4 ms·

I earn 1/3 of that per year; My gross pay is less than $40,000/yr. If a "typical home" is too expensive for you to afford, the easiest, most commonsense answer

I earn 1/3 of that per year; My gross pay is less than $40,000/yr. If a "typical home" is too expensive for you to afford, the easiest, most commonsense answer is to move to LCOL with "atypical homes". Housing prices will fall in densely populated areas accordingly. I'm in my 20s. I own my home and car. I make enough to pay my bills, live comfortably, and still have money being put towards savings and investments. I couldn’t support a family on my salary, but I can support myself just fine, with money left over. Yes, you will take a pay cut. Yes, the work may be different. But you have work/life balance, housing is affordable and a realistic goal for young people, and every time you drive past a stranger on a gravel country road, they always wave at you. The people are literally golden-retriever-level friendly and very wholesome. And the food? Oh my god, don’t get me started on the food! Forget having lots of restaurant options, because you won’t need ‘em. We’ve got little old Baptist ladies, and they want their food to send you straight to heaven. I once mentioned offhandedly that I’ve been craving chicken and dumplings, and the next day, a little old lady at work brought in an empty 1-gallon ice cream container of fresh chicken and dumplings. You can’t beat southern hospitality! I realize uprooting your life and moving from the city to a rural area isn’t a realistic thing for many, if not most, people, but I promise you that if you can, your life will be better because of it.

crooked-v 3y ago
Considering the active hostility of many places towards minorities, I have to wonder how well that wholesomeness holds up towards people who don't already look and act like the local community.
- cooper_ganglia 3y ago
  While it’s definitely not nonexistent, it is certainly very overstated. The loud voices get amplified the most, and that’s unfortunate. Personally, I think there’s very little “active hostility” here anymore, but racism is still present in subtler ways, like ignorance or insensitivity, simply because most of the people have lived here their whole lives, there’s few non-white people, and haven’t had much cross-cultural experience. There isn’t malice so much as ignorance, but there’s less and less as time goes by. My workplace’s racial makeup is majority non-white, and all of these people are very happy to have moved their families here, even if they weren’t at first. We have a New York City transplant who had a tough time transitioning, but she came around! She hated that the closest club was 40 minutes away, lol As long as you’re kind, respectful, and especially if you’re willing to attempt local culture (ever tried shooting a pound of Tannerite from 100 yards, just blowing shit up for fun? lol), 98% of people here in the south (in my southern area, at least) will welcome you with open arms. Especially those old ladies, they just want to feed you! :)
- onecommentman 3y ago
  That sounds like a hot take by someone who hasn’t lived in such areas. Sort of like neighbors who have an hot take about “those people” when they’ve never met one of those people in their life. You do have to wonder about them… I’d be interested in your personal experience regarding said “active hostility” in LCOL areas…in the year 2023. Or any objective broad based regional study about actual active hostility in LCOL areas in the 2020s in the US. Not “perceived”…sometimes the most dangerous bigot you face is the one inside your own head. Actual. Moving to a new area with a strong sense of their own community values will always require some adjustment on both sides. But my experience is there is always more to be gained than lost, and you grow as a person as a result. Practically every part of the country have a community of like-minded citizens, no matter what “like-minded” means, and that helps quite a bit. It is easier to not be the very first but, even then, that’s what courage and leadership is all about. (Try not to get shot, though.) Give the FUD spread about LCOL, it’s easy to weep at how many of us devolved from the pioneers who built houses, raised crops, children and communities with little more than a few hand tools, a couple pigs, a mule, some seed and a rifle. Not a perfect legacy, but a superior one. Must be why it’s such a popular international destination for so many looking for a better life.
  - crooked-v 3y ago
    It's a hot take, but it's one that comes from the context that 'wholesome' small towns in the Pacific Northwest will do things like spontaneously form armed posses to chase and detain random people based on wild rumors [1]. [1]: https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/crime/family-harassed-in-forks-after-being-accused-of-being-members-of-antifa/ https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/crime/family-harassed-in-...
- orwin 3y ago
  'the' local community doesn't exist in true rural areas. It's a mesh of multiple communities that will welcome you if you are interested, regardless of your origins. I've been in west Virginia for a month, I guarantee that even amongst stereotypical 'rednecks', you'll have a hard time finding someone held back by skin color or origin. I get that I was mostly with hippies and probably in one of the most left-leaning community in the US, but beer, music festivals, farmer's market do not discriminate your political leaning. In fact, my personal experience say that small-ish towns are way, way more racist and bigoted than rural areas. I'd say the more hierarchical a place is, the more likely you are to find racism, and small towns are the poster child of social hierarchy. Once it's too big, it's too complex to understand who's above who. Rural areas self-organize. Small towns are the worst for 'strangers'.

crooked-v 3y ago

Considering the active hostility of many places towards minorities, I have to wonder how well that wholesomeness holds up towards people who don't already look and act like the local community.

cooper_ganglia 3y ago
While it’s definitely not nonexistent, it is certainly very overstated. The loud voices get amplified the most, and that’s unfortunate. Personally, I think there’s very little “active hostility” here anymore, but racism is still present in subtler ways, like ignorance or insensitivity, simply because most of the people have lived here their whole lives, there’s few non-white people, and haven’t had much cross-cultural experience. There isn’t malice so much as ignorance, but there’s less and less as time goes by. My workplace’s racial makeup is majority non-white, and all of these people are very happy to have moved their families here, even if they weren’t at first. We have a New York City transplant who had a tough time transitioning, but she came around! She hated that the closest club was 40 minutes away, lol As long as you’re kind, respectful, and especially if you’re willing to attempt local culture (ever tried shooting a pound of Tannerite from 100 yards, just blowing shit up for fun? lol), 98% of people here in the south (in my southern area, at least) will welcome you with open arms. Especially those old ladies, they just want to feed you! :)
onecommentman 3y ago
That sounds like a hot take by someone who hasn’t lived in such areas. Sort of like neighbors who have an hot take about “those people” when they’ve never met one of those people in their life. You do have to wonder about them… I’d be interested in your personal experience regarding said “active hostility” in LCOL areas…in the year 2023. Or any objective broad based regional study about actual active hostility in LCOL areas in the 2020s in the US. Not “perceived”…sometimes the most dangerous bigot you face is the one inside your own head. Actual. Moving to a new area with a strong sense of their own community values will always require some adjustment on both sides. But my experience is there is always more to be gained than lost, and you grow as a person as a result. Practically every part of the country have a community of like-minded citizens, no matter what “like-minded” means, and that helps quite a bit. It is easier to not be the very first but, even then, that’s what courage and leadership is all about. (Try not to get shot, though.) Give the FUD spread about LCOL, it’s easy to weep at how many of us devolved from the pioneers who built houses, raised crops, children and communities with little more than a few hand tools, a couple pigs, a mule, some seed and a rifle. Not a perfect legacy, but a superior one. Must be why it’s such a popular international destination for so many looking for a better life.
- crooked-v 3y ago
  It's a hot take, but it's one that comes from the context that 'wholesome' small towns in the Pacific Northwest will do things like spontaneously form armed posses to chase and detain random people based on wild rumors [1]. [1]: https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/crime/family-harassed-in-forks-after-being-accused-of-being-members-of-antifa/ https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/crime/family-harassed-in-...
orwin 3y ago
'the' local community doesn't exist in true rural areas. It's a mesh of multiple communities that will welcome you if you are interested, regardless of your origins. I've been in west Virginia for a month, I guarantee that even amongst stereotypical 'rednecks', you'll have a hard time finding someone held back by skin color or origin. I get that I was mostly with hippies and probably in one of the most left-leaning community in the US, but beer, music festivals, farmer's market do not discriminate your political leaning. In fact, my personal experience say that small-ish towns are way, way more racist and bigoted than rural areas. I'd say the more hierarchical a place is, the more likely you are to find racism, and small towns are the poster child of social hierarchy. Once it's too big, it's too complex to understand who's above who. Rural areas self-organize. Small towns are the worst for 'strangers'.