Considering Cost Of Living...

The Low Down Cost of Living is the base line issue for most people when figuring if it's worth moving somewhere. Many argue that although you can well double your salary in places like California, the cost of living easily negates that. That is true to an extent, but really what it boils down to is your specific situation. Most people factor cost of living by taking what they already have, with their current lifestyle, and seeing how much salary would be required to reproduce that in another location. The reality is that if you're used to paying $1000/mo in mortgage/rent you most likely will just maintain that. What that means is instead of paying more for the same thing, you're just getting less for the same amount. What you really need to do is evaluate how much *you* spend being alive, and then factor how much that costs in another location. There are many good articles and calculators out there, but they take a very generalized approach. For example Canada with it's health benefits and tax structure, it is more beneficial for lower income earners. Where as the United States pays off if you're in the upper tier of the salary structure. There's other things to consider such as a place that gets snow has the associated costs of more clothing, higher heating costs, and rapid depreciation of vehicles (especially where salt is used). HomeFair has a fairly reasonable cost of living calculator. But again, this is just a ball park figure and it's based on the actual cities. In many cases you can live in a subburb and drastically reduce your cost of living.