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ChodyMcChoderson t1_jebapfb wrote

If you don’t mind me asking, why are you moving out of CA? I ask because I’m looking to move out there

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a-sillylittlegoose OP t1_jebbpap wrote

well im not sure if you know how much rent is over here but it’s insane, all of the good job opportunities in my field within CA are based either in the Bay Area or LA. I would be working just to pay rent and in my opinion neither of those areas are worth working to paycheck to paycheck for. in CT i can live comfortably and still afford to save money for the future and travel like I want to. I love california, but the real estate market has become too expensive for myself and other natives.

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paulabear203 t1_jebvtnj wrote

Welcome to CT! I'm a CT native but moved out west for 20 years (Phoenix and then Austin) and returned back here 9 years ago - so glad to be back.

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a-sillylittlegoose OP t1_jebwi2y wrote

thank you :) super excited for something new!

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Masty1985 t1_jedtafz wrote

Ever consider NC? You think it's cheap here(it's one of the top 10 most expensive states) look up NC. You'll be floored.

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mkt853 t1_jeenpua wrote

Median income in NC is also $30k, so if you don't mind a 25% pay cut I'm sure it's awesome.

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Masty1985 t1_jeep63l wrote

So the tax rates are identical to here? Every single one of them? And average home sale? types of jobs are the same? Everything is the same as here but you make less money? You do realize the median incomes up here are skewed because of the millionaires/billionaires near NYC and the coast?

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mkt853 t1_jeerr2f wrote

NC has a similar income tax as we do. If you make $100k in NC you'll pay $4,750 in state income tax. In CT you'd pay $4,780. In NC you will likely pay higher sales tax up to 7% depending on where you shop. NC also has an annual car property tax like we do. NC also has a driving tax a.k.a. tolls while CT has none (for now). You'll likely save big on property tax on your home, though give some of those savings back in insurance costs. On a net basis you're probably coming out ahead in terms of overall effective tax rate, but on paper it doesn't seem worth taking a haircut on income just to save a little on the tax side. I'd much rather start with the biggest pile of money I can get my hands on, and then figure out how to reduce the tax liability as much as possible. Also we use median incomes to avoid having it skewed by millionaires/billionaires. It's not an average, it's the median.

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Masty1985 t1_jeeuicu wrote

Good point. NC has been pretty much taken over by people from the northeast so it's going this direction, high taxes. Now compare with Tennessee and New Mexico.

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zoidberg3000 t1_jefnj33 wrote

Not OP but we are from CA and planning to move to CT in the next 2 years. COL is the main thing and having more space is the other.

I grew up in rural NorCal and loved having space but there are no jobs for my wife or I up there and my little town has a huge meth problem now and is a little bit rundown and sad.

The schools in our area are all 2-3s unless they are private schools that cost 15-30k a year. We make quite a bit combined but our COL is so high that we aren't saving as much as we used to before COVID. It has been rough.

We also have summers of up to 120 here so that sucks, starts in April and goes through Sept/Oct being in the high 80s. It is 76 here today and will be hitting 80s next week.

Edit: Housing is crazy now, when we first moved to this place I was renting a 2 bed apt for 1350 now that same exact one was listed for 3200 last week.

We are also LGBTQ so need a state that is safe for our family.

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