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According to CNN's calculator, we'd have to make <$30K more to have the same buying power we have with my husband's $130K salary, here.
That's significantly less than the almost twice as much rate that someone quoted, here. Why the difference? And I truly believe that we could live comfortably on our current salary, even if it doesn't go as far, simply because we'd save money on clothing, growing a lot of our own food, and staying off-grid as much as possible with the water and electric usage, using catchment for water and photovoltaic or at least partly solar for the electricity/hot water. The housing costs certainly aren't any worse than here (believe me, I look every day on several real estate sites), and on the Big Island, where we'd want to live, you can get a decent place for less than what you'd pay here on the coast or in the nicer parts of the Portland metro area.
Why the discrepancy, do you think? Location, location, location?
According to CNN's calculator, we'd have to make <$30K more to have the same buying power we have with my husband's $130K salary, here.
That's significantly less than the almost twice as much rate that someone quoted, here. Why the difference?
Why the discrepancy, do you think? Location, location, location?
The poster who mentioned "twice as much" was comparing Fargo ND with Honolulu.
In your particular case, the calculator says housing will actually go down slightly - you get hard hit on groceries and utilities. Calculators try to do an apples to apples comparison - same exact lifestyle to same exact lifestyle.
Ah. So Fargo, ND must be a far cheaper place to live than Portland, OR.
Thankfully, we don't eat much, and even then, it's mostly fruits, veggies, eggs, and dairy. The dairy might kill us (unless we lived near Terracore, and could purchase goat milk and cheese from his wife at <retail prices), but at least we could grow a lot of our fruits and veggies, and keep chickens for eggs :-).
Utilities, though, would all depend. We don't like HOT, so we'd want to find a place at an elevation where there are cool trade winds and a temperature average of no more than about 75* (our northern Irish and Scottish blood apparently doesn't do well in 90* climes--neither of us can breathe when it's that hot!). If we couldn't find something that trade winds and fans could mediate, I'm sure we'd end up spending a fortune on A/C--something I'd want to avoid like the plague!
Ah. So Fargo, ND must be a far cheaper place to live than Portland, OR.
Thankfully, we don't eat much, and even then, it's mostly fruits, veggies, eggs, and dairy. The dairy might kill us (unless we lived near Terracore, and could purchase goat milk and cheese from his wife at <retail prices), but at least we could grow a lot of our fruits and veggies, and keep chickens for eggs :-).
Utilities, though, would all depend. We don't like HOT, so we'd want to find a place at an elevation where there are cool trade winds and a temperature average of no more than about 75* (our northern Irish and Scottish blood apparently doesn't do well in 90* climes--neither of us can breathe when it's that hot!). If we couldn't find something that trade winds and fans could mediate, I'm sure we'd end up spending a fortune on A/C--something I'd want to avoid like the plague!
Eh, what has really gone up is the cost of housing here in Portland the last few years. But the wages keep up
Why not just install a larger PV system and enjoy ac to your heart's content?
If we ever move to Hawaii, and I need to, that's probably what we'd do.
We currently live on the central Oregon coast. A/C is rarely needed, here, and when it is, we have a portable room a/c that cools our home admirably :-). Our home is small, at <900 sq. ft, so it doesn't cost much to heat or cool in this climate.
Eh, what has really gone up is the cost of housing here in Portland the last few years. But the wages keep up
No kidding! All 3 of my grown children have to have roommates to make ends meet, there. Unless you make really good wages in PDX, decent housing is difficult to find/afford by ones-self. In that way, it probably isn't much different than living in many parts of Hawaii.
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