Morgantown Area Salaries (Charleston, Athens: real estate, apartments, to rent)
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I'm curious, how hard do people find it to live in the Morgantown area with salaries in general much lower than larger cities, yet house prices in Morgantown are the highest in the state and comparable to larger cities? Would you find it hard to move if you were offered a much higher salary?
I came back home to WV about 4 years ago and started working for WVU. I was offered a job in December 2016 that was out of state but would've potentially paid double my WVU salary with bonus. I wasn't ready to relocate again at the time so I turned it down, but looking back I wish I hadn't.
Aside from housing, everything else is quite cheap in Morgantown area, property taxes especially. You may spend more for your house, but your overall property taxes are quite unlikely to top $3k annually. Restaurants, childcare, utilities are all fairly cheap in the area. I moved several years ago, to another 'low cost' area, where housing prices are significantly cheaper, but are evenly offset by much higher taxes and the like. I think Morgantown offsets fairly well against other cities in the northeast and non-coastal South: the change is less in terms of cost of living than it is in where the money goes.
I'm curious, how hard do people find it to live in the Morgantown area with salaries in general much lower than larger cities, yet house prices in Morgantown are the highest in the state and comparable to larger cities? Would you find it hard to move if you were offered a much higher salary?
I came back home to WV about 4 years ago and started working for WVU. I was offered a job in December 2016 that was out of state but would've potentially paid double my WVU salary with bonus. I wasn't ready to relocate again at the time so I turned it down, but looking back I wish I hadn't.
I was astounded by the housing prices in Morgantown when I relocated there. I didn't have a chance to really visit and took a job at a decent salary but the prices for a house knocked me on my butt, especially considering the one we ended up with needed complete remodeling.
For not much more money we relocated to Colorado where I now have 5 acres a 25-year newer home that was kept immaculate and needed no renovation, sidewalks on our street and my 10 mile commute to work (with only 1 stoplight) takes less time than my 2 mile commute to work in Morgantown. Also my property taxes are cheaper and my utility bills (combined gas and electric) have only barely topped $100 a month during the heat of summer. In Morgantown I was pushing $225 a month in July/August/Sept just to keep the house at a manageable 78-80 degrees and that was with two zones (one we barely turned on) and brand new HVAC units.
The dot gov jobs and the medical jobs in Morgantown are what keep the housing prices high I think.
Aside from housing, everything else is quite cheap in Morgantown area, property taxes especially. You may spend more for your house, but your overall property taxes are quite unlikely to top $3k annually. Restaurants, childcare, utilities are all fairly cheap in the area. I moved several years ago, to another 'low cost' area, where housing prices are significantly cheaper, but are evenly offset by much higher taxes and the like. I think Morgantown offsets fairly well against other cities in the northeast and non-coastal South: the change is less in terms of cost of living than it is in where the money goes.
For the number of things to do or places to work in Morgantown, the traffic and housing prices are unreasonable. It is a case study for bad planning. I live here and my taxes top $4K annually.
You must live out in Colorado because I lived in Denver for a year and housing costs were at least double or even triple Morgantown. Everything in Colorado was expensive. I lived in Dallas and housing is cheap there except apartments. Apartments in Dallas and Denver are double the price of Morgantown. Average home prices in a few cities I looked up are Morgantown(188,700),Denver(426,000),Charleston W (106,800),State College PA(328,500),Blacksburg Va(293,100),Athens Ga(259,000),Oxford Mississippi(211,700),Charlottesville VA (289,500) Dallas(214,700). Except for Charleston WV all much more expensive housing than Morgantown. Utilities were at least 5% less in Morgantown than in all these cities listed except Charleston WV. Transportation significantly cheaper in Morgantown in all except Blacksburg VA. Food costs were at least 5% less in the southern cities while northern cities Morgantown was either about the same or a few percent less. College towns are always more expensive but Morgantown no worse than any others.Most areas of West Virginia are cheaper because they are either rural or in declining towns
For the number of things to do or places to work in Morgantown, the traffic and housing prices are unreasonable. It is a case study for bad planning. I live here and my taxes top $4K annually.
My taxes are almost triple that in Columbus. I would kill to have $4k in taxes
My taxes are almost triple that in Columbus. I would kill to have $4k in taxes
I just looked on Zillow and your house is probably comparable to mine as house like mine would be $12K in property tax in Columbus. Housing prices are the same or in the ball park it seems. There is more to do in Columbus and although I haven't been there in a while the roads and infrasturcture is probably better maintained for the amount of taxes I'd hope. Columbus is also the state capital.
I normally compare to Raleigh which has similar cost of living to Morgantown but much more to do and more high paying jobs. Morgantown has so much more potential if we could get some real leaders in positions of power both locally and at the state level.
We can compare cost of living across different places all day but compare also to the diversification of high paying jobs in those towns as well. There's not a lot of high paying jobs or companies in Morgantown to justify the costs, which is why I agree with the OP. Try this tool:
For the number of things to do or places to work in Morgantown, the traffic and housing prices are unreasonable. It is a case study for bad planning. I live here and my taxes top $4K annually.
I find that hard to believe. I lived within municipal limits and had a very small, very cheap house ($100k assessment) with an annual tax bill under $700. Extrapolation of my tax payment to yours indicates that your house is quite expensive (4000/700 = $570k), in which case it would seem a bit gauche to complain about $4k in prop taxes. That would cost you $26k in taxes where I live now, so start counting your lucky stars. Agreed though, regarding what you get for the value.
In a reasonable housing market, average home prices would be about 2.6 years of the average household income. In Morgantown, the average household income is about $35,500/year, so the average home price should be about $92,300. However, the average home price is about $183,000. So, yes, housing in Morgantown is way overpriced. I haven't found a good reason for it to be, though, other than a lot of people are willing to go into massive debt to purchase housing. The thing is, you never truly own a house even if it's paid off. Property taxes are not unlike rent in that you will always have to pay them. Stop paying them and the real owner will show up. In addition, you always have to pay for insurance and maintenance and it takes a lot more of your time to own a house than it does to rent. Honestly, I think all the fanciful talk about home ownership is more of a scheme by #1, real estate agents who want to prevent their profession from going extinct and #2, the government so they can collect more taxes (rent) from you.
M-town is full of docs or residents or other med pros & NIOSH, etc. It is clear why the prices are up & overpriced. I know a lawyer there who makes major bank & the whole WVU college faculty makes more than 3 residents combined on avg in M-town. So it is just a simple, "ppl will pay for the premium land aka near work" & thus it isn't much wonder, to me at least, why the prices will continue to skyrocket.
If ppl are willing to pay these prices, then in effect, they price others out of the mkt -- me included. I rented all thru the 90s there as no way could I attend school & afford a home buy. Even rents are now exorbitant considering slumlords there making bank on properties where the the fridge door is served full of beer -- on the porch to frat boys or the football team after a game.
Ok, just all IMHO.
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