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Yes, because saving a dollar is saving a dollar, no matter where you go. Say I make $150k/yr after taxes in Silicon Valley and spend $6000/mo, which is about $
by gotaran 6y ago
Yes, because saving a dollar is saving a dollar, no matter where you go.
Say I make $150k/yr after taxes in Silicon Valley and spend $6000/mo, which is about $72k/yr. Which means I save $78k/yr (and savings compound over time, as do pay raises).
If I relocate, I'm making $128k/yr after taxes and spending $4800/mo, or about $57600/yr. I'm saving $70k/yr, a whopping $8k/yr difference.
- whateveracct 6y agoYep people just look at percentages for cost of living instead of raw dollars all the time, and this causes them to miss reality. I moved to Seattle from a way lower CoL area, but even with the way higher rent, I was saving more dollars/year.
- gotaran 6y agoI also moved from SF to small town Illinois, and oddly enough my spending in SF pre-Covid and in IL now are about the same. In SF, I had a rent controlled spot and lived with 4 roommates. It didn't matter much because I spent most of my time at work, and had access to a bunch of things in the city and the Bay on weekends. I also ate most of my meals for free at work, and I didn't own a car. Now, in IL, I have my own 1BR apartment, a car, and spend a lot more on groceries and takeout. Also, I'm getting a fundamentally different experience. I have more space, but I'd love to go back to city living when the pandemic ends.
- sct202 6y agoI think a lot of the cost of living calculators assume you won't downgrade your living situations with roommates, smaller living spaces, etc, so there's a lot of situations like yours where expenses don't scale the same way someone who wants to live in a similar sized single family home in both areas.