If your city became too expensive for you to live there...

[pdxtex]

my move could go a few ways. i dream of falling of the radar a bit and going to el paso or spokane. but i also dream of flopping off a boat and swimming in the gulf of mexico. something like sarasota would do nicely. if i had to be close to family, i could do worse then moving back home, ann arbor.

[brickell]

Here's another way of looking at it. It's clickbait, so take it with a grain of salt...

http://www.gobankingrates.com/person...iggest-cities/

What It Costs to Live in the 50 Most Populous U.S. Cities

Here are the 50 most populous cities surveyed by GOBankingRates. The chart compares the income needed to live comfortably in each city to each city's actual median household income. The cities are listed in order according to the difference between the income needed and the median income, from the biggest surplus ― where it's easiest to live comfortably ― to the biggest deficit, which is where living comfortably according to a 50-30-20 budget is most difficult.


City Population Income Needed to Live Comfortably Median Household Income Difference Between Needed and Actual
Virginia Beach, Va. 450,980 $50,929 $67,001 $16,072 surplus
Bakersfield, Calif. 368,759 $43,426 $56,842 $13,416 surplus
Colorado Springs, Colo. 445,830 $44,512 $54,228 $9,716 surplus
Arlington, Texas 383,204 $46,904 $53,055 $6,151 surplus
Mesa, Ariz. 464,704 $42,654 $48,259 $5,605 surplus
Wichita, Kan. 388,413 $40,616 $45,907 $5,291 surplus
Albuquerque, N.M. 557,169 $43,895 $47,413 $3,518 surplus
Omaha, Neb. 446,599 $45,560 $48,751 $3,191 surplus
Oklahoma City, Okla. 620,602 $44,180 $47,004 $2,824 surplus
Austin, Texas 912,791 $53,225 $55,216 $1,991 surplus
El Paso, Texas 679,036 $40,227 $42,037 $1,810 surplus
Fort Worth, Texas 812,238 $51,759 $52,492 $733 surplus
Las Vegas 613,599 $50,453 $50,903 $450 surplus
San Antonio 1,436,697 $46,238 $46,317 $79 surplus
Kansas City, Mo. 470,800 $45,311 $45,376 $65 surplus
Charlotte, N.C. 809,958 $53,842 $53,274 $568 deficit
Columbus, Ohio 835,957 $45,466 $44,774 $692 deficit
Raleigh, N.C. 439,896 $55,537 $54,581 $956 deficit
Fresno, Calif. 515,986 $42,496 $41,455 $1,041 deficit
Phoenix 1,537,058 $48,876 $46,881 $1,995 deficit
Louisville, Ky. 612,780 $46,831 $44,806 $2,025 deficit
Tucson, Ariz. 527,972 $39,966 $37,149 $2,817 deficit
Jacksonville, Fla. 853,382 $49,842 $46,768 $3,074 deficit
San Diego 1,381,069 $69,307 $65,753 $3,554 deficit
Sacramento, Calif. 485,199 $53,736 $50,013 $3,723 deficit
Indianapolis 848,788 $46,016 $42,076 $3,940 deficit
Seattle 668,342 $72,092 $67,365 $4,727 deficit
Long Beach, Calif. 473,577 $58,560 $52,944 $5,616 deficit
San Jose, Calif. 1,015,785 $89,734 $83,787 $5,947 deficit
Portland, Ore. 619,360 $60,195 $53,230 $6,965 deficit
Memphis, Tenn. 656,861 $44,180 $37,099 $7,081 deficit
Milwaukee 599,642 $43,281 $35,489 $7,792 deficit
Denver 663,862 $62,842 $51,800 $11,042 deficit
Baltimore 622,793 $53,897 $41,819 $12,078 deficit
Dallas 1,281,047 $55,651 $43,359 $12,292 deficit
Minneapolis 407,207 $64,170 $50,767 $13,403 deficit
Atlanta 456,002 $60,285 $46,439 $13,846 deficit
Washington, DC 658,893 $83,104 $69,235 $13,869 deficit
Nashville, Tenn. 644,014 $61,015 $46,758 $14,257 deficit
Houston 2,239,558 $60,795 $45,728 $15,067 deficit
Cleveland 389,521 $42,589 $26,179 $16,410 deficit
Detroit 680,250 $42,772 $26,095 $16,677 deficit
Chicago 2,722,389 $68,671 $47,831 $20,840 deficit
Philadelphia 1,560,297 $59,384 $37,460 $21,924 deficit
New Orleans 384,320 $60,782 $36,964 $23,818 deficit
Los Angeles 3,928,864 $74,371 $49,682 $24,689 deficit
Boston 655,884 $84,422 $54,485 $29,937 deficit
New York 8,491,079 $87,446 $52,737 $34,709 deficit
San Francisco 852,469 $119,570 $78,378 $41,192 deficit
Miami 430,332 $77,057 $30,858 $46,199 deficit

[James Bond Agent 007]

Kansas City, Mo. 470,800 $45,311 $45,376 $65 surplus

Seattle 668,342 $72,092 $67,365 $4,727 deficit

I just saved myself $4,792. And I didn't even have to switch to Geico!

[pdxtex]

so are you getting your money's worth from your new city?

[James Bond Agent 007]

Yes.

[maru2501]

whoever got that figure for NOLA is doing it wrong

[10023]

Originally Posted by maru2501

whoever got that figure for NOLA is doing it wrong

The chart compares the income needed to live comfortably in each city to each city's actual median household income.

The figures compare cost of living to median incomes, so a city could fare poorly either due to high cost of living or low paying jobs. I expect that New Orleans is representative of the latter. It's Chicago that I find surprising.

Also note that cities with a large military/defense presence (Virginia Beach, Colorado Springs, etc) tend to do well.

[mhays]

The Seattle area is ringed by huge bases, with the largest being south of Tacoma, in the center of Bremerton, and in central Everett. The economic impact is huge, but these areas are generally in the bottom half of the prosperity spectrum.

[fflint]

Shall we assume one private automobile per adult is part of the "income needed to live comfortably" calculation? If so, that is fine for most of America's low density cities, but problematic for the more dense and traditionally urban areas. My partner and I have lived comfortably without a car in San Francisco for 13 years now, and the financial savings is not insignificant.

[pdxtex]

so what that list tells me is either a city with extremely high poverty and violence rates or extremely far left leadership will be to the detriment of the greater populous' wallet. all that good living in some of these cities comes with a price I guess.

[surfer808]

well the homes for sale in Hawaii are ridiculous (that's where I live) but if we could move to another city, we love Florence, Italy. It is expensive there but not as much. It's hard to get a working VISA for an American to stay there though.