95k in Seattle, WA vs 85k in St. Louis, MO: Which one is better in terms of savings?

[flynavyj]

Does St. Louis do First Fridays? When i was living in Kansas City they did a thing called First Fridays' where (on the first friday of the month) all the art galleries were open, and you could stroll from gallery to gallery looking at people's work, drinking wine, and having conversations with the artists, hippies, yuppies, patrons, professors, etc...was a really good time.

As for the argument on St. Louis or Seattle, i think it basically depends on what you want from life, and how happy you think you can be with what you get.

Some folks say "if you want to own a home, you need to move to St. Louis" but you can probably own a home in either city, the size of the home may be different, but that's how it goes. If you'd like to make some $$ buying a home for cheap and reselling it higher, you'd probably have better luck in Seattle, just because the housing prices are so much higher, that a home in poor condition combined with the failed market would allow greater return on investment. There was a time when i was living in St. Louis making 60k/yr, single, had a new car, and more money than i knew what to do with. For a single 20-something, and 85k/yr salary should go plenty far, and provide you a nice quality of life.

I'd imagine though, that as a single mid 20's individual in Seattle, you could enjoy an equally enjoyable quality of life. As long as you're not strapped down with tens of thousands of dollars in student loans, the vast majority of either your money would be expendable...or give you the ability to save for retirement.

St. Louis City has done a nice ressurgance with the Loft theme. They're everywhere, and they're fairly cheap. A group of friends were renting an awesome 3 Bedroom Loft, 3 stories tall, in Soulard for $1500/mo. My wife and I bought our second home here (our first was in Olathe, KS) for around 140k with 1600 livable sf, and a 3 car garage, sitting on a half acre lot in St. Louis County (not west county, we're in the "hood" of North county, lol.).

All in all, if you're used to looking out the windows and seeing the mountains. And do some "true" mountain biking, sking, parasailing on the ocean, etc you'll probably miss seattle. That's even more true if those things are major parts of your life. If you think you'd be happy biking, running, boating, etc here in St. Louis you'll be fine. My stepfather is from Portland, OR, and i know he misses the West Coast on a daily basis and would LOVE to get back there permanently.