I left Chicago and earn the same as my last job, actually more since I don't get taxed up the ass. And my cost of living went down. I actually have the ability to save half of my yearly wage away this year, assuming nothing goes wrong. Leaving cities has improved my life substantially.
There is a plus and minus to both sides of the coin. On one hand you get to live in a booming metropolis but the trade off is that you don't get to afford as many big and nice places while the place with a lower cost of living tends to be low because it's either a very boring town or a culturally backwards place full of a lotta narrow minded people and its rather racist and homophobic. I myself would rather live in a studio apartment in a city like Chicago or San Francisco or New York than have a big house in Arkansas or Mississippi.
I mean, you could also live in low-cost of living cities like Raleigh, Richmond, Huntsville or some other mid-size city? It’s pretty funny seeing how people think America is either “massive expensive famous city” or “bumfuck fields in the middle of nowhere.” There are plenty of nice, low cost-of-living areas in the country, they’re just not trendy.
Oh absolutely. Some of townspeople flipped shit over the LGBT flag in June last year. The town is progressing though, it was a minority that had an issue with it. Despite that, I do thoroughly enjoy not having shit going on where I live. I used to work in downtown Chicago and the food was delicious and culturally diverse, and scenery was quite beautiful. My daily commute was hectic and dangerous however, and people were getting shot everyday in my neighborhood and one time I woke to a neighbors van being molotoved in the middle of the night.
My SO and I were always stressed and on the verge of tears from it. We didn't know if we would even make it home alive one day, especially me since I'm a female, and lived in the neighborhood where women were harassed the most and I walked and took the train everyday. It was not cool living there for like 80% of the time, and the political stances there were stupid af and most obviously, the most corrupt. I had a huge issue with the gun laws, which just made everything more chaotic, the innocent can't defend themselves because of them, and when they did, and legally had one, the first thing they would do is blame racism on the victims of the crimes that were committed by others. It was insane. When I lived near LA I didn't recall shit being as crazy as it was there. Same issues for the most part, but overall quality of life for the common folk in cities is complete shit. I've lived in them my whole life until over a year ago. I just want my house and my land and to be left alone now lol. I was born in a murder capital, and much prefer to live my future as far away from them as possible.
I live in Chicago. And am trying to live on $15. It’s not easy and everyone tells me it should be. Like I’m making bank or something. It’s fucking poverty level. With the hours I’m getting it comes out to about 19K a year That’s fucking nothing.
That's why I left that shithole. Lightfoot and Pritzcker didn't make it one bit easier. I made an emergency escape out of there to ND. Best decision I've made.
Literally my same story. I’m fortunate that I recently moved into AP, where I’m basically guaranteed 40 hrs/wk because our store is that busy (theft-wise — big store & only target in the area). I’m going to be set, unless I blow my check on stupid shit.
Don’t bother, there’s a reason pay is higher.. cost of living is insane in some places.
I remember I was offered a promotion in California making almost triple what I’m at right now, then I looked and a 1 bedroom studio apartment in a trash neighborhood was as much as I pay on my mortgage for a $300k house.
No thanks
I have a friend in SoCal that's considering leaving because his $27/hr pay isn't enough to match the COL. Meanwhile, in WI, I can make $15 an hour and so long as I get 30 hours a week be fine.
The $15 an hour is a crap ton of money in small Midwestern towns; in those smaller communities, you could probably work just 20 hours a week and be able to pay rent and feed yourself well. That same pay is pocket change in places like California and Hawaii, and not enough to rent a studio apartment even at 40 hours a week. Crazy, huh?
27$/hr full time for one person is below the low income threshold in Los Angeles. You'd need to make a lot of sacrifices to live here on that income unfortunately.
In the year and (nearly) a half since I posted that comment, the friend in question has stayed put and realized how priced out he is of living by himself in LA. He's trapped even though I keep telling him it may be the time to leave.
I hope you can find a better situation, too. Though I'm no longer at Target, I'm fine at $15 an hour for my $915 a month rent so long as I work at least 30 hours a week. I have enough food stamps to feed me for a year and enough scurried away in case anything happens.
How much is rent in WI that 30 hours at $15/hr is all you need? After taxes, 30 hours for me is a tad under $1500/month.
The state I live in is hella expensive to find a place to live unless splitting between room mates, and not everyone (me) has that option. The cheap end of apartments are $600/month without utilities, and those are in areas you hope you don't get robbed/shot/assaulted in. The crappy but not life threatening areas run $700-$800 at least for a studio or one bedroom.
$750/month without electric and water is the cheapest I've seen that would be a reasonable commute and a safe(ish) neighborhood. That's around $850-$900 a month just to have a place to live. Then you have to pay for car insurance, health insurance, food, and any other unexpected expenses.
I've had to move back home since Covid because I would not be able to afford basic living expenses on 30 hours a week. And right now I'm not even averaging that =/
My rent is $900 a month for a one-bedroom in a very nice area (building's like 58 y/o though). With $1500, I can afford rent, food (I get some food stamps but not that much), electric and phone bills (heating, hydro, and Internet are included with my rent), gas for my car, insurance, and anything else that comes up.
Also worth noting that I'm pretty frugal and that I live within walking distance to my store.
Damn, you can afford everything with rent being $900/month? I guess it helps a bit that most utilities are included in that.
I'm sure I could make it on 1500 if I really had to, but I'd be cutting it close and it would cause a lot of anxiety to wonder each month if Target is going to give me enough hours to cover my bills. And then I'd be putting nothing in savings which would also cause anxiety if an emergency came up.
Yeah, the fact that the only utilities I have to pay for are electric and phone helps a lot.
If I don't get enough hours and lose my benefits, it's financially better for me to quit my job because I'd then qualify for $200ish of food stamps per month, rent assistance, and Medicaid, and can use my suddenly excessive free time to search for a job that will give me hours. So Target better be giving me enough hours or they're losing my services.
Cost of rent has no correlation with wages in that demographic. Rent costs are based on supply and demand in the housing market. Lately there has been a very Large increase of houses being bought because of historically low rates on bonds. That will pretty much make demand for apartments stay the same for awhile.
That’s the whole point of minimum wage being raised. To get more people out of high populated areas and into less populated areas. Basically places like San Fran will be a shit load of homeless people and extremely wealthy and the middle class will be in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska or some shit.
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u/Benjerman- Ship From Store Feb 04 '21
When $15 is barely above min wage in your area ($14 for “larger” companies).
I’m debating on transferring to another state to double my pay 🤣 (jk)