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I think you probably have a better quality of life in Denver than you would here mostly because of the very high costs related to living expenses we have on Long Island.
$85,000/year on LI doesn't go far. We have extremely high utility costs, housing prices are outrageous for what you get - most reasonably priced houses need lots of work (reasonable meaning in the $400K range, IMO), and real estate taxes are either through the roof or are heading there (think roughly $10K and upwards). Currently we personally are at $13,500/year for just those taxes alone. It feels like we're paying the national debt every year. People who live in low real estate tax states, such as South Carolina, PA, etc., think we're crazy to pay these outrageous taxes - I think we're all crazy too. You can blame 70% of the tax bill on the school tax. We have the highest compensated public school teachers right here on LI. At least it certainly feels that way.
Ten years from now our RE taxes are projected to be around $18,000 (they're averaging an increase of roughly $500/year) - that's about 3/4 of a year's worth of social security checks alone. So when we're retired, we'll be living at poverty level. Not an encouraging landscape for our retirement years.
Those top paying salaries may seem impressive compared to the salaries in CO, but here you will just be getting by and not much more if you intend to buy a house.
Ten years from now (or possibly sooner) we're planning on selling our house and moving away from LI and out of the NYC metropolitan area. We're tired of the ripoff RE taxes, high utilities, dense traffic, and unfriendly New Yorkers in general. It will certainly be a relief to dump those RE taxes for good. There are many, many beautiful areas of the country that will provide us with a much better quality of life.
I think people who live in SC and PA are crazy! LI has everything... amazing beaches, awesome malls, NYC, casinos within 1-2 hours away, wineries... the list goes on. In SC, the malls do not open until 1pm on Sundays. I love the abundance of everything cool that LI has that I am willing to pay more for it.
It's not crazy if you enjoy it. I pay a buttload yeah, but I enjoy Long Island and I'd rather pay more to live somewhere that I like than to live cheaply and be miserable.
While I've always enjoyed The Island, what makes you think a person who lives elsewhere is crazy?
LI is a great place but I'm not convinced it's worth the current cost.
I think people who live in SC and PA are crazy! LI has everything... amazing beaches, awesome malls, NYC, casinos within 1-2 hours away, wineries... the list goes on. In SC, the malls do not open until 1pm on Sundays. I love the abundance of everything cool that LI has that I am willing to pay more for it.
It's not crazy if you enjoy it. I pay a buttload yeah, but I enjoy Long Island and I'd rather pay more to live somewhere that I like than to live cheaply and be miserable.
My opinion
LoL don"t fool yourself LI got **** except splish splash and mybee a few Farms get out and live a little.
I think Long Island has a lot. Everything's just spread out more.
We're kinda like a flat, less warmer english-speaking version of Los Angeles.
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