First year out of college and thinking about moing to Tampa Bay

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by Lillie767

Well, it must be working because Florida has one of the highest rates of growth in jobs in the US. People must like the combination of pay and life style.

It's gotten better since the 90s, but I believe only because the job market has become more competitive. Otherwise, professional white collar jobs are typically 10%-30% lower in pay than in more temperate areas, like the Midwest, for example. At least that's been my experience when I was actively recruiting skilled technical professionals for jobs in the Tampa area as well as entering the market here several times over the last 20+ years as I moved in and out of the area.

Cost of living used to be slightly lower, but that has changed significantly. However, the difference was never enough to offset the disparity in compensation.

RM

[DWMachineshop]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Weirdly enough, things change.

https://www.dart.org/docs/default-so...map24jan22.pdf

DART was there then and you would still be pretty much dead in the water in dallas without a car. The current population of the Dallas area is 6.5 Million. Dallas City Limits 1.4 Million. Daily DART ridership 35,000. Do the math on that.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by DWMachineshop

DART was there then and you would still be pretty much dead in the water in dallas without a car. The current population of the Dallas area is 6.5 Million. Dallas City Limits 1.4 Million. Daily DART ridership 35,000. Do the math on that.

I'm pretty certain it has much more to do with lack of desire versus inaccessibility. Sunbelt residents aren't especially known for their ability to shed their cars, no matter how convenient transit is. Here in FL it's not unusual for folks to drive a block or two versus walking.

[lair8]

You'll need a car in Tampa.

[lair8]

If planning to go carless you can live well in cities like Houston, Dallas, Baltimore, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Portland or even Chicago minus the car expense

It may be possible to physically survive without a car in these cities, but that doesn't mean you'll be happy.

Not having a car still limits your search radius for a job. Limits your ability to date or see family/friends. And walking/biking/relying on public transportation will consume a lot of your free time.

You also have to factor in that there are some times you have to spend money on Ubers to get by, even while living in a city. The cost of Ubers combined with the higher cost of rent will eat through much of the savings of not having a car; there's no free lunch.

[Lillie767]

Originally Posted by MortonR

It's gotten better since the 90s, but I believe only because the job market has become more competitive. Otherwise, professional white collar jobs are typically 10%-30% lower in pay than in more temperate areas, like the Midwest, for example. At least that's been my experience when I was actively recruiting skilled technical professionals for jobs in the Tampa area as well as entering the market here several times over the last 20+ years as I moved in and out of the area.

Cost of living used to be slightly lower, but that has changed significantly. However, the difference was never enough to offset the disparity in compensation.

RM

People are willing to compromise and balance quality of life and money, particularly younger employees.

A few years of Chicago winters could convince a person that living in Florida was worth giving up some part of their salary.

How much do you think the good residents of Buffalo NY would be willing to give up in exchange for Southern locales?

It's not always a dollar-to-dollar comparison when evaluating lifestyles. Sometimes not having cold, ice, and snow daily for several months is worth a few thousand in salary.