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I often read articles about areas with low cost of living index with mention of pay in the area. Does the low cost of living mean it is cheaper than other area's or cheap for what people get paid in that area? Where I live a home that is ran down and kind ratty is $200,000 and what is considered a decent family but nothing special is far exceeding $300,000-400,000. Minimum wage is $9.75 I think. Many labor demanding jobs with people that have been there a long time pay around $14-18 hourly. I own a home that is worth about $450,000 and currently make just at $100,000 a year. My position is very stressful and mentally demanding. I am considering moving somewhere that is gun friendly and would prefer a home with 10 or more acres forested and stream for around $300,000. I would like my work to home commute to be no more than 15-20 minutes and would like to make no less than $75,000 a year. Am I in dream land or does a place like this exist? I am sales professional currently un the construction industry.
I often read articles about areas with low cost of living index with mention of pay in the area. Does the low cost of living mean it is cheaper than other area's or cheap for what people get paid in that area? Where I live a home that is ran down and kind ratty is $200,000 and what is considered a decent family but nothing special is far exceeding $300,000-400,000. Minimum wage is $9.75 I think. Many labor demanding jobs with people that have been there a long time pay around $14-18 hourly. I own a home that is worth about $450,000 and currently make just at $100,000 a year. My position is very stressful and mentally demanding. I am considering moving somewhere that is gun friendly and would prefer a home with 10 or more acres forested and stream for around $300,000. I would like my work to home commute to be no more than 15-20 minutes and would like to make no less than $75,000 a year. Am I in dream land or does a place like this exist? I am sales professional currently un the construction industry.
The best salary-to-COL ratios can be found in the Midwest, especially in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.
Cost of living references are typically just cost of living. Housing and health care are the biggest components. Income is a generally a separate topic. Many articles / sites leave it to you to put the two together for your circumstances. Family size and lifestyle varies too much to make a comparison across them accurate for everyone. There are a few articles out there that compute average house price / average income. Some articles might discuss income to cost of living ratios, usually for median households.
Michigan might have real estate available priced like what you described. WI, MN might too. I don't know how their gun laws vary. Plenty of places in south could work on land and cost of living too. Higher incomes generally in northeast / midwest over the south though. but size of nearby city matters a lot too. The west will have some candidates too, though some areas may be overpriced and some are short on higher end jobs.
If you do enough research, you can identify your best overall options.
If you want recommendations, set a city or metro size range, amount of snow or heat you are willing to take and maybe a few other criteria important to you.
Of the places you've considered or had recommended to you in past, which were / are leading contenders and in what ways are they questionable or not good enough for you?
Places that are "gun friendly"... That can mean a lot of different things to different people. If you have must allows, research it and either set hard requirements or decide you are willing for those laws to vary from your personal preferences. It would help to name the acceptable list of states. Is it close to 5, 10 or 20? Don't waste your time (or others) on states if you are never are going to accept them for this reason.
Places that are "gun friendly"... That can mean a lot of different things to different people. If you have must allows, research it and either set hard requirements or decide you are willing for those laws to vary from your personal preferences. It would help to name the acceptable list of states. Is it close to 5, 10 or 20? Don't waste your time (or others) on states if you are never are going to accept them for this reason.
What I meant by gun friendly was I basically want a property with about 10 acres that I can have own range on and target practice. If I were to pay $400,000-500,000 for a place which I am not opposed to I would just want to make sure I sustain an income similar to what I make now.
I often read articles about areas with low cost of living index with mention of pay in the area. Does the low cost of living mean it is cheaper than other area's or cheap for what people get paid in that area? Where I live a home that is ran down and kind ratty is $200,000 and what is considered a decent family but nothing special is far exceeding $300,000-400,000. Minimum wage is $9.75 I think. Many labor demanding jobs with people that have been there a long time pay around $14-18 hourly. I own a home that is worth about $450,000 and currently make just at $100,000 a year. My position is very stressful and mentally demanding. I am considering moving somewhere that is gun friendly and would prefer a home with 10 or more acres forested and stream for around $300,000. I would like my work to home commute to be no more than 15-20 minutes and would like to make no less than $75,000 a year. Am I in dream land or does a place like this exist? I am sales professional currently un the construction industry.
Dream land, you're looking for a diamond in a coal mine.
I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but how your searaches going so far?
A stream-10 acres-forested-work at home-300K- salary min 75K
Do you know how to make a matrix of ... 3 must have -3 needs- 3 like to have and 1, just because. Do that and get back to us.
Cost of living references are typically just cost of living. Housing and health care are the biggest components. Income is a generally a separate topic. Many articles / sites leave it to you to put the two together for your circumstances. Family size and lifestyle varies too much to make a comparison across them accurate for everyone. There are a few articles out there that compute average house price / average income. Some articles might discuss income to cost of living ratios, usually for median households.
Michigan might have real estate available priced like what you described. WI, MN might too. I don't know how their gun laws vary. Plenty of places in south could work on land and cost of living too. Higher incomes generally in northeast / midwest over the south though. but size of nearby city matters a lot too. The west will have some candidates too, though some areas may be overpriced and some are short on higher end jobs.
If you do enough research, you can identify your best overall options.
If you want recommendations, set a city or metro size range, amount of snow or heat you are willing to take and maybe a few other criteria important to you.
Of the places you've considered or had recommended to you in past, which were / are leading contenders and in what ways are they questionable or not good enough for you?
I agree with housing, but I've also seen that transportation as being second according to some sources. For example..."The average annual expenditures of 2021 were broken down into fourteen major components, nine of which are shown
in table B. The tenth category shown, “other expenditures,” is the aggregate of the five smallest components.(2)
Overall, housing accounted for the highest share (33.8 percent), followed by transportation (16.4 percent),
food (12.4 percent), and personal insurance and pensions (11.8 percent)."
Thanks for that information. I wondered about health care vs transportation but didn't actually check. I guess the part of health care that the average person pays appears lower. The average person generally with substantial expense coverage by a private and / or public payer. Actual total health expenditures might exceed transportation. I assumed it did without stopping to think about the payment system. Folks on their own usually pay a lot.
I also didn't think about the folks with newer / expensive vehicles and / or multiple vehicles. Not me.
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