Thinking of moving to West Palm Beach area (Jacksonville, Miami: low income, car insurance)

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

These people who are "finding it harder to get ahead here..." these are the same people who have ostensibly lived here since the mid-2000s? When salaries were the same or lower and the COL was even higher?

Those people?

A mix of people who lived here a long time or since the boom/bust era...people I have met in my professional or social life mainly...late 20's to 40 somethings and some in their mid 50's......who either worked in an industry here that was downsized, saw salary freezes or a flat job growth...are the ones who are struggling. In some instances a few lost their jobs in the downturn and took jobs in the same line of work (if they could find it here) making substantially less than they made 5 years ago or more.

Many are well educated and skilled, just not living in the right area for their line of work, some say the jobs that do exist here do not pay a competitive wage. I also heard this from my friend who moved to the SF Bay area....he worked at Motorola in Boynton, then had to transfer to Plantation after the Boynton facility closed....who then later got laid off himself...well he was a Manager, Electrical Engineering....told me he had to let go of a lot of people when Motorola downsized, many could not stay in the area due to a lack of work and many that did took serious pay cuts to stay in South Florida.

From what he say's Blackberry in Sunrise hired a lot of ex-Motorola people, but supposedly they will not be around too much longer with the way the new Blackberry success is going.....

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by rb89509

Hey, the great thing about West Palm Beach and the rest of South Florida for that matter is if you ever wanted to take a vacation to the Caribbean or Central or Latin America, you only have to go to your local Wal-Mart!

Gas prices are on a par with the Bay Area in California (some the highest in the nation), if the prices at Publix get any higher, I won't be able to afford the buy-one-get-ones!

The traffic is horrendous on most side streets. I-95 is almost navigable now that it's 5 lanes wide all the way from Boca to Jupiter. The side streets, Military, 45th, Okeechobee, Lake Worth Rd, 441, Forrest Hill, you name it are a nightmare in the summer, and cataclysmic when the Snowbirds are here for their never-ending migration from the frozen tundra.

As others have mentioned, property taxes and insurance, whether property or automobile are vey high. The non-insured motorist premium on your auto policy will more than double the price of the policy for the same coverage's compared to counties in North Florida.

In the words of the late great Neil Rogers 560 WQAM, "South Florida is truly a Banana Republic."

Neil Rogers Show - 127 Sound Clips in 5 Minutes - Facebook Videos : Firstpost Topic - Page 13

Can't rep you enough....

Not only is the COL high and rising here, salaries here do not often compensate enough to make up for it.

Funny you mention SF Bay area...the way the rents are going here it won't be long till a 1 bedroom apartment is near the rates they are asking out there..

I drove down to Boca this morning via 441, was bumper to bumper traffic from Forest Hill south to my destination off of Glades east of I-95......

[FLAkid]

Always find it funny when people say that the crime in WPB is getting worse even though statistics show its doing nothing but getting better.

As far as traffic goes, isn't bumper to bumper traffic expected in most medium to large cities? We live in a metropolitan area not the middle of nowhere.

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by FLAkid

As far as traffic goes, isn't bumper to bumper traffic expected in most medium to large cities? We live in a metropolitan area not the middle of nowhere.

Bumper bumper traffic with a high number of people who can't drive or just do not care about rules of the road.... is the worst cocktail for a migraine.

Does not help when you figure a lot of people that live here are originally from:


LONG ISLAND DRIVERS (funny) - YouTube

[ellebabe]

Hi My TH HAS 3BR 2.5 BR HOA 425 a quarter nice neighborhood great schools 5 miles to beach newly painted new carpet lots of storage Maintenance 1800 sq ft.

[Prettygyrl777]

Originally Posted by racewalkn

Hi. We're thinking of accepting a job in West Palm Beach and need some help. We're a family w/2 young kids and we'd love to find a neighborhood that's safe, has other families but that also has some acreage available as we're big on gardening. We are open to surrounding areas but would like to keep the commute to about 20 minutes, if possible. Are there any neighborhoods like that in that general area that are affordable? Also, I've read some really old posts and a few people have mentioned something about cancer cluster areas? What is up w/that and where are those areas? Anything else that would be helpful to know about the area? Thanks much!

Palm Beach Gardens, Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Jupiter. I'm sure you'll find something in your price range regardless which area you choose.

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by THX 1138

A mix of people who lived here a long time or since the boom/bust era...people I have met in my professional or social life mainly...late 20's to 40 somethings and some in their mid 50's......who either worked in an industry here that was downsized, saw salary freezes or a flat job growth...are the ones who are struggling. In some instances a few lost their jobs in the downturn and took jobs in the same line of work (if they could find it here) making substantially less than they made 5 years ago or more.

Many are well educated and skilled, just not living in the right area for their line of work, some say the jobs that do exist here do not pay a competitive wage. I also heard this from my friend who moved to the SF Bay area....he worked at Motorola in Boynton, then had to transfer to Plantation after the Boynton facility closed....who then later got laid off himself...well he was a Manager, Electrical Engineering....told me he had to let go of a lot of people when Motorola downsized, many could not stay in the area due to a lack of work and many that did took serious pay cuts to stay in South Florida.

From what he say's Blackberry in Sunrise hired a lot of ex-Motorola people, but supposedly they will not be around too much longer with the way the new Blackberry success is going.....

This is the most important part of your post. The rest, I'm afraid, is anecdote and situational.


For May, 2012, BLS has the average Electrical Engineering salary for Fort Lauderdale at $82,860. It's similar for West Palm Beach-Boca metro.

In San Francisco, it is $105,910.


However, according to salary.com: The cost of living in San Francisco, CA is 37.6% higher than in Fort Lauderdale, FL . Therefore, you would have to earn a salary of $113,547 to maintain your current standard of living.

In terms of "cost of living," I know a bit firsthand about how the numbers to move to another area just do not work out a lot, as I had opportunity to move to the Bay area last year that just wasn't worth it all said and done.

From my own experience, I have managed to reduce my col every year since 2008. The only thing that has frustratingly gone up is home insurance, which I am now taking more control of by making home improvements to reduce the bill 20%+.


As far as "stagnant wages," that is really a national problem.

Wage Growth and Unemployment in the States | CEPR Blog

Industries with the largest wage and salary employment growth and declines

Companies throughout the country are having a race-to-the-bottom in terms of wages. Maybe they'll find some hidden oil under the sand or in the Everglades and we can have a Texas-like resource and energy-based economy.

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

This is the most important part of your post. The rest, I'm afraid, is anecdote and situational.


For May, 2012, BLS has the average Electrical Engineering salary for Fort Lauderdale at $82,860. It's similar for West Palm Beach-Boca metro.

In San Francisco, it is $105,910.


However, according to salary.com: The cost of living in San Francisco, CA is 37.6% higher than in Fort Lauderdale, FL . Therefore, you would have to earn a salary of $113,547 to maintain your current standard of living.

In terms of "cost of living," I know a bit firsthand about how the numbers to move to another area just do not work out a lot, as I had opportunity to move to the Bay area last year that just wasn't worth it all said and done.

From my own experience, I have managed to reduce my col every year since 2008. The only thing that has frustratingly gone up is home insurance, which I am now taking more control of by making home improvements to reduce the bill 20%+.


As far as "stagnant wages," that is really a national problem.

Wage Growth and Unemployment in the States | CEPR Blog

Industries with the largest wage and salary employment growth and declines

Companies throughout the country are having a race-to-the-bottom in terms of wages. Maybe they'll find some hidden oil under the sand or in the Everglades and we can have a Texas-like resource and energy-based economy.

BLS Data is a good marker but it does not account for those that possibly made that average salary or more and are now working for considerably less here. As my friend in SF pointed out, the problem is mainly centered on the a lack of competition to pay competitive wages in South Florida, the companies that do hire are not as concentrated or in high numbers here as they are there. Also the median numbers you posted are lower than the national average which is near $87K, the median for the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area is $115K.....

Electrical Engineers


Even at a higher COL that's not terrible and with the way job stability is here, and if home ownership is the driving factor which in my opinion is not what it's cracked up to be when you figure in taxes, insurance and limited companies for many to have opportunity if their current job is eliminated. Again, this is subjective and I am just using one example.

South Florida has Blackberry, Motorola, Foxconn, XM Radio and a few other smaller companies, the SF Bay Area has a 100 fold of companies and start-ups that let people get in at the ground floor, stock options and with companies like Apple and Google, it's not hard to see the attraction. Other areas abound too, sure often the COL is high but for my friend who moved out there who is in late 30's, it was a no brainer for his future and career growth.

[ellebabe]

Am living in a nice th going to relocate and its going on the market. Excellent scools let me know.

[icorvidae]

I am in my fourth summer here now...moved from New England. I spent a lot of time gathering intel on this site! Thought I'd give you my ideas.

South Florida is a Tropical Paradise. Warm year round, breathtaking beaches, super cool flora and fauna. Then comes the crap. Mind boggling stupidity, horrific drivers, extreme overpopulation (which isn't stopping anyone from building new housing communities), there are more 'Bodegas' than grocery stores, utter congestion on the roads (plan on about 1/4 of your waking hours being spent at stop lights--there's one every twenty feet or so), neighborhoods where people don't give a crap about the noise they are making, absurd car insurance rates, and I'll mention it again--get used to stupid people. Oh, and I've been counting, it's 9. The number of times I've seen people literally stop in the middle of the road WHILE driving.

With that said, it really is beautiful here and the level of entertainment you can take advantage of is just about limitless. Want to go see a rodeo, ok, want to go to the Opera, ok, want indian food, ok, italian, french, burgers, microbrews, greek, gastrocrap, OK! It's all here within 30-60 minutes of driving wherever you are from. Which, if you want land is going to be out West giving you an effective 45+ minute drive to the beach which I think is silly if you are moving to Florida. (East to West traffic blows, btw. Soooooo many lights)

Hope this helped a bit.