Cost of Living difference between NYC and SLC (Salt Lake City: middle-class, sales)

[Mackj7]

I may be getting a job offer to relocate to Salt Lake City from New York City and am not sure how much salary I will need to negotiate to make it worthwhile. I do not currently have an offer, so do not know what to expect. My wife and have done a fair amount of research are very excited by the opportunity to move to a more family friendly city, closer to family, and with a little more space in such a beautiful part of the country. It sounds like a good fit for us and we have heard good things from friends that have visited and people that lived there.

I currently earn a base of $85,000 and have been earning bonuses of 20k to 25k over the past four years, so my total income has consistently been between 100k and 110k. I support a family of four – myself, my wife, and our two kids (5 month and 20 months – yes we have our hands full!). We scrape by, but have the luxury of my wife being able to stay home with the kids and not having to work.

As far as lifestyle goes, I work all week and we hang out as a family on weekends. We are foodies and like to cook at home, eating organic as much as possible. We have the typical expenses – utilities, cell phones, internet, etc, our biggest expenses are housing and groceries, but nothing extravagant.

The 5 cost of living calculators I checked show the salary differential between $44k and $85 based on $10500 in earnings. How accurate is any of that? I know it is apples to oranges, but what would be a comfortable salary for someone in our position? I’m not sure what the bonus culture is like, so I am not counting on it. We would like to rent a 3br, 2 ba in an area close to downtown, maybe sugar house or the avenues, and buy after 6 months. We have enough savings to put $50k down.

It looks like they have the same CSA shares we get in NY and a good farmers market on the weekend with plenty of inexpensive, fresh, and local produce. Our grocery bill is around $200 per week. Can anyone else in the same situation can speak about that? Will it be the same in SLC?

Also, I see utilities are quite a bit cheaper? Is that true? We average $140 per month for gas and electricity for our 950 square foot apt. It’s a quite a bit more during the summer when we use our air conditioners and less when they are not in use.

Any thoughts are appreciated… Thanks in advance!

[mlb]

What do you do for a living? You might want to consult professionals in your same field.

Bonuses? You make more in bonuses than most people here make in a year.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by mlb

Bonuses? You make more in bonuses than most people here make in a year.

I don't really have a good feel for what the average household income is in NYC, so I'll withhold comment on that. But to imply that most people in Salt Lake City make less than 20k to 25k a year is really pretty misleading.

Mack, it would be helpful to us to know what kind of work you're do. The discrepancy in pay between some types of careers would be greater than others.

[Mackj7]

I work in the Financial Services industry, senior associate in middle office operations... It really is relative, I have a pretty standard middle class income in NYC. Just to offer some perspective, the city recently raised the toll on one of the bridges to $15 per crossing.

[CCSLC]

Let's start here:
I'd say a "pretty standard middle-class income" in Salt Lake City proper is between $50-70k/year. Much above $70k would get you into "upper middle class" territory, and into six figures would put you squarely in upper class territory.

Renting a 3BR/2BA house in the Aves, University, East Central, or Sugar House areas will likely cost $1,200 to $1,500 depending on exact location and level of amenities. The basic utilities on my 2,000 sq. ft. house in SLC proper average, monthly:
$96 electricity ($120 in summer, $80 in winter)
$25 gas ($120 in winter, $15 in summer)
$40 water, sewer, garbage

The farmer's market is usually excellent, and pretty reasonable. I also like to shop at Harmon's, a Utah grocer with excellent service and high quality, local items. Our household is only two, but we spend about $500/month on groceries. You could definitely be cheaper about it, but we splurge in this area.

Maybe this is enough to get you started?

[kletter1mann]

I'm another New Yorker with plans to head to SLC and have spent months studying the same issue. I'm in northern suburbs, not NYC, and looking at retirement, but costs are costs. So a few comments for what they may be worth:

• Agree, ~$105k is middle class in NY, whether NYC or the burbs. That money will go much, much father in SLC.
• The main difference in COL indices is housing. What costs $250k in SLC costs easily 2x as much in NY suburbs. Or more. Real estate taxes are 1/4 what they are in Westchester for a similar house. There's no direct comparison with city apartments (no real estate tax) but you have NYC income tax, higher NYS income tax and higher sale tax. OTOH, Utah has sales tax on FOOD from what I understand.
• When housing is taken out of the equation general cost of living is ~15% less (food, restaurants, services, etc.). That said, I've seen stuff in SLC that is breathtakingly cheaper than NY area. You'll burst out laughing when you look at a menu in a restaurant.
• Our post-retirement income would be similar to yours but without bonus. OTOH we'd have very low housing expense (very low payments because of 60% down payment from sale of NY area house). That all adds up to pretty good livin' in SLC.

Good luck with your situation and please post any findings!

[markg91359]

I am a long time Utah resident that has visited NYC on several occasions over the last decade. I will simplify this as much as I can. I think oe dollar in SLC will go roughly as far as two dollars in NYC.

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by markg91359

I am a long time Utah resident that has visited NYC on several occasions over the last decade. I will simplify this as much as I can. I think one dollar in SLC will go roughly as far as two dollars in NYC.

Awesome!!

[Mackj7]

That is good news and thanks to everyone so far that has provided feedback… I am still waiting to hear back from the company to see if they are interested in proceeding….

The company I am interviewing with likes to reference the CNN Money COL calculator, which shows a NYC salary of $105,000 equal to a $64,541 does in SLC.

Cost of Living is one thing, but I am also interested in Salary differential. For instance, according to Salary.com, the SLC COL is 48% less than NYC, the SLC salary for the same job is only 18% less than NYC. I am going to dig into this a little more, but would appreciate anyone else’s perspective.

Also, I looked at the tax differential, and if I kept an $85K NYC salary in SLC, I would clear nearly $4000 a year more than I do now. I currently pay a $214 monthly city tax and my state income tax is 6.85%. In SLC, I would just pay the flat 5%.

[UTES]

My NYC friends who visit me in SLC have remarked on two things:

1) How surprised they are that jobs pay so much less here.
2) How surprised they are that the money goes so much further.

Bill