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My wife and I have been talking for a while to relocate to a warmer place. We currently live in Chicago, IL with our two kids (2 and 4). I'm a Nationally Board Certified Spanish teacher with 6 years of experience and she is a librarian at a public library with almost two years of experience. Together, we make about $100,000. We have a pretty decent life and we are the owners of a single family home with three bedrooms in a pretty good area of the city.
However, every time that cold winter comes by, we always start to talk about that time when we move to a warmer place. We have done our research in Google and the first thing that we noticed are the salaries: they are way lower (from $34,000-$43,000 for teachers in our targeted areas).
Some people tells us not to worry because the cost of living is cheaper, etc... We are just not sure if we are going to have a comparable type of living conditions in a warmer place. Basically, we want to know if we will have to get a second job or something on the side to cover for the missing income...
Our target warm places for relocation are:
-Texas (Austin, San Antonio, Dallas or any other interesting city or suburb)
-Florida (Orlando, Miami, Tampa or any other interesting city or suburb)
-Arizona (?)
-New Mexico (?)
-California (San Diego or any other nice city or suburb where purchasing a house is something normal for teachers and librarians)
Any comments or suggestions will greatly be appreciated. Thanks!
You can probably cross California off your list due to economy (lots of laid off teachers and librarians also out there looking for work) and high cost of living. I don't know the San Diego housing market specifically, but I think you'll probably have a tough time affording a house that size in a nice neighborhood with decent schools with that salary.
Florida. Orlando Or Tampa. Two Great Cities To Raise Your Children. Here We Have "Surrounding Counties" that make up our metros. Look into Seminole County, Pinellas County, Orange County, Brevard County, Hillsborough County.
Cross Texas off of the list............. There are 0 and I mean 0 jobs for librarians here. Teaching jobs are really tight unless you want to work at an urban school in the most undesirable positions. There are three huge library and information science schools, the only state with 3. There are grads from 2006-2010 all looking for jobs, not to mention all of the ones that got let go due to funding drops over the past two years, competition is steep, especially in cities. To work at a university you need a bachelors and at least two masters, plus three years of university teaching experience, that is if you even see an opening. Sometimes I see small town library openings, but they want you to do a lot of work for low pay.
Location: Fort Bend County, TX/USA/Mississauga, ON/Canada
2,702 posts, read 6,027,450 times
Reputation: 2304
Quote:
Originally Posted by VonHuffenHausen
Cross Texas off of the list............. There are 0 and I mean 0 jobs for librarians here. Teaching jobs are really tight unless you want to work at an urban school in the most undesirable positions. There are three huge library and information science schools, the only state with 3. There are grads from 2006-2010 all looking for jobs, not to mention all of the ones that got let go due to funding drops over the past two years, competition is steep, especially in cities. To work at a university you need a bachelors and at least two masters, plus three years of university teaching experience, that is if you even see an opening. Sometimes I see small town library openings, but they want you to do a lot of work for low pay.
Ignore him . Come to Texas, we welcome you with open arms.
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
8,900 posts, read 15,929,225 times
Reputation: 1819
Quote:
Originally Posted by FLABoyJ
Florida. Orlando Or Tampa. Two Great Cities To Raise Your Children. Here We Have "Surrounding Counties" that make up our metros. Look into Seminole County, Pinellas County, Orange County, Brevard County, Hillsborough County.
lol Orlando is one of the most dangerous cities. Why would someone want to raise their children there? I had a student last year who moved from Orlando BACK to the south Bronx. I spoke to the father often, and he said the crime was a lot worse in Orlando. His other son got shot in a cross-fire. It says a lot if someone moves back to the south Bronx from Orlando.
I agree in terms of Orlando being dangerous. It has one of the worst violent crime rates in the US and the congestion is terrible. Its so backward that the city cannot even get its act together to initiate a decent public transit system. This from a city that has been exploding growth wise for the last 20 years.
I would highly recommend the Tampa Bay area as it is a far more pleasurable place to live, near what makes Florida a great place to live, the beaches. It is one off the top 20 populated metro areas in the country, so there is plenty to do. The cost of living is low, real estate prices are very reasonable and there are some great family-friendly areas (good schools) to choose from. Off the top of my head: Land O' Lakes, Safety Harbor, Carrollwood, Palm Harbor and Oldsmar.
I agree in terms of Orlando being dangerous. It has one of the worst violent crime rates in the US and the congestion is terrible. Its so backward that the city cannot even get its act together to initiate a decent public transit system. This from a city that has been exploding growth wise for the last 20 years.
Absolutely ridiculous. The Orlando area is no more dangerous OR congested than the Tampa Bay area. Just stay away from the hood. Seminole County in particular is like a huge slice of middle-America suburbia, with great schools, little to no crime and a nice quality of life.
Last time I checked, Orlando was getting ready to launch a pretty impressive Commuter Rail project, SunRail. What has the Bay Area planned? Oh, that's right - nothing yet. SunRail | Changing the Way Central Florida Travels
To the OP - Please disregard this garbage being spewed about Orlando, including the fictional tale told earlier about returning to the South Bronx.
Wherever you end up, hopefully you can filter the bad and downright misleading advice from the good. Good luck!
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. Come to Texas, we welcome you with open arms. 
