If you were to move based upon one of the cheapest places to live where would it be?

**alotofgooddeals** · 11-08-2010, 06:31 PM

hypothetical question...Just wondering where the cheapest places to live are in the U.S....

**stinkbug** · 11-08-2010, 06:52 PM

This is one of those impossible questions.....because it's all relative. What kind of jobs are you interested in? Housing? What kinds of services do you need/want. Sure...there's lots of cheap places to live. That doesn't mean I'd want to live there. From past experience...living in a very small town, and being young, poor and pregnant. I nearly died because the local hospital care and services were extremely poor and behind the times. There was ONE Dr. in town....and when they did xrays, they had to be driven 20 miles to the next biggest town to be read by a qualified radiologist to determine what was wrong. Cheap to live there....but at what *cost*. So now, in my cranky old age, I'd be looking at more than the basic cost of living, but rather what I was getting for my money and the tax base in the area.
I know several people lately who are *moving to Mexico* because it's cheap. Ummmm....no thanks.

**2ndGenGranola** · 11-08-2010, 06:58 PM

Based upon what my square footage would be in other cities/states combined with what DH would make in the same industry in other areas, I think I would just stay put.

**Nishu** · 11-08-2010, 07:08 PM

I have lived in or around southern IL, Ohio, Connecticut, South Carolina, Seattle, Port Huron and Chicago. We have family in Texas and I've spent some time there, too.

As far as living expenses and housing, Groton, CT and Seattle have been the most expensive places, no contest. The rural midwest is very cheap, in comparison.

Even though cost of living is higher here in Seattle than it has been other places we lived, I'm kind of expecting to suffer more when we move from here to Monterey, CA next summer. Right now, our housing allowance is about $1700 a month. When we move, it will go up to about $2800 a month.

**alotofgooddeals** · 11-08-2010, 07:23 PM

having one income stinks....my rate of pay is not that great compared to what i could make lets say in Texas... the houses in Texas are cheaper and basically the cost of living in Texas is cheaper than it is in maine... Maine has a very high cost of living and personally I cant take it anymore... never seem to get ahead...I make roughly 24,000 a year while a first year teacher in a preschool setting starts out at roughly 35,000 so just trying to figure things out.... thanks!

**Vanilla** · 11-08-2010, 07:36 PM

There are a lot of cheap places to live, but there are a lot of more things to consider first: available jobs, wages, access to medical facilities & food/necessities stores, safety issues(crime rate, discrimination of outsiders, etc.)
I'd rather stay put in this general area (30 miles radius), where I've living the last 30 something years.

**ladykemma2** · 11-08-2010, 07:38 PM

houston texas really cheap to live
teacher salary for me this year is 54,000

**alotofgooddeals** · 11-08-2010, 07:43 PM

How is it in regards to crime, etc.....

**heartofmine** · 11-08-2010, 08:05 PM

I live in an inexpensive area to live but there are also no jobs and low pay. As someone said there is a lot to consider.

**alotofgooddeals** · 11-08-2010, 09:04 PM

just wondering on certain things like taxes, electric bill cost, things like that......it would be a good year before i could do anything anyhow... and i wouldn't just up and move with job prospects etc....

**forHISglory** · 11-08-2010, 09:45 PM

We had good cheap living in MO. Had a 2500 sq. ft. house on about 5 acres, and taxes ran about $1000 a year. Car licenses ran about $20 per vehicle. All the electric we cared to use ran about $50-75 a month. In our area, we had excellent schools, easy access to higher education, a good hospital and library, and enough shopping for us. If what we had wasn't enough, it wasn't that far to St. Louis. And STL offered lots of cheap entertainment such a free zoo, free art museum, free Grant's Farm, etc. i really struggled about moving away from this area. Things are way more expensive in Iowa.

**alotofgooddeals** · 11-08-2010, 09:57 PM

Great....I am going to do some research on some areas and this one sounds great....

**craftypam** · 11-08-2010, 10:31 PM

Quite a few years ago my ds's teacher was retiring and checked out inexpensive places to live. She also took into consideration about her medications and she moved to Atlanta.

**Nana2two** · 11-08-2010, 10:39 PM

With our type of work. Our pay can go from $100k in California To around $50k in the Midwest.On the East Coast we know People in the field that make between $75k to $125k. Cost of living on the West and East Coast is very high. Our home 2800 square foot home 1/2 acre could fetch $500k + East Coast from $300k on up. So its really hard to say.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 11-08-2010, 10:58 PM

Where I grew up, it's pretty cheap to live there compared to other places I've been in. Here, you're lucky to get a place by yourself if you're making $50k a year. In my hometown, you could make half of that and survive pretty well.

If I was to live anywheres else, I think I'd have to pick coastal NC. My townhouse was just shy of what we pay for a mortgage here and utilities were way cheaper there. There's lots of jobs and the beach is 10 minutes away.