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Half of Reddit personal finance conversations are:
‘Can’t believe people can’t live on (some arbitrary amount)!’
vs ‘I can’t even rent a shitty apt in the worst part of where I live on (some arbitrary amount)!’
‘Well just move to for a lower COL then!’
Yeah, where there are barely enough jobs that pay 0.5 * (some arbitrary amount) and it is objectively often worse for queer POC
People should really think about how most people don’t want to leave family, job opportunities, to go somewhere they have no ties just for ‘lower COL’ (which can and does change quickly).
Then you’re truly fucked when you lose your remote job.
Every major global city around the world has the exact same housing pressures and costs. This is the outcome of our neoliberal global economy. Anywhere there’s a buy property as an investment mechanism.
If you’re not experiencing extremely high costs of living, there probably aren’t the same degree of opportunities for an outsider there. It’s a totally different convo for someone retiring or someone who is *from* the place.
If I weren’t living in San Francisco, I’d be living in my country on the other side of the world where the housing costs and salaries are kind of the same.
We are all fucked. But you know what? I’d rather be fucked and living in a place I want to live in.
That’s not to say there’s nothing of value in your podunk city / town. Just that maybe there is a reason a home costs 100K there (you need to be extremely privileged to make much more than that, there).
People aren’t not coming to your podunk city / town because there aren’t better places to live than New York / San Francisco / Seattle / LA. It’s that the switching costs are extremely high, and once you make the move you can’t easily go back.
So you have to be motivated by something: a deep desire to buy cheap property, a love for that community, family connections.
I have much better luck moving to any other big global city in the world with exactly the same housing / salary costs than to some podunk city / town. That’s just the way it is.
@skinnylatte I've joked since we moved here that you come to Springfield, MO for the 30% lower cost of living and stay because you're stuck with the 40% lower wages.
️
@skinnylatte I ended up living in Vermont because I was homeless and unemployed with nowhere to go, and this was the only place that a friend offered me a place to live.
Ten years later, I've been homeless in this town twice more, because of the extreme housing crisis and stagnant economy, but thankfully have been marginally housed for over 7 yrs.
I just ran for my first public office and won a 3-year term. I'm still living in poverty, underemployed, and brown and queer in a very white place.
@gcvsa ooof, that sounds rough. I hope your time in public office will help with insurance and housing to an extent.
@skinnylatte It's not a paid position, but I will be advocating for policies that will hopefully produce equity and growth for my community.
@skinnylatte Vermont has a very high cost of living relative to prevailing wages, because there's no population growth, and therefore no economic growth here. The population has been stagnant for over 70 years, while the nation as a whole has grown by leaps and bounds. The prices we pay are largely set by the national economy, not the local economy. My town has a 23.3% poverty rate, and a median household income less than 60% of the national median.
@skinnylatte
> ‘lower COL’ (which can and does change quickly)
Oh boy can it! For years you'd have people from rural areas here saying like "damn, I don't understand how anyone would stay in Montreal with its crazy COL, they should move to Saint-Bumfuck where my rent is 10 cents and a candy wrapper". Then, Covid hits, WFH becomes a thing, some people decide they'd rather quarantine somewhere rural, and suddenly the rent there explodes because like three people moved to the same tiny market