k/yr. This is most evident when you look at frequency of safe, upscale suburban areas in the state.

FWIW, there's really no continuous stretch of upscale suburban areas in the entire state. As much as I hate Dallas and Atlanta, there are probably more safe, upscale suburban areas surrounding those cities there are in all of Florida. And, of course, there's nothing like Orange County, NOVA, or North Jersey in Florida either.

[The b8nk]

Why is there always crackheads or bums just "passing through" in the "upscale" areas of Florida neighborhoods, lol you dont see that in other states, except maybe California