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Just curious what your thoughts were on a young family in Asheville, (early 30's / late 20's) and what income is needed to live in a nice area of Asheville w/ 2 kids.
I've been in NC for a little while now, and Asheville is certainly the place I like most. But we dont live there, we live about a half an hr away. Where we live now, almost everyone is retired and from up north, so I dont really have a pulse on what income young couples have (or should have) to live a comfortable life in Asheville.
Not talking anything extravagant here, just a nice house, nice vehicles, and not living pay check to pay check. I know it's kind of hard because one couple may be totally different from the next in terms of budgeting, etc. I'm just looking for a range of what would be good in Asheville.
I'd be interested in a little bit of description of what you mean by "nice." One person's idea of nice might be somebody else's idea of barely adequate, or over-indulgent. A lot depends on what you are used to.
Just curious what your thoughts were on a young family in Asheville, (early 30's / late 20's) and what income is needed to live in a nice area of Asheville w/ 2 kids.
About the same as that young family would need almost anywhere else.
Outside of the big hitters like the NYC area and the California coast the cost of living is about the same everywhere in the US. The consistent variable between any X and any Y will be the real estate (NYC and CA just have extra crazy high RE prices).
The larger problem with Asheville is being able to EARN that amount there.
The secondary problem (in my view) is in the generally poor quality of houses. There are some VERY nice high end properties around (mostly of recent vintage) and a lot of older frame homes in need of just about everything imaginable... but only a sprinkling of anything in between.
Outside of the big hitters like the NYC area and the California coast the cost of living is about the same everywhere in the US. The consistent variable between any X and any Y will be the real estate (NYC and CA just have extra crazy high RE prices).
hth
Over simplification. Areas where there are more higher paying jobs (like Washington DC) have higher real estate prices, and overall cost of living. Areas with lower paid jobs (such as the Applachians) tend to have a lower cost of living and lower housing prices. California is a bit of an anomaly due to inter/national wealth concentration but not necessarily much higher paid jobs.
Asheville is an ideal place to live IF you have a decent source of income. The cost of living is low, and NC taxes are low.
Last edited by concept_fusion; 04-02-2012 at 04:18 PM..
also ... what do you want for your kids ? If you stick with public schools, you're better off south of Asheville - properties seem to be more expensive though (compared to west asheville/north asheville). At least they were by the time we were looking for a home two years ago.
I just looked up the average house hold income in Asheville a couple of weeks ago... it was about 38 k. with three school aged children we could NOT live comfortably on this amount of money and we don't have a 'big' live style (eg we are dining out once a week and that's nothing fancy, go to the movies once a month, have older cars and kids go to public schools and no expensive hobbies).
groceries and gas are huge items - but 'healthy' groceries are a priority to me, it's not for everybody.
to continue a good night sleep (we also have to save up for college) I would not feel comfortable living under 70 to 80 k.
I can't stand to live from pay check to pay check ... in case something is happening to our family van, there has to be at least some back up plan. but - we were raised differently in germany and to live with huge mortgages and leasing contracts is nothing we want to live with.
a summer vacation in germany would cost us about 12 k this year (if the fares won't get lower), which we simply can't afford.
well, but camping is fun ,too .
I hope that does not sound snobby ... everyone is different and also has a different definition of living comfortably. I know I COULD live on much less ... but right now I am glad we don't have to.
I second at least 70k. And that's only to keep afloat with two kids (aka living paycheck to paycheck). I don't think you would have much money left over for "fun" unless you were a crazy couponer and paid in cash for your house and stuff.
ComSense,
If you are "...about a half an hr away" from A'ville, what is the impetus to move that half hour?
Work, environment, schools, don't like the retirees/'northerners'?
Just want a change? Etc...
Sort of OT, but we made it through 2 kids, with both of us working, & serious travel full time careers, then the 2 kids in Rutgers overlapping time, etc.
I do not know how 'regular people' make it work today, with fams, work, and stuff; we see the stress in our now 40 sumpin kids and their fams.
I would not want tor repeat that process/journey, in today's situ.
Over simplification. Areas where there are more higher paying jobs (like Washington DC) have higher real estate prices, and overall cost of living. Areas with lower paid jobs (such as the Applachians) tend to have a lower cost of living and lower housing prices. California is a bit of an anomaly due to inter/national wealth concentration but not necessarily much higher paid jobs.
Asheville is an ideal place to live IF you have a decent source of income. The cost of living is low, and NC taxes are low.
I beg to differ. We moved here from Northern Virginia almost six years ago. When you parse out housing, the cost of living between here and there is very comparable. Everyday taxes here are a bit higher than they were there, at least at the time (I have not kept track of Virginia taxes since I left). By everyday taxes, I mean sales and income tax. Property tax is lower here if you are outside the city limits of Asheville, more comparable if inside the city limits.
The problem is costs in Asheville are not directly related to local wages. People living on retirement and those of us who telecommute skew that equation. Asheville is not unique in that respect. Anywhere that attracts people looking for a better quality of life, including large numbers of retirees, people with enough wealth to relocate and not require local iincome, or those earning their living from outside the area has those factors as an influence on the cost of living.
The problem is costs in Asheville are not directly related to local wages. People living on retirement and those of us who telecommute skew that equation.
Asheville is not unique in that respect. Anywhere that attracts people looking for a better quality of life, including large numbers of retirees, people with enough wealth to relocate and not require local income, or those earning their living from outside the area has those factors as an influence on the cost of living.
Same thing is happening in Belize due to all the Americans relocating there.
Over simplification. Areas where there are more higher paying jobs (like Washington DC) have higher real estate prices, and overall cost of living. Areas with lower paid jobs (such as the Applachians) tend to have a lower cost of living and lower housing prices. California is a bit of an anomaly due to inter/national wealth concentration but not necessarily much higher paid jobs.
Asheville is an ideal place to live IF you have a decent source of income. The cost of living is low, and NC taxes are low.
Yea, just trying to figure out what a "decent income" is in Asheville.
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