Is the whole country the same?

Question

I have just finished researching every state and almost every city in the Americas for the purpose of moving. And what the bloody heck, it's all the same cost! same rent costs, almost the same fuel costs, job market is bad everywhere, especially if your a middle to lower class income like myself. as far as I can tell, the only reason to move is for a change of scenery. am I wrong, or did I just bloody waste 2 months of my time?

Answer 1

Are you comparing cost of living percentages to say all is the same? Since raw data would be far from the same. I must say last year three areas were noted as growing areas. One was Seattle WA, the other was Charlotte, NC and I am forgetting the third at the moment. Check out those locations and their surrounding areas. For example, Charlotte is med. costs in town, however, move to Concord, a 10 min drive into down town Charlotte, you can cut your living costs by 30%. So you can commute a little for large payoffs. Good luck on your continued search. I am not sure what your reasoning is but whatever you are looking for I hope you find it.

Answer 2

Hmm, don't see how you could have come up that everything is the same.

You can rent an apartment in Southern California, pay $1,250/month and make $60,000 a year, or live in Dayton, Ohio, make $35,000 a year doing the same job but renting for $500/month.

Low Cost areas: New Orleans, Cleveland, Buffalo

Rural midwest - most of Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, Missouri Most of the Deep South (Mississippi/Arkansas)

Highest cost areas are Southern California, The big Easter Cities (NY, Boston, Philly, etc)


Most big cities are fairly high expense, but many smaller cities (population 50,000-200,000) have much lower costs, and there are several with good economies going.

Answer 3

Well, do not look for a job in research. Maybe in making horror movies - what the "bloody heck"

Costs are not the same. Here are a couple of sites that should give you some data on cost of living throughout the U.S. and comparative salaries, etc. The bureau of labor and statistics also has a lot of data in these areas.

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/steccpi.html
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/
http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Cost_of_Living/Cost_of_Living.asp

Answer 4

Cities are cities---New York and Los Angeles probably have the highest prices as far as rents are concerned and gas is expensive EVERYWHERE---but instead of looking primarily at just CITIES, why not try smaller towns or suburbs NEAR the cities--you might have much better luck finding less expensive rental property... as for the job market... it PROBABLY is better in the bigger cities then smaller towns and suburbs, however, there ARE jobs out there... if there isn't, I've got two nieces graduating from 4 years of private colleges soon who really need jobs!!!!!

Answer 5

Houston has a booming job market, low housing costs, and gas prices are 10 to 20 cents lower than the "average" they always mention on the news. We have no state income tax.

Proprty tax is really high though.

You'd have to share with us what you discovered the "normal ammounts" are and then we can tell you how our cities rank in comparison.

Answer 6

You didn't do your research very well. Rent costs are FAR from the same all over the nation. What will cost $600 per month where I live will cost $4500 per month in Manhattan, and probably $1200 in parts of Chicago.

Many OTHER costs of living are similar in other parts of the nation, but rents are NOT.

Answer 7

You Still have more research to do cuz if you are talking about the americas you mean the whole north, south , and central and if you really want to move into a nice place you could go to pensilvania or massachusetts dont even think about living in california cuz they will stress you out.
Cheers from america.

Answer 8

No way dude.
There are plenty of po-dunk towns where it costs next to nothing to rent (or even buy) in every state. The trouble is you have to commute between them and where you can make real $$$. You must be looking at all big cities.

Answer 9

"the Americas" means all of the North and South American continents. That's a lot of research! And it's hard to believe the rent is the same in Tierra del Fuega as in Los Angeles.