[cm729]

Wondering how the salaries are in relation to the price of rent, food, utilities.
We're used to Midwest winters but is it a lot colder than Minnesota, Iowa - maybe windier? Hoping to relocate for better job opportunities... and Omaha is close enough to interview, etc. beforehand. I recall reading it can be expensive (higher taxes) though if the salaries are good, it might not be as big a problem.

[cm729]

No opinions? Since rentals and some costs can vary depending on choices, maybe a general idea if you know people are needing more than one job to get by? Say if FT work is harder to come by or most jobs pay under $10/hr.

I know winters are cold...snow is fine but are icy roads common?

[hol_skog]

I guess I don't know much about salaries, but I do know the cost of living is very affordable in Omaha. I lived there for 3 years and just moved back to the Twin Cities. It's a great town. The winters are much milder than in Minnesota and northern Iowa. It doesn't snow half as often or stay around half as long. The snow removal is not great though (well, compared to MN where it's practically a full-time job!) I guess it depends on what type of job you are looking for, but there are lots of great places to work and the commute isn't bad--it's the easiest town to get around. The roads (for the most part) make sense and go in numerical order. I liked www.careerlink.org when looking for a job. Hope this helps!

[cm729]

Thanks for posting...it helps a lot to have some idea of what it cost to live in Omaha and info on the job market. There are a lot of things we really like about it. Still deciding if we want to move to another cold state.

[Dennis P]

Originally Posted by hol_skog

I guess I don't know much about salaries, but I do know the cost of living is very affordable in Omaha. I lived there for 3 years and just moved back to the Twin Cities. It's a great town. The winters are much milder than in Minnesota and northern Iowa. It doesn't snow half as often or stay around half as long. The snow removal is not great though (well, compared to MN where it's practically a full-time job!) I guess it depends on what type of job you are looking for, but there are lots of great places to work and the commute isn't bad--it's the easiest town to get around. The roads (for the most part) make sense and go in numerical order. I liked www.careerlink.org when looking for a job. Hope this helps!

I've been to Omaha a few times, because I have a friend who lives there. He's been trying to get me to move there from California for almost 20 years! I do like the Omaha area compared with where I now live (near Long Beach, CA). By comparison, it's got a more laid-back, small-townish feel to it. Life seems to move at a more leisurely pace and the people are friendly. It's also a clean, well-kept city, for the most part. The streets are laid out in a logical grid pattern (named streets run east and west, numbered streets run north and south), so it's pretty easy to find most everything based on the address.

My friend tells me that the cost of living in Omaha is very reasonable and affordable compared with coastal areas of the country. The unemployment rate is fairly low as well, which must mean that the local economy is doing well.

The factors that hold me back from relocating are: 1) My family all live here in California, and would never consider leaving. 2) I'm not sure I could get accustomed to the extreme weather over there, especially the cold winters.

Maybe one of these days, I might seriously pull up stakes and move there---just not anytime in the immediate future.

[btoverdrive]

Let me tell all of you planning to move to Omaha, RENT. The property taxes here are outrageous. I built a $250,000 house two years ago when I was transferred here, kicking and screaming, and my property taxes are $7000 per year. Once my taxes were assessed on the new house, my mortgage more than doubled.

[Dennis P]

Originally Posted by btoverdrive

Let me tell all of you planning to move to Omaha, RENT. The property taxes here are outrageous. I built a $250,000 house two years ago when I was transferred here, kicking and screaming, and my property taxes are $7000 per year. Once my taxes were assessed on the new house, my mortgage more than doubled.

I understand that rents are very reasonable. But that's absolutely absurd that Nebraska has property taxes that high. Is that in Omaha only, or the entire state? My friend in Omaha said that registering a new car in Nebraska is VERY expensive. He got away with it for a while by having cheaper Iowa license plates on his car. I don't know how long he was able to pull that off, however. I myself would feel really guilty about doing such a thing.

[btoverdrive]

To Dennismpat, I just got my property tax bill and I guess because the housing market has virtually died here, my property tax bill went down $300, now it is only $6700. I'll take what I can get but my property value dropped accordingly also, down $15,000 from the previous year, so my $250,000 house is only worth $235,000 now. And yes, registering a car is very expensive. I have a 2000 Honda Odyssey ($150 per year for tags) and a 2001 Mazda Miata ($125 per year for tags) and even though I do not live in the city limits of Omaha, I live within the 3 mile "we can tax you anyway" range of it and this year we get to add the $35 per year wheel tax to the cost of the tags that they have to pay in Omaha. And some bonehead in the state legislature was trying to have interstate 80 through Nebraska changed to a toll road until the feds stepped in and said that highway belongs to them. I have never in my life seen a state that goes out of it's way to tax it's residents and they cannot figure out why no one wants to stay here. Unless I am forced into it, I will not buy a car for the next four years until I can see this lovely state in my rear view mirror and retire to Hot Springs, Ark.

[econdude]

I can live in Omaha on about $700/month (not including extras for some months, like car insurance, medical bills, extras like vacations or car repairs or whatever). But I also can't find a good job! I'm happy in my apartment ($475/month, top floor so no heating bills, excellent location). I don't think the people are overly friendly. Is it worth it? I don't want to live anywhere else, but big cities offer more opportunities.

I've had terrible experiences at my jobs, nasty backstabbing/backbiting, unfriendly, painful...why would anyone want to work here? But I'm sure it's the same everywhere.

[MattDen]

The cost of living in Omaha would be low if not for the property taxes and the declining rental vacancy rate which has meant increasing rents.

Omaha is not a bargain, the cost of housing might seem very low but its actually because so much of the city is in decline. Most of East Omaha except near UNO is declining rapidly and has lots of blight with very, very low property valuations. The suburbs of Omaha are the same as any other mid-western city, because of all the available land.

Rents are also higher then you might expect to live in a decent area also. This is because property tax rates are amongst the highest in the nation.

I think Omaha has a property tax rate of 2,170 dollars per 100,000 dollars of home valuation. This is very very high. In fact Omaha property taxes are amongst the highest in the state and the property tax rates are near the top in the nation also.

The main reason for the high levy lots of declining neighborhoods with very low valuations and people tend to have very large families here as Omaha like to tout the fact its a "family-oriented city" so the school levies are extremely high here.

All and all, Omaha if you combine all the expenses if probubly slightly below the national average overall on cost of living. Wages are slightly below the national average also. However, they have many neighborhoods here that are extremely cheap if you dont mind encountering alot of social problems and being surrounded by boarded-up houses and vacant lots.