If you don’t understand what an average is, or how they conceal, you are gonna fooled a lot, OP
I’d love to see the chart from 2034, if I had a time machine.
Changing climate conditions, inflationary pressure, etc. may reverse some of these trends. Or not.
Also: Atlanta is full please stay away 🤣
LCOL is LCOL for a reason.
Because they have higher wages and more jobs…
I live in one of those lower cost of living areas; the Midwest.
This is not the easy decision some might make it out to be. It is definitely true that if you are able to secure a decent paying job this can be a decent place to live. However, finding a decent paying job is definitely not a given. Remember, it’s low cost of living, and the firm I work for just used that fact as a key negotiating point to secure a new contract; they bid lower because they’re going to pay less for the employees.
But even if you find a decent job let’s suppose you’ve completed a bachelor’s or better which means you’re significantly more likely to be a little more left leaning in your politics and that’s going to make it hard to fit in. Especially if you aren’t from the region initially. I grew up in one of these areas and I have extremely good camouflage, I know where my friends and sympathizers are, and I can usually find common ground with some of these people if only because we share some of the same background. I can’t imagine being a complete outsider and trying to fit in. Some of these areas are known for being exceptionally friendly to strangers and that can be true, but the moment you buy a house people start wondering about your character, where you work, where you go to church, and who you are friends with instead of minding their own fucking business.
Then there’s the weather. Honestly, this is the worst part of the Midwest. Yes, it’s nice to have “seasons” I guess, in theory, but the reality is that where I am you get to buckle down for a brutally cold winter, almost completely without snow which might at least make the cold interesting, fun, or picturesque, so instead you just get months of cold, grey, brown and dead. Then you get about a week of halfway nice weather before returning to summer with heat stroke inducing combos of high temps and higher humidity. I’ve hopped into my pool to discover it to basically be a warm bath.
And then there’s the bugs. Ohh the bugs. Now this one may just be a me problem, and I swear to you I use almost nothing in the way of products to perfume and pamper myself, I just wash well and go, but should I try to just stand still and enjoy a view it’s about a 5 second countdown until every winged 6 legged devil in the surrounding acre attempts to take up residence in any hole of my body it can get to. It is insufferable, and my only option is to stay in, keep moving, or use cancer and child deformity provoking levels of experimental bug repellants.
Then there’s the amenities. Want to move here and work remote? Better be careful, the Internet your new home has access to may not be better than dial up, and even if you do have other options you may have to pay quite a bit to make use of it. But let’s be realistic, unless you already have that down, if you’re coming here and hoping to find something you probably aren’t working remote and if you got the job locally having that level of Internet access may not be affordable anyway.
So yeah, it has its pros and cons, but there are definitely reasons that low cost of living areas are low cost of living; nobody wants to live here. I’m not that wild about it myself and would probably be gone if it weren’t for family.
I mean you can see people are tired of it as Oregon, California and NY are losing people. While other states are gaining
In San Diego my job makes X salary.
In Cincinnati, my job makes X – 30%.
High speed trains can fix this issue in the future.
Everyone says they want a LCOL until they move there, realize their neighbors are the worse kind of racists possible, 2 FBI watch list cults are active in the area, all utilities are a monopoly that charges double what you would pay anywhere else on the cheap months, there isn’t a fully equipped hospital within 45 minutes, and groceries plus anything else needed requires a 30+ minute drive into town. Sure, you pay ~$500 for your mortgage each month and your property taxes are stupid low, but the school system is rated a 1 with a 12% graduation rate. And those neighbors keep complaining about how badly the public education system is, but keep voting against and levies for school improvements or tax raises.
Sounds fun right?
Wow it’s almost because the low cost area is low because there are almost no jobs there, so no one wants to fucking buy a home where there are no jobs.
10 comments
If you don’t understand what an average is, or how they conceal, you are gonna fooled a lot, OP
I’d love to see the chart from 2034, if I had a time machine.
Changing climate conditions, inflationary pressure, etc. may reverse some of these trends. Or not.
Also: Atlanta is full please stay away 🤣
LCOL is LCOL for a reason.
Because they have higher wages and more jobs…
I live in one of those lower cost of living areas; the Midwest.
This is not the easy decision some might make it out to be. It is definitely true that if you are able to secure a decent paying job this can be a decent place to live. However, finding a decent paying job is definitely not a given. Remember, it’s low cost of living, and the firm I work for just used that fact as a key negotiating point to secure a new contract; they bid lower because they’re going to pay less for the employees.
But even if you find a decent job let’s suppose you’ve completed a bachelor’s or better which means you’re significantly more likely to be a little more left leaning in your politics and that’s going to make it hard to fit in. Especially if you aren’t from the region initially. I grew up in one of these areas and I have extremely good camouflage, I know where my friends and sympathizers are, and I can usually find common ground with some of these people if only because we share some of the same background. I can’t imagine being a complete outsider and trying to fit in. Some of these areas are known for being exceptionally friendly to strangers and that can be true, but the moment you buy a house people start wondering about your character, where you work, where you go to church, and who you are friends with instead of minding their own fucking business.
Then there’s the weather. Honestly, this is the worst part of the Midwest. Yes, it’s nice to have “seasons” I guess, in theory, but the reality is that where I am you get to buckle down for a brutally cold winter, almost completely without snow which might at least make the cold interesting, fun, or picturesque, so instead you just get months of cold, grey, brown and dead. Then you get about a week of halfway nice weather before returning to summer with heat stroke inducing combos of high temps and higher humidity. I’ve hopped into my pool to discover it to basically be a warm bath.
And then there’s the bugs. Ohh the bugs. Now this one may just be a me problem, and I swear to you I use almost nothing in the way of products to perfume and pamper myself, I just wash well and go, but should I try to just stand still and enjoy a view it’s about a 5 second countdown until every winged 6 legged devil in the surrounding acre attempts to take up residence in any hole of my body it can get to. It is insufferable, and my only option is to stay in, keep moving, or use cancer and child deformity provoking levels of experimental bug repellants.
Then there’s the amenities. Want to move here and work remote? Better be careful, the Internet your new home has access to may not be better than dial up, and even if you do have other options you may have to pay quite a bit to make use of it. But let’s be realistic, unless you already have that down, if you’re coming here and hoping to find something you probably aren’t working remote and if you got the job locally having that level of Internet access may not be affordable anyway.
So yeah, it has its pros and cons, but there are definitely reasons that low cost of living areas are low cost of living; nobody wants to live here. I’m not that wild about it myself and would probably be gone if it weren’t for family.
I mean you can see people are tired of it as Oregon, California and NY are losing people. While other states are gaining
In San Diego my job makes X salary.
In Cincinnati, my job makes X – 30%.
High speed trains can fix this issue in the future.
Everyone says they want a LCOL until they move there, realize their neighbors are the worse kind of racists possible, 2 FBI watch list cults are active in the area, all utilities are a monopoly that charges double what you would pay anywhere else on the cheap months, there isn’t a fully equipped hospital within 45 minutes, and groceries plus anything else needed requires a 30+ minute drive into town. Sure, you pay ~$500 for your mortgage each month and your property taxes are stupid low, but the school system is rated a 1 with a 12% graduation rate. And those neighbors keep complaining about how badly the public education system is, but keep voting against and levies for school improvements or tax raises.
Sounds fun right?
Wow it’s almost because the low cost area is low because there are almost no jobs there, so no one wants to fucking buy a home where there are no jobs.