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For New England, I'm mostly interested in Maine, New Hampshire, and Boston. For the Pacific Northwest, I'm interested in eastern Washington and Oregon. I'm single and have a few thousand saved up and would look for jobs before making the move. I'm really lonely where I am currently living in Missouri (and have lived my entire 30 years) and want to start someplace new and meet someone special. I have heard of the infamous "Seattle Freeze" but have also read its not quite so bad outside of the city. Anyway, which is the most realistic area to look at as far as cost of living for a single income individual with no specialized job skills?
Sure there are lots of jobs, and minimum wage is $14.25 or $16.38 if you do any work with the city, but even renting a room will be north of $1000/mo.
Maine outside of the SE coast and NH north of the Whites is a whole lot cheaper. Don't know compared to eastern WA/OR. I've never been east of the Cascades.
I dunno how cheap you want / need. Would Edmonds, Issaquah or Bremerton in WA be affordable? Closer in to Seattle will generally be a lot more expensive, though there could be exceptions (smaller, older units in lower income areas). Check the offerings. Olympia is another of the better options.
In New England it comes down to how far you are willing to be from major metros. Look at options in Manchester NH to Concord or Laconia. Or a suburb / exurb of Portland ME.
In eastern WA maybe look at Liberty Lake, east of Spokane. Or Pullman. Possibly Cheney / Medical Lake. La Grande OR if you dont need frequent access to a metro.
Couple thousand goes quick in a move. Either have it planned down to last dollar or build reserves to $5-10k for more buffer against expected and unexpected.
Your social life would likely be better in New England than in eastern Washington or Oregon because you'd be closer to more big cities with more people to meet and things to do. Aside from Boston, you could easily travel to Burlington, Providence, Cape Cod, even New York or Montreal if you wanted to. New England would probably also mean more job opportunities of all types than the PNW. But as was said, those advantages will likely come at a higher price. And the cultural vibe in either region may be different than what you're used to.
Might I ask why you are looking at the eastern OR rather than western OR? Eastern OR is certainly cheaper than western OR, though it is very rural. I'd imagine it would be tough to meet a partner or form a community with like-minded people your age when the largest town is 20k people. Kind of a similar dynamic with WA. While eastern WA is not as rural or sparsely populated as eastern OR, it will still have much more of a small town conservative vibe compared to the state's western half.
Might I ask why you are looking at the eastern OR rather than western OR? Eastern OR is certainly cheaper than western OR, though it is very rural. I'd imagine it would be tough to meet a partner or form a community with like-minded people your age when the largest town is 20k people. Kind of a similar dynamic with WA. While eastern WA is not as rural or sparsely populated as eastern OR, it will still have much more of a small town conservative vibe compared to the state's western half.
It seems too late to edit now, but I meant western Washington or Oregon, not eastern. I would want to be closer to the coasts and the greenery in the Pacific Northwest. I am sure the eastern parts of Oregon and Washington are cheaper than the western parts.
Might I ask why you are looking at the eastern OR rather than western OR? Eastern OR is certainly cheaper than western OR, though it is very rural. I'd imagine it would be tough to meet a partner or form a community with like-minded people your age when the largest town is 20k people. Kind of a similar dynamic with WA. While eastern WA is not as rural or sparsely populated as eastern OR, it will still have much more of a small town conservative vibe compared to the state's western half.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coachmaster
For New England, I'm mostly interested in Maine, New Hampshire, and Boston. For the Pacific Northwest, I'm interested in western Washington and Oregon. I'm single and have a few thousand saved up and would look for jobs before making the move. I'm really lonely where I am currently living in Missouri (and have lived my entire 30 years) and want to start someplace new and meet someone special. I have heard of the infamous "Seattle Freeze" but have also read its not quite so bad outside of the city. Anyway, which is the most realistic area to look at as far as cost of living for a single income individual with no specialized job skills?
Edit: I meant western Washington and Oregon, not eastern.
New England has Maine which blows away every PNW state in terms of affordability. You can even live in the western and central regions of Massachusetts which is cheaper than Seattle. The only thing that sucks about New England is the horrible winters, but the culture and people make up for it. I do not recommend the culture and people of the PNW, it's one of the major downsides along with the high COL
It seems too late to edit now, but I meant western Washington or Oregon, not eastern. I would want to be closer to the coasts and the greenery in the Pacific Northwest. I am sure the eastern parts of Oregon and Washington are cheaper than the western parts.
Eastern Washington has greenery and is way less expensive than New England and western WA or western OR. Check out Spokane which has everything you're looking for.
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