Key Takeaways
- It can be easy to be lured in to moving someplace else when you think you are going to make more money doing the same job.
- Salaries are higher in big cities and places that are popular to live because the cost of living is higher in these places as well.
- Before you make the move for a job opportunity, ensure you’ve done your research to see if that bigger salary will match or do better for you than what you currently have where you live.
“Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.” That’s a Mark Twain quote you may have heard before. It’s got a good application here when we talk about the cost of living and salaries in different parts of the country.
You’re probably aware that places like Washington D.C., New York City, and California have higher salary offerings for similar positions in other places in the country. Sometimes, people look at moving to take a job offer in one of these cities, because, say, they are making $50,000 a year in Tennessee, but they get a job offer in New York City for $75,000 a year doing the same job, and they think of making the move.
If you were to check on things like housing cost, which is the most expensive part of cost of living expenses, you could see double or even triple the cost of rent in a place like New York City versus somewhere in Tennessee, where the cost of living is much lower. And it’s not just housing costs. Food, transportation, everything costs more in these cities because they are desirable places to live and people have access to lots more amenities.
You really have to take a look at your income and expenses to determine if the adjusted cost of living works out in your favor or not. Don’t be surprised if that $75,000 offer turns out to be way too low for a place like New York City for you to be able to live comfortably or at least as well as you did coming from somewhere else. More likely, you’d need something closer to $100,000 to make it worthwhile, maybe even more.
It’s very important to do a little homework and make sure you don’t mislead yourself about an opportunity that may not actually be an opportunity, at least from a dollars and cents standpoint. Research things like rent, food costs, and other things that are important to your lifestyle before you make the move to another place and job.
Until next time, enjoy!
Gary
