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The problem with this kind of comparison is that it attempts to compare like-for-like housing (and transportation) arrangements, when obviously people in San Fr
by dionidium 6y ago
The problem with this kind of comparison is that it attempts to compare like-for-like housing (and transportation) arrangements, when obviously people in San Francisco have different living arrangements than people in Madison. When I moved from St. Louis to NYC I didn't expect to live in exactly the same kind of arrangements and it would have been absurd to calculate my cost of living based on the assumption that I would. And, yet, that's what most COL calculators try to do, rendering them practically useless.
- cameldrv 6y agoBut why do they have different living arrangements? Because SF/NYC is more expensive, i.e. the cost of living is higher. Perhaps you value other things like having access to cultural activities, etc, but if you want the same material standard of living, it's much more expensive in these cities.
- dionidium 6y agoOne does not have the "same material standard of living" in identical houses independent of where the houses are located. That's why the costs are different in the first place. You're imagining that the real estate can be valued in the abstract, independent of its location. But it can't. If you have two identical houses, one in Manhattan and one in suburban Arizona, the one in Manhattan represents a vastly higher material standard of living.