Lower costs of living changes things.
What good is making $100,000 per year if your cost of living exceeds that? You can actually have a situation in which a family is making $100,000 per year in NJ and economically be worse off economically than a woman and her two children on welfare!
Also those statistics on certain states being tax burdens on other states are misleading because I would have to assume that a very high percentage of the top 10 percent of wage earners live in the coastal states. They have most of the money. I would bet that the middle class in blue states are not doing better economically than those in other states when taxes and cost of living are factored in.
I just got doe saying the same thing!
I live in CA, using single cities like SF as your example is very misleading.
Like no ā ā ā ā the best places in the country are expensiveā¦ you want to compare Podunk Alabama to San Franciscoā¦
Podunk doesnāt have crap in the streets or Gaystapo running amuckā¦
You have never been there, your CEC programming is comical. Fantastic city.
The reality is the OP is misleading, it wants to conflate all expenses as some ātax burdenā, but we all know his mortgage is by far the biggest burden. That is the truth for anyone living in the best parts of the country. Unless you own free and clear, your lifestyle is controlled by your monthly expense to have a roof over your head in the city of your choice.
Property and rental prices are not random, they are based on demand. It is what it is, as the rich get richer, more exclusive places will form that even ārich techie gradsā canāt afford. If you are not affluent enough to live in the city you wantā¦ I guessā¦ too bad.
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For you perhaps.
Iām at my happiest in the countryside. Where you have to take an ATV to visit the neighbors. With plenty of woods to explore. Where a tractor is a necessity to keep the place up.
I donāt care for urban areas, much less suburban areas.
And demand shows how many feel the way you do.
True. Everyone has different tastes.
There are pros and cons to urban and rural lifestyles. I admit Iāve been spoiled by the great internet access Iāve gotten in the midsize town I live in now compared to the country.
But ultimately Iām moving back or Iām going to buy property in the country here. Iām rural blue collar at heart and nothing will change that.
And I need the ocean, to swim in it, fish in it, dive in it, surf in it, just smell it every afternoon on the onshore wind; but I also need the vast deserts, and mountains, which I also play in year round. I need California.
And I certainly pay for it 
California is a beautiful state.
Iām hoping to take a trip out there in the next few years after my fiancĆ© and I are married and have purchased a house. Iāve never been west of Dallas. So thereās a lot of the country I need to visit.
Actually, I have.
The fact you were compelled to include a homophobic reference says all we need to know.
They are crazy here near Seattle, when I moved out here 10 years ago out of college to work in the tech industry I was able to buy my home which is a modest one for $150,000. Fast forward 10 years the sheriff who drives by appraising house values each year now has the value near $700,000.
My family back in Nashville are always saying āWow that was a great investment, but in reality it doesnāt feel that way come property tax time. I have been tempted to sell and move back to Nashville but in reality I am weāre I need to be in the field I am in, but it is tempting.
Itās San Francisco.
It deserves the comment.
As for the outrage of homophalic nitwits, the meaningless chants about homophobia, it means nothing to me. Ours is a Romans 1:18-32 era but Iām not participating.
The purpose of the OP is also to relate this to the notion of a so-called living wage, and how that is also misleading.
Thatās not how I phrased the OP; āthe cost of living and tax burdenā. Also I have a very modest mortgage, and is actually comparable to the rents of a small apartment. The one cost that has gone up substantially though is groceries, probably spending $4,000 more than a few years ago.
I believe our state tax is about 5% for our income level (NJ has marginal rates) sales tax is 7%. There is also a gas tax and God knows what other taxes there likely are that I donāt even know about.
