OT: America's cheapest states to live

8 comments

• sharkhunter

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  11 years ago

  I'm kind of wondering how they came up with those home prices. I bought a new house for less than half the cheapest listed average price and my total utility bill was just over $100 last month but I didn't run the air conditioner very much.
  
• sharkhunter

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  11 years ago

  Gasoline costs about $2.95 here. I saw it for 2.85 at one station in Greenville. I guess they only got averages for high priced homes in the larger cities. Then they left out other details.
  
  I like to see a list of cheapest high mileage lap dances with good looking dancers.
• dallas702

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  11 years ago

  What this kind of "ten most X" reporting neglects to include really has an impact on rankings. In the example from CNBC, the report neglects to address the impact of wages on "livability." Oklahoma may be very "cheap" when looking only at costs, but since wages in OK are also among the lowest in the country, disposable income in OK is actually less than most states. No spending $ = no good clubs
  
  I lived for a decade near Nashville, TN. In spite of its Music City status it really was a very inexpensive place to live (low taxes - property and sales, low housing costs, and cheap TVA power). But for most people in Nashville, salaries were also very low. So Tennessee may cost less than some states, but most people there make so much less than average that they actually have less left over from their paycheck than people who live in NYC or San Fran. Not much money to spend = few clubs
  
  It is the $$ left over - after paying the rent, car note, utilities and buying groceries - that pays for lap dances! I think that the quality and number of strip clubs in a particular area is an indication of real livability. Only in an area where many guys can pay their bills AND have money left over to regularly hit the clubs and buy VIPS will strip clubs proliferate.
  
  LA - high cost of living, but lots of very highly paid people = COI!
• Papi_Chulo

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  11 years ago

  Dallas702 makes a good point.
  
  Perhaps a ratio of income vs cost-of-living is a better barometer of a good place to live (although the CNBC report was only looking at the single aspect of cheapest state to live in).
  
  I lived in Dallas, TX for ~10 yrs in the 2000s and I recall a fellow coworker telling me had looked it up and that the N. Texas region was #2 (at the time) in income vs. cost-of-living. I did not look at the data myself but his statement was consistent w/ what I perceived of the N. Texas region.
  
• mjx01

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  11 years ago

  I agree with PC, Texas is the only decent one for SCs. Also, many good points by Dallas, and I'll add another: the list does not discuss taxes. For example, yes many 'cost of living' items are comparatively cheep in Idaho, but IME, Idaho has comparatively high taxes.
• Papi_Chulo

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  11 years ago

  For what is worth, found the following info form a link from a Forbes.com article:
  
  Best States to Make a Living
  
  These rankings are based on an analysis that considered:
  Average wage and unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
  Cost of living data from C2ER (formerly ACCRA)
  State tax rate information from Tax-Rates.org
  The Workplace Environment rankings from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index poll
  Going from best to worst, here is how all 50 U.S. states ranked for 2013:
  
  1. Washington
  2. Virginia
  3. Colorado
  4. Texas
  5. Wyoming
  6. Minnesota
  7. Nebraska
  8. Utah
  9. Kansas
  10. Oklahoma
  11. Arizona
  12. Iowa
  13. Massachusetts
  14. Missouri
  15. Indiana
  16. Michigan
  17. North Dakota
  18. Nevada
  19. Pennsylvania
  20. Idaho
  21. Ohio
  22. Illinois
  23. Georgia
  24. Tennessee
  25. Wisconsin
  26. Maryland
  27. Delaware
  28. Florida
  29. California
  30. Kentucky
  31. Arkansas
  32. Louisiana
  33. Oregon
  34. Montana
  35. New Mexico
  36. New Hampshire
  37. Connecticut
  38. North Carolina
  39. Alabama
  40. Maine
  41. South Dakota
  42. Alaska
  43. Vermont
  44. West Virginia
  45. New Jersey
  46. South Carolina
  47. New York
  48. Rhode Island
  49. Mississippi
  50. Hawaii
  
  
  http://www.money-rates.com/research-cent…
  
  http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmi…
  
• Ermita_Nights

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  11 years ago

  I started my working career in high cost cities, saved what I could, then moved to a low cost city (Detroit area, coincidentally also has great strip clubs). When I moved to Detroit area, I took a 25% pay cut, but bought a bigger house for half what I sold my old big-city house for. Car insurance, restaurant meals, taxes, and many other expenses are half what I used to pay. Lap dances are the same price but much higher mileage. A beer in a strip club can be as little as $2 (happy hour in Toledo) vs minimum $8-12 in the big city. My 401K is much bigger than the people around me and my retirement should be quite comfortable if we don't have another financial meltdown.
• Papi_Chulo

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  11 years ago

  That’s what I’m talking about Ermita :) – make your $$$ and then live somewhere cheap where your $$$ will go farther (and of course move to a place w/ good SCs)