Midwest Taxes: Yikes! (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque: transplants, house, good schools)

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

And jobs, or lack thereof. People will move for money, the weather be damned.

Jobs are In Iowa , not so much the southeast.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

And jobs, or lack thereof. People will move for money, the weather be damned.

?? The Midwest states all have lower unemployment rates than any southeastern state (that was being compared in that previous comment).

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

Probably the main reason people aren't moving to the Midwest instead of the Southeast is because of the weather.

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

?? The Midwest states all have lower unemployment rates than any southeastern state (that was being compared in that previous comment).

They do, or comparative rates. I was responding to the statement bolded.

We all know that people move to different areas for different reasons. Weather usually doesn't keep people from moving for jobs.

This is a couple years old:
Forbes Welcome

This is really cool. Click on the state and it shows you in and out migration numbers.

http://www.governing.com/gov-data/ce...tatistics.html

The movement of population from the northern states to the southern ones isn't new, it's been going on since the 80s, if not longer. I worked for a company in the 70s which was busy building plants in the south and cutting production and closing the older, less efficient and more expensive northern ones.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by InchingWest

But your taxes...OUCH. Iowa state income tax is higher than even Maryland's (which is 4.75% for the vast, vast majority of people). And your sales taxes are nothing to swoon over.

Combine all this with 25-33% federal income tax, 6-ish % state income tax, and nearly 7% state sales tax and I'm wondering what's left over for ME to actually live off or and be able to save for starting that future family[b]?

You have to keep in mind that in Iowa you can deduct your federal incomes taxes paid from your salary before computing state incomes taxes.

For a person making $60,000 a year, they would pay 4.99% of that in Iowa state income taxes and 4.66% in Maryland state taxes. Roughly a $195 a year difference, or around 0.3% of their income.

State sales taxes are 6% in both Iowa and Maryland.

Average property taxes collected in Maryland are $2,774 on an average of $318,600 home in the state. Average property taxes collected in Iowa are $1,569 on an average of $122,000 home in the state.

As a % of value property taxes in Iowa are 1.29% of value compared to Maryland's 0.87%. Average property taxes paid on value are almost 50% higher in Iowa, home prices are over 150% higher in Maryland.

Average rental prices in Maryland are around 100% higher than in Iowa. In Des Moines it's closer. Average rents as of 2015 of $897 compared to around $1,250 in Maryland the state as a whole.

Much of it depends on where you live. Des Moines is going to be higher for property taxes, but Des Moines also has higher wages on average than the rest of the state.

[North Beach Person]

Maryland would be much higher. Add another 2.33% (average 50% for Counties) for the various Counties' piggyback income tax on top of the state income tax, so total income tax paid is closer to 7%.

[Serious Conversation]

The big thing about DSM was I would consistently hear ads on LAZR 103.3 for basically come in, apply today, get hired today on the spot for $20/hr. That's a lot easier to swallow than say down South where you might make only ten bucks an hour.

[Tek_Freek]

Cost of living.

We moved from West Des Moines, IA to Las Vegas, NV.

Everyone knows it's so much cheaper in LV, right? Wrong. We took a 15% hit moving here. No state taxes are fine except the money has to come from somewhere. Groceries are 20% higher than WDM and the product selection is not as good as HyVee by any stretch of the imagination.

If it wasn't for the weather affecting my health I'd move back in a heartbeat.

[Meemur]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

If it wasn't for the weather affecting my health I'd move back in a heartbeat.

Thanks for sharing that. I have a co-worker nearing retirement who is going on and on about how much cheaper it'll be to live in LV. I'll share your post.

There are a lot of things to like about LV, but I noticed high grocery prices the last time I was there and stocking the cooler for our trip up to Utah's Color Country (we flew into LV and rented a car).

[SavannahLife]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

Interesting that you should mention that. I've noticed that the countries and states with the coldest climates, often have some of the lowest crime.

How much crime do places like Norway and Sweden have? Very little.

Obviously there are cities in colder states which may have crime problems, but the state as a whole is generally low-crime.

And tropical places have sky-high murder rates, around the world. Also, colder climates generally have more industrious work ethic. Yes there are plenty of exceptions but, this does seem like a legitimate rule of thumb. Perhaps it is harder to labor under heat. That is understandable. Perhaps people get testy in the heat and things happen. Thoughts? I have long noticed this, too. And then there is the summer crime spike. Which may be the heat, may be the kids out of school.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

Cost of living.

We moved from West Des Moines, IA to Las Vegas, NV.

Everyone knows it's so much cheaper in LV, right? Wrong. We took a 15% hit moving here. No state taxes are fine except the money has to come from somewhere. Groceries are 20% higher than WDM and the product selection is not as good as HyVee by any stretch of the imagination.

If it wasn't for the weather affecting my health I'd move back in a heartbeat.

That's interesting. I can say that groceries and the like are much cheaper in Arizona than Des Moines, ESPECIALLY produce. Can't get over how cheap it all is! (3 pounds of oranges for $1 or a pineapple for 97 cents? YES!) I can find so much more here than I could in Iowa. From what I have seen in Vegas I thought it was pretty close to the same, but maybe not? Plus, property taxes are WAY cheaper in the SW than Iowa.

Gas is definitely higher in LV, though.