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It is nonsense, because they adjust using a universal standard.
You ever see those crazy rankings that say you need to have like a 300k salary in NYC to equal a 30k salary in Mississippi? They come to these conclusions because they compare the exact same lifestyle- 4 bedroom suburban house, 2 car garage, quarter acre lot, cost of Walmart groceries, etc.
Well no one lives like that in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Like not one person. So obviously the comparison will be absurd.
If you moved from Mississippi to Manhattan, you wouldn't need to make 10 times more salary than before, you would just have to live like people live in Manhattan. So you would sell all your cars, you would move into a small apartment, you wouldn't entertain at home, wouldn't keep a ton of "stuff", etc.
It's the same currency, it's a different lifestyle pattern, and the adjustment is in the lifestyle, not in manufactured COL. If you live like a "normal" New Yorker, you don't need to make much more than a "normal" Mississippian, as long as you are comparing "average lifestyle" in both places (which COL comparisons never do).
Exactly - to live in New York, you would have to live more like a poor person.
And if you wanted to drive, etc obviously that would cost more. Groceries prob more expensive too. Eating out is the only thing that might be fairly similar.
Show me proof. Florida is one of the least taxed places on earth. People can rip on Florida for a lot of things but the taxes there aren't one of them.
Colorado's total state and local tax burden was 9.0% to Florida's 9.2% of income.
Colorado doesn't have a high income tax and the other taxes are low enough to cover the difference and then some.
All I can say is I'd rather live in a place with higher wage, pay a higher mortgage and perhaps have less disposable income and a 500K house that's paid for in 15 years as opposed to live in a place with lower wage, lower mortgage and more disposable income and a 100K house that's paid for in 15 years.
Difference in housing prices is by far the biggest factor in differences in COL. The $$ spend on your real estate is not being flushed down the drain, also let's not forget the regions with the highest COL also tend to the regions with the highest real estate appreciations.
And, yeah, Florida does way better on the taxes in that department. What the heck are these "Retirement Taxes" that Colorado has? No wonder people retire in Florida. Whatever you have coming in through a pension isn't snatched away by the government there.
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