Aren't cost of living differences really just housing?

[Anonymous]

There is also backward cost differences. I worked on Wall Street for years. I lived at home when I started for a few years and got paid a lot more for cost of living. Meanwhile my Mom charged me $200 a month.

Later I bought a small starter home fixer upper in Dec 1999 for cheap. I paid it off by 2008 and I never upgraded. (I paid 279K). My salary was very high from 2008 forward yet my total housing costs was very low as no mortgage. So I am getting paid more due to high housing costs when you have none.

Kinda like Bethesda, where so many kids take over parents home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents live in a MCOL area (cheaper than here but not “low”) and because they have a much lower immigrant population things like lawn, handyman, renovation and nail/spa devices actually cost more there. They also are not as able to get good discounts on new cars because there are fewer dealers to compete for business.

Their groceries and clothing and vacations are the same. So it’s really just housing.

This happened when we lived in Vermont! We mowed our own lawn, did our own landscaping, shoveled our own driveway. There was no "doing my nails" or ordering food- there were no places to do these things. We saved a lot of money since I just did without, but outsourcing would have been exorbitant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in the Midwest now, and things are cheaper across the board. Parking, everything related to childcare, kid activities, camps, groceries, restaurant meals, therapy, taxes, gym membership, pool membership, etc.

But are salaries generally lower or about the same as the coasts? Moreover, I think the costs are just different. DH and I own a SFH in Arlington, which is expensive, but own one 10-year old car, which is paid off. People in the Midwest seem to spend less on housing but a fortune on cars.

Some fields, like healthcare, pay the same or even more than on the coasts. Other fields, like law and teaching, pay less.

[Anonymous]

I know my rural hometown in the South has bananas the same price per pound as at my local Giant.