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I heard in Florida any savings you get from leaving ny you make up for in home owners insurance
And flood insurance (assuming it is even available in your area). Water bills are probably high in drought stricken Nevada and Texas. (There is talk of mandatory rationing in NV). Most of these hot locales also will see your electricity bill go through the roof from all the A/C usage.
It's not cheaper to live in FL unless you are a business owner with LLC. All of the costs you move down to FL will be paid in insurance costs. I have never heard of a home owner's insurance about $3500+ policy even for a million $$ home. If you make $120k and move down there, while there's no state income tax you're gonna have to pay for higher insurance for homes which is around $4200 avg price. The houses aren't that much cheaper these days, sure there are plenty of $350k+ homes there but there aren't in good locations.
Traffic is horrendous there nowadays, say good bye to your nice train commute.
If you run your own business, then FL is a great tax escape and you write off all your costs of living off your business taxes.
We moved to NC 12 years ago. A lot of things are cheaper here, but unless you own a home, probably not big enough of a difference to make the move. If you own a home, your property taxes are going to be a lot cheaper. For buying a home, it depends. We paid cash for our house here, but the house is now worth $700K-ish, which in my wildest dreams didn't see coming, so you could move here and end up paying more for your house (but your mortgage might be the same due to taxes).
The people who seem unhappiest after a move are renters, or people who moved because they felt they had to, not because they wanted to. Also people who've NEVER EVEN BEEN HERE and just want to pull up stakes and move. That CAN work, and I know people for whom it did, but if you're really really attached to NY and again, not moving for the right reasons, it probably won't.
Moving is expensive and time consuming unless you can get your employer to pay for it. If you have school age kids there are other headaches. Get it right and move once. If you're asking if you'll be happy you're probably not ready to move.
I had stopped working full time 10 years before we moved. Then I was able to work p/t in my field. I went back to work full time in my field 5 years after we moved here. I did take a pay cut but my benefits are cheaper here than they were in NY 20 years ago with this company so it's a wash (actually my salary is back to what it was when I left my last f/t job in 2000 and I'm bringing home more money now that I think about it).
I've been happy with the move but there are intangibles when you move to a different area of the country. It's hard to explain. I would delve into a LOT more detail if I ever moved to a different region again.
I can easily switch to a Florida office within my company, they have them all over the state, so I would be earning NY money in FL. There is no state income tax and the property taxes are below the national average (quick google says the average Florida homeowner pays $1,752 each year in real property taxes - obviously that varies from one part of the state to another). Their sales tax rate is lower as well. There's no way in hell all of that could POSSIBLY be offset by higher property insurance, even with flood insurance. Again, quick google says "The average cost of home insurance in Florida is $4,218 a year for a policy with a 2% hurricane deductible, and $2,426 without the hurricane deductible.". Yeah I'd be saving tens of thousands of dollars every year even with that slightly higher rate.
Everyone always says it's cheaper in other states besides NY, esp Long island and Westchester bc of the taxes.
Let's say you move to a state with no state income taxes (Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Washington state, Nevada, etc), on a 100K salary you'd save about $5000-5500 on state income taxes for NY.
Then, let's say you buy a house in another state and the property taxes are 5K a year, versus 15K a year here. That's a 10K difference.
So total, you'd be saving about 15K a year by just leaving NY on the state income taxes and property taxes.
Gas is generally cheaper in other states, except California. Where my parents live in Tennessee gas is $1 cheaper there than here on LI.
Food from my understanding, is the same price all over the country generally.
However, pay and wages outside NY are generally less and so lets say you find a new job but will have a 5-10K pay cut from your NY salary.
So, in the end, aside from some savings on property taxes and state income taxes, is it really cheaper to live in states like Florida and Texas and North carolina and elsewhere?
Or is it a wash?
Wife and I are considering moving but from our calculations you will def save on taxes and cheaper real estate, but with a 10% salary cut it almost ends up being equal, no?
What do you think?
Food is more expensive in the Carolina's, than it is in NY. But everything else is appreciably lower (e.g. insurance, electric, gas, property taxes, etc.). I would say that services in the Carolina's is better as well.
I can easily switch to a Florida office within my company, they have them all over the state, so I would be earning NY money in FL. There is no state income tax and the property taxes are below the national average (quick google says the average Florida homeowner pays $1,752 each year in real property taxes - obviously that varies from one part of the state to another). Their sales tax rate is lower as well. There's no way in hell all of that could POSSIBLY be offset by higher property insurance, even with flood insurance. Again, quick google says "The average cost of home insurance in Florida is $4,218 a year for a policy with a 2% hurricane deductible, and $2,426 without the hurricane deductible.". Yeah I'd be saving tens of thousands of dollars every year even with that slightly higher rate.
Problem is, I don't want to live in Florida
Believe it or not property taxes in desirable areas of FL are not as cheap as most people think it is. Especially if you are buying a large house. Homeowner insurance costs have gotten crazy there and most companies won’t even write in the state anymore, many end up having to go on the state insurance program.
The other thing to consider is that property tax is only on real property in NY, whereas in some other states, they have personal property tax(vehicles, boats, campers, trailers, etc.) and there tends to be more of a prevalence of HOA fees(think privatized property taxation at different rates) in other states in the South. So, it may not be tit for tat, but those are a couple of things to consider when looking at the overall cost of living comparisons.
It's considerably cheaper unless you're taking out a substantial mortgage and earning at the local rate, which will be considerably less than NY for the most part.
But if you're retiring, cashing out, working remote and/or have online income, it's much cheaper many other places.
Hell, I know a number of accountants who went remote during COVID, then simply kept most of their clients as they were working from home, sold here, bought in cash down south and keep their remote income at NY rates.
The other thing to consider is that property tax is only on real property in NY, whereas in some other states, they have personal property tax(vehicles, boats, campers, trailers, etc.) and there tends to be more of a prevalence of HOA fees(think privatized property taxation at different rates) in other states in the South. So, it may not be tit for tat, but those are a couple of things to consider when looking at the overall cost of living comparisons.
People make a big deal out of the "personal property tax". But you do not pay sales tax when you buy a vehicle in NC, for instance. The first time we bought a car here we looked over the BOS and we said to the dealer "where's the sales tax?" He said "no tax, you'll pay it every year on the current value of the car". We said THIS is what people are up in arms about? and he just smiled. We paid less in tax on that car for the 10 years we owned it than we ever would have if we had paid tax (which by the way is financed along with the rest of the car if you take out a loan in NY).
Just for a real life example, to lay it all out:
Property tax: $4200/year
Water/sewer/garbage (all one bill) around $1000/yr
Tax and registration on 5 cars: less than $1000/year
HOA fee $650/year
HO/auto on five cars/umbrella $5500/year (two 22 year olds, one 18 year old)
People make a big deal out of the "personal property tax". But you do not pay sales tax when you buy a vehicle in NC, for instance. The first time we bought a car here we looked over the BOS and we said to the dealer "where's the sales tax?" He said "no tax, you'll pay it every year on the current value of the car". We said THIS is what people are up in arms about? and he just smiled. We paid less in tax on that car for the 10 years we owned it than we ever would have if we had paid tax (which by the way is financed along with the rest of the car if you take out a loan in NY).
Just for a real life example, to lay it all out:
Property tax: $4200/year
Water/sewer/garbage (all one bill) around $1000/yr
Tax and registration on 5 cars: less than $1000/year
HOA fee $650/year
HO/auto on five cars/umbrella $5500/year (two 22 year olds, one 18 year old)
Property tax on old house in NY: $17,500
Yes, that's why I said it isn't a tit for tat, although if you live Upstate, those NC numbers are similar, if not more than some places up here. So, some of this depends on where/what one is comparing things to as well.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 02-09-2023 at 10:06 AM..
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