|
STATE RELOCATION INFORMATION
Relocating to another city is extremely confusing, complex, and stressful. Factors to consider include the following:
1) The cost of living in the area in which you are planning. Most important, of course, is the quality of home that you can afford to buy in the area. The same size and quality of home will have a very large range of prices depending on the area of the country you are relocating to. Certain areas of the country have very high costs of living, including San Diego,Los Angeles, and San Francisco in California, Portland Oregon, Seattle Washington, Ann Arbor Michigan, Fairbanks, Anchorage and Juneau Alaska, Philadelphia, PA, Boston, and New York, all of which appear on many "Most Expensive Places to Live" lists. Coldwell Banker prepares an annual analysis of what a typical single-family home with approximately 2,200 sq.ft., 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, family room (or equivalent) and 2-car garage would cost in various cities across the United States.
2) The economic health of the area is an important consideration when selecting a location to relocate to. The opportunities for employment, including the unemployment rates in the area, and the ability to locate a well paying job may be critical. Even if the local housing market is such that home prices are inexpensive compared to other areas of the country, this may be offset by lower prevailing wages and salaries. This may be less critical to those approaching retirement age, or who are currently retired, where the cost of living is most important to their relocation decision. Forbes.com ranked the top places for business and careers, and ranked the following as the top metro areas in the United States :
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Interestingly, most of the largest cities in the United States ranked poorly in the Forbes rankings, including Chicago at #105, New York at #121, Los Angeles at #154, and San Francisco at #166.
3) Exposure to potential natural disasters is a relocation criteria for many people. Certain areas of the country are more susceptible to certain types of natural disasters than others. For instance, Florida, the Gulf coast states, and other Southeastern states have exposure to serious hurricane damage. Los Angeles and San Francisco have the potential risk of a very large earthquake, which, although rare, could have significant impact on those areas at some time in the future. Certain mid-American states bordering on the Mississippi River, as well as other areas of the country, are susceptible to flooding. Other central United States cities are susceptible to tornadoes. Whatever area you are considering relocating to, the exposure to these types of natural disasters must be understood, as well as the ability to mitigate the risk. This would include the additional cost of living for such items as required flood insurance, hurricane insurance, or earthquake insurance.Some of these insurance requirements may be dictated by the mortgage lender.In 2005, Forbes ranked the safest places to live in the United States, and ranked the following as the safest places to live:
Honolulu, Hawaii
Boise City, Idaho
Santa Fe, N.M.
Yakima, Wash.
Spokane, Wash.
Richland-Kennewick-Pasco, Wash.
Medford-Ashland, Ore.
Corvallis, Ore.
Salem, Ore.
Las Cruces, N.M.
Forbes magazines ranking of the least safe cities included:
Monroe, La.
Dallas, Tex.
Jackson, Miss.
Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla.
West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, Fla.
Kansas City, Mo.
Elkhart-Goshen, Ind.
Tulsa, Okla.
Memphis, Tenn.
Shreveport-Bossier City, La.
4) The life style of the area is also important to many in deciding the area of the country to live in. Some people enjoy sailing, therefore they seek out areas such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Rhode Island, Florida, and many other coastal communities. The choice between an urban environment, with opportunities for restaurant and entertainment, is important to some, while a rural environment is important to others. Access to other recreational amenities such as skiing is also a consideration when relocating. Forbes Magazine analyzed the best places to raise a family. Money Magazine and CNN/Money ranked the best places to live in the United States, also based upon the criteria of the best places to raise a family.Their top 10 included the following communities:
2008:
5) The level and type of taxes vary widely state by state. Some states have relatively high income tax rates on personal income, while others have no income tax on personal income.Seven states have no income tax on personal income, including Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Tennessee and New Hampshire tax only dividend and interest income. Most states have some form of state sales tax ., however 4 states, including Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon have no state sales tax. Many states have excise taxes on such items as gasoline (all states except Alaska), cigarettes ( 26 states), and wine and alcohol. Most states tax real property either at the state level, or at the local level, and property tax rates can vary widely. The Tax Foundation, a policy research group, estimated the average taxpayer's total state and local tax burden for 2005, including income tax, sales tax, property tax, and excise taxes in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Maine, New York and Hawaii took the largest share of personal income, from 11.4 to 13.0 %. Alaska, New Hampshire, and Delaware took the smallest percentage of personal income, of 6.4% to 8.0% of personal income. For each individual, this will vary greatly depending on the source of income and the value of property owned.
In the end, it pays to evaluate each city you are looking to relocate to, as it compares to other US cities for the various factors influencing your relocation decision. Sperling's Best Places is an excellent web site to evaluate a city by numerous factors, including demographics, economy, housing, health, crime, education and schools, transportation, cost of living, religion, and political spectrum.
The following are links to pages with relocation information for each state of the Union, with information about the State and links to information about major cities in those states.
|