Cost of Living

[alphachiohmy]

In St. Louis:
1 - a decent 1 BR runs $400 to $900 depending on area ... i.e. South City vs. Central West End. (A 1 BR loft downtown goes for $630 if you make less than 26K. My 1 BR goes for $375, its 3 rooms, decorative fireplace, hw floors.)

2 - a starter home can be from $85K (city) to $150K (county)

3 - 35K is my best bet for avg. salary in city

(IMO, its a fairly decent cost of living here and it all depends on how you look for it. Martinis run about $6 as do glasses of wine, dinners can run the gamut, but overall its pretty nice. In Chicago, I shelled out $625 for a studio apt. and could blow $6 on one beer)

[alikat2]

.....the cost of living is REALLY low, but it's a pretty poor area.

One bedroom--between $250 and $500. My place is $400.

Starter home--around 50K.

Average salary--I'm not too sure, but I'm guessing in the mid-20s.

[Lil' Hannah]

Originally posted by Rudey
Where did you get that info?

I have no solid proof. Just something I've been told.

[kappaloo]

Originally posted by CC1GC
I live downtown Ottawa, which is the 3rd most expensive city in Canada to live in.

In my area, the average 1 br. would run around 900/month.

A starter house would probably start in the low 200s...i'm not sure where to find some statistics on incomes related to region.

My one bedroom in Downtown Ottawa cost me $625 - but it was a freaken closest.

There are statistics on incoming somewhere... probably the StatsCan pages... I saw them once - Oakville is the richest for income...

Where I am: I bedroom is about $500, and a starter house is about $150.

[Taualumna]

Originally posted by kappaloo
My one bedroom in Downtown Ottawa cost me $625 - but it was a freaken closest.

There are statistics on incoming somewhere... probably the StatsCan pages... I saw them once - Oakville is the richest for income...

Where I am: I bedroom is about $500, and a starter house is about $150.

I thought Oakville is second now, with West Van in first place (I think it's West Van...it's somewhere in Vancouver, anyway)

[ISUKappa]

My city in Iowa:

1 BR Apartment: $300-500 (mine was $385 and fairly decent-sized)
Starter home $80-120K (we bought ours for $90K but it's also 90 years old)
Average income: $44K according to that link

[DeltAlum]

Denver prices run the gamut from very expensive lofts in LoDo to maybe $750 for a nice 2br in the burbs.

Starter home probably $100-120K.

Don't have time to check average income right now, sorry.

Here's DA's first law of "Cost of Living..."

"No matter how much you make...that's how much you will spend."

[ThetaGrrl]

Colorado Springs is like that too... HUGE range of prices, depending on where you live

[daoine]

In Boston...

1. A 1br varies greatly by the area, but if you stay within the city & Cambridge/Brookline area you probably wouldn't find one under $1000, and the more upscale easily near/top $2k.

2. Forget homes. A starter condo in the city (1br) doesn't get much cheaper than $175k; they start at around $275k in the nicer areas.

3. Couldn't tell you what the average salary is, although I imagine it's significantly higher than the national average.

[CC1GC]

Originally posted by kappaloo
My one bedroom in Downtown Ottawa cost me $625 - but it was a freaken closest.

There are statistics on incoming somewhere... probably the StatsCan pages... I saw them once - Oakville is the richest for income...

Where I am: I bedroom is about $500, and a starter house is about $150.

was this recently? 4-5 years ago rent prices were substantially cheaper.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

The great thing about New York City is that there are many different neighborhoods with different price ranges. These are prices for neighborhoods in Manhattan in 2003.

Upper East Side: An average studio monthly rent is $1,700, while an average one-bedroom goes for $2,500.

Upper West Side: The average studio went for $1,800 in 2003 and a one-bedroom for $2,900

Midtown between 34th and 58th Streets: a one-bedroom rented for $2,600 and a studio rented for $1,800.

There are neighborhoods outside of Manhattan that are less expensive.

I don't know the price of the average starter home or average salary. I know people who have paid over $500,000 for a house in White Plains in Westchester.

[DeltAlum]

One thing that surprized me in Manhattan is that often heat and water are included. That's probably because, at least in the pre-war buildings, they are still steam heat and it would be very difficult to pro-rate the total costs for the entire building. At least that's my guess.

[aephi alum]

Originally posted by Peaches-n-Cream
I don't know the price of the average starter home or average salary. I know people who have paid over $500,000 for a house in White Plains in Westchester.

I've seen houses not too dissimilar from mine listed at over $1M in White Plains.

Location, location, location!

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
One thing that surprized me in Manhattan is that often heat and water are included. That's probably because, at least in the pre-war buildings, they are still steam heat and it would be very difficult to pro-rate the total costs for the entire building. At least that's my guess.

Water, heat, and electric are included for me. Where I live we have to pay a small fee for the refrigerator depending on the size. I think it's $9 a month for a refrigerator over 16 cubic feet. We also have to pay an annual fee for the air conditioners. They keep threatening to submeter the co-op for electricity, but that hasn't happened yet.

[AlphaFrog]

Damn, and I bitch about my $350/month utilities included one bedroom (that my dad calls a college palace)

Of course I live in a rural college town where the only people who make real money are college professors/admin and bar owners...other then that everyone else is either college students, farmers, or unskilled labor: walmart, waitresses, etc with the occasionaly doctor and whatever else to keep the town running...

You can get a fairly decent starter home (possibly a little fixing involved as many houses around here are old) for $60K

Like I metioned there are pretty much 3 salaries, university employees & doctors, farmers, and unskilled labor...