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Has anyone in recent years made the decision to move to the area due to job relocation or a new opportunity and accepted with a significant reduction in salary? If so, how have you found the adjustment and the impact in cost of living?
Are you happy with your decision?
I'm curious to hear from anyone who has made this kind of decision (especially from those who were from the North East).
I moved without a job. I knew that I would have to take a salary cut, but I was not prepared for just how deep that cut would be! I estimated that a 25% cut would be doable, but instead it will be more like 40-50%, which I cannot do!
Whether or not you can take a cut, and how deep a cut you can afford here depends on your own personal circumstances. The cost of living is less here, but not as much as many people would have you believe. If you have a nice chunk of change from a real estate sale, that helps a lot.
You might try making a spreadsheet detailing all of your current monthly expenses compared to those same expenses here. That way you can see for yourself just how much of a cut you can manage without negatively impacting your standard of living.
Has anyone in recent years made the decision to move to the area due to job relocation or a new opportunity and accepted with a significant reduction in salary? If so, how have you found the adjustment and the impact in cost of living?
Well, my fiance took on a new job with a reduced income and I am not working yet. it is tough right now with mortgage and car payment/insurance on him because I am not working yet. But we are coping with it and budgeting the best we can. We love it here though compared to where we were living and would not change a thing. Good luck Kim
NO doubt. I currently do work traveling and I could work 5 months and make the same as I would working 12 months in Raleigh. but I won't have to travel. or I could just work the 5 months and take the other 7 off.
I took a huge hit in salary when we moved here from Chicago. HOWEVER, my mortgage here on a 3BR 2.5BA house is less than two thirds what my RENT in Chicago was for a 700sf 1BR apartment, so it's a bit of a wash Besides, my job here is WAAAYYYYY less stressful and provides me with a significantly increased amount of flexibility and work/life balance, so IMO every dollar I lost in income was pretty much worth it.
Do the spreadsheet thing and make sure you'll be making enough to cover your expenses, yatta yatta yatta, but don't forget to consider quality of life as you weigh the positives and negatives. It's not ALL about the money, afterall
When considering salaries, it is helpful to check the various cost of living calculators on the web. I've pasted the link from Money.com's cost of living calculator below:
One that was MUCH higher for us was health insurance...$190/mo for Blue Cross HMO in Ca, $440/mo for Blue Cross PPO here...and it was $470! Then tack on another $120/mo for dental. Apparently HMO's are pretty much "not allowed" in NC because I heard the drs banded together and refused to accept them. VA was the same way. Anyway, that was the one big hit we took...otherwise, every other bill is less.
I took a hit when I moved here but it was still worth it. Remember that cost of living is going up here so you have to see what will work for you. Rememeber that it will never get cheaper to live anywhere, costs only go up. dont dig a hole too deep for yourself.
I am a teacher so my starting salary will go down about $10,000 annually compared to NJ.
HOWEVER....I am a teacher in a private school here in NJ with NO health benefits, and my husband is self employed so we pay our own health insur. $1100.00 per month in Jersey.....it will go down to $400.00 per month in NC..huge savings there=$8400 savings
Property taxes in NJ--$7600.00 anually compared to @2000 in N.C.=$5,000+ savings.
Auto Insur-$3000 in NJ compared to @$1200 in NC = @1800 savings.
TOTAL savings=$14,600 anually more than makes up for my 10,000 pay cut which should climb to what I make now in 5-6 years.
Well worth it for us to get out of Jersey.
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Kim
Besides, my job here is WAAAYYYYY less stressful and provides me with a significantly increased amount of flexibility and work/life balance, so IMO every dollar I lost in income was pretty much worth it. 
I took a hit
