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You're so wrong about Dallas. It may be cheap compared to New England standards. But as someone who has lived in NC, IA, and MO, Dallas is the most expensive place I've ever lived in the US.
My rent in DFW is double what it was in Iowa.
Yep. I have friends back in Raleigh. Most of them pay over $1000/mo for a simple 1br apartment. Certainly not NYC prices, but definitely not "cheap".
North Carolina, Iowa and Missouri are cheap states. Mentioning these three doesn't make your argument any stronger..
This is a perception that to be frank...is very irritating.
Those cities are "cheap" by your Boston standards.....it doesn't mean that every metro in the south is super affordable.
The Research Triangle area of NC used be considered "cheap" and still is when compared to the coastal cities of the Northeast.....but with so many people from the suburbs of New York, DC, and Boston getting glimmers in their eye over how new and shiny everything is here and how their money goes further for housing...the COL has gone up pretty significantly over the past 15 years.
Get out of your bubble.
These cities are undeniably on the cheaper end, so I don't know what he said that was so wrong. The South is the cheapest region in the US overall
These cities are undeniably on the cheaper end, so I don't know what he said that was so wrong. The South is the cheapest region in the US overall
It's all relative.
A person from Boston thinks Dallas is cheap. A person from Ohio or many parts of the midwest may find Dallas expensive. The Bos-Wash corridor and California aren't the "starting point" for the majority of Americans when factoring relative affordability.
But not every city is NYC or San Fran. Here in Pittsburgh we have expensive neighborhoods with costly new and old homes bordered by poor neighborhoods with old cheap homes, most in terrible condition. Our real estate market isn't fueled by people wanting to move to the city in general. The prices are driven up by wealthy people wanting to live in one of the few decent revitalized neighborhoods. I have a feeling that many cities are experiencing the same loss of the middle class and overall decline of neighborhoods.
There's a lot of variables. We lived in San Antonio, a city on that list, and if you want cheap you are in the ghetto. Otherwise, because Texas does not have state income tax, they gouge you in other ways. Some school districts will have MUCH higher property taxes than others. Even if you rent, the cost is passed along to you. I wouldn't consider housing in nice areas to be cheap in San Antonio.
Hilo, Hawaii located on the Big Island gets my vote for a place that should not be expensive to live in, but is. When we left 13 years ago you could easily find a small apt for $400. Now that same apt is $1000+, and the available housing is so low and the demand so high that the landlords or rental agencies can make all sorts of demands on tenants. It's not unusual to see stipulations like: no overnight guests, no pets, no smoking, no loud noises, no this and no that, and a credit ck, background ck, and 6 references. Who do they think they're gonna be renting to, Al Capone?
The kicker is that the local economy is pretty crappy, most of the tourists go to the other side where the sun and beaches are (and where the housing is about equal to San Francisco prices), there really isn't much to do, the bus system is almost non existent, the medical facilities are sub standard, groceries are very expensive, and you will never, ever get a job w/ the county or state unless you are related to someone. And yet people are falling all over themselves to live there. Probably the people that have been priced out of Maui or O'ahu. I don't get it. We've thought of going back many times because we have good friends there still, but we would have to live in such a tiny place and be so poor we decided it's not worth it anymore.
One city you would think is cheap and it's not, Birmingham Alabama . Another is Charleston SC
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