what is the best state to live in regarding wages, taxes & cost of living?

Question

wishing to have a higher wage and lower property & sales tax along with low cost of living.

Answer 1

Depends on the type of income you have.

Some states tax retiree benefits; some don't. If you look at the AARP web site, you'll get tips for seniors. They list Delaware, New Hampshire, Florida, Alaska and Texas as Tax friendly states.

But Delaware's state income tax is progressive, so if you make a lot you'll pay alot. If you don't make much taxable income, however, the property tax is minimal and there is no sales tax.

New Hampshire has no sales tax and no state income tax, but you'll pay through the nose for property tax.

I recently moved from CA to DE then to PA. CA had the most tax, DE the least but the schools sucked and I had to move to PA, which is OK for taxes (and great for schools!). But it's hardest to find real information on local taxes; the localities don't want you to know a damn thing about them until you're about to sign a HUD-1.

Wages, you're on your own. They vary considerably based on skills.

Answer 2

The problem here is that you have three variables competing with each other.

Wages and tax is Alaska, but it also has the highest cost of living. On the whole, the best place to live is someplace where you have a stable network of friends and family to support you when times are rough.

Studies done at Harvard Business School have discovered that what makes someone perceive that they have a "good" life is that they are in the top 10% of the earning capacity within whatever group they are measuring themselves against. If you measure yourself against your neighbors, it's easy to get to that point. If you measure yourself against the top people in your industry, you'll never feel like you've attained success.

If you really want to save tax money, have a high salary, and a great cost of living, consider moving to a third world country. As an English teacher (you're going to have to brush up on your punctuation), you will have higher pay than those around you and enjoy a substantially generous lifestyle with greatly reduced (or nil) US taxes.

You can use the chart below to find out average wages for a variety of occupations in every state.

Answer 3

Go online and google it. Or you could check out the Labor Market Information at www.lmi.state.which one.gov. Good luck! PS, Alaska has no sales tax, but a higher wage. The cost of living is comparable to California though.

Answer 4

I'm sure some states have an overall lower tax rate but in the end if you aren't paying state income tax you are paying it in other places. Gas is cheaper in Missouri than Illinois because taxes on gas are higher in IL but in MO there is personal property tax (which affects mostly auto owners) but not in IL. If you live on the IL/MO border, you live in IL and buy gas in MO. That's how to get around that. That's just one example.

Answer 5

If the area time and teen workers are not coated in the residing salary, then employers will hire them extremely of the finished time or grownup workers. would not you? The corporation is making an attempt to make the main important income they are able to. A residing salary standards is extremely area based. The residing salary in extra desirable la could desire to be diverse than one in extra desirable Memphis by way of fact the charges of residing is sigificantly diverse. that's genuine in the State too.... why could you provide the comparable residing salary to a Angeleno as you may somebody working in Apple Valley? the fee of residing isn't the comparable. cities that invoke a residing salary must be careful. in the event that they set one lots greater than federal minimum salary, then they force corporation far off from the city. As corporation leaves, unemployment is going up. for this reason, a residing salary has lots extra danger than a federal minimum salary. So, a city ought to have lots to grant with the intention to sway corporation to stay in spite of strengthen hard paintings expenditures. that's like putting a save in a mall. If it expenditures you $4.00 a sq. foot in the mall, and $a million.00 a sq. foot hire exterior the mall.... the corporation desires to return to a call if the upward thrust in foot site visitors a mall brings is properly well worth the extra leasing expenditures. salary expenditures would be factored the comparable way. in case you ought to area it in, i think of using the size of corporation is a thank you to bypass. initiate with companies over 50 people, then 25 people, and then 5 people. i don't think of a residing salary is life like for employers with below 5.

Answer 6

Texas
No state income tax
Sales tax of around 8%, depending on locality
Property tax around 3% of appraised value, again depends on locality.
Wages in major cities (Houston, Dallas, Austin, etc) approximately equal to major cities in other states.
Very inexpensive housing compared to West/East coasts (very nice 3BR home can be had under 200K)

Answer 7

Washington state has the highest minimum wage of any state. Right the minimum wage is $7.63 per hour as compared to the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour.

Answer 8

well in LAs VEgas of course. They only take fed taxes

Answer 9

God Bless Texas

Answer 10

Maryland, I have heard they have low taxes.