Looking to move to a low cost state?

[SheilaT]

87. I often like to say that we live in a big, wonderful country

with fifty wonderful states.

There are some states you couldn't pay me to live in, but I'm not going to bother to name them here, because there are folks on DU who live in those states and absolutely adore them. And those people probably wouldn't want to live in any of my favorite places.

So there.

But I do agree that only using taxes or the idea that a particular place being low cost as your only (or even main) reason to move there isn't a very good idea. First of all, you really do tend to get what you pay for. Second, even a lot of supposedly high-cost places can really be quite affordable. I live in Santa Fe, and all my co-workers who commute from Albuquerque are absolutely convinced this is far too expensive a city to live in. Remind me what the current cost of gasoline is. And even if gasoline were ten cents a gallon, for me time spent commuting is time I'd rather be doing something else.

I no longer have school age children, but when I did the quality of schools was very important to me. Oddly enough, the taxes to support those schools is something too many people don't want to pay. And too many retired people are of the opinion that now that their kids are grown, why should they have to pay school taxes? Likewise, too many without children feel the same way. Well, we all benefit from good public schools. I'm very happy to pay those taxes. Too bad I can't opt out of the ones that go to war expenses. But that's another topic entirely.

Climate matters. Personally, I'm not fond of hot summers, and when I was planning to relocate after my divorce five years ago, I decided that I would never again live in a place where I had to have a/c in the summer. And while I understand that a lot of people aren't crazy about cold and snowy winters, let me tell you that anyone that tries to convince you that Santa Fe has a cold and snowy winter simply has never been to any place with a real winter. Like Boulder, or Utica NY, or Minneapolis, all places I've also lived in.

However, as much as I've liked living here, there are things that will eventually drive me away. One is the incredible political corruption. It's really bad. Another is the rather lackadaisical attitude toward getting very much done. Another is the lack of decent public transportation, and that when it does actually snow, they do a really crappy job of snow removal. I keep on reminding myself that no place is actually, literally perfect, but there are lots of great places to live. Taxes are only a small part of the equation.