How to compare COL between 2 locations?

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gogreen
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How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by gogreen »

I’m negotiating an offer with a new company which requires a relocation. I found few calculators online and they suggest some avg numbers (looks like the new place is 12-15% more expensive)
How reliable are these numbers? Do I need to also consider a diff in mortgage (I have glorious 2.3% but now it’s 5%+) payments between similar houses?
muffins14
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by muffins14 »

Housing is likely your largest expense, so you need to consider how your housing costs change in the new location.


For other things, you may need to visit. Everyone’s hobbies and spending preferences are different, and I imagine the calculators aren’t personalized

If you share the two cities, people can try to answer based on their experience
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Topic Author
gogreen
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by gogreen »

muffins14 wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 8:59 pm
If you share the two cities, people can try to answer based on their experience
Here's the problem with sharing the locations -
I live in a Charlotte NC suburb and looking to move into an Atlanta GA suburb with good schools
CLT-ATL = +9%
actual suburb - ATL = -3%
next street suburb - ATL = -18% :annoyed
actual suburb - top ATL suburb I'm considering atm = +12%

So you see my issue, right :mrgreen: ?
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jjunk
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by jjunk »

Are you currently living in a top area in Charlotte? Otherwise, you're not making a fair comparison. I haven't lived in that area for a decade now but the COL between the two was always comparable IMO. I don't know of any reason that would have changed but again, I no longer live there. I'd say if you can get any COL adjustment, you're making out.
mega317
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by mega317 »

You’re just going to have to price things out yourself. I would think it’s obvious that any cost related to the house including mortgage interest is relevant. You can check gas prices online. What else do you spend money on? Netflix and beer are the same everywhere. Maybe not country clubs and museum memberships.
In my case I moved from MCOL to HCOL, but actually the new daycare (second biggest expense) was cheaper so the total delta wasn’t what we expected.
yog
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by yog »

Almost all the online cost of living calculators use data from the same source:
https://www.coli.org

When I made a complex move a while ago, I found salary.com's COL calculator was the most accurate for our situation, but it appears they no longer include the impact of state & local taxes in the base calculation. All the others explicitly ignore the impact of taxes.
https://www.salary.com/research/cost-of-living

Another good resource which covers most of these topics for HR professionals is from SHRM:
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/ ... ation.aspx
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gogreen
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by gogreen »

jjunk wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:15 pm Are you currently living in a top area in Charlotte? Otherwise, you're not making a fair comparison.
Not sure what you mean by ‘top area’ in CLT. Myers park? Hell no :sharebeer
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gogreen
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by gogreen »

mega317 wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:19 pm You’re just going to have to price things out yourself. I would think it’s obvious that any cost related to the house including mortgage interest is relevant. You can check gas prices online. What else do you spend money on? Netflix and beer are the same everywhere. Maybe not country clubs and museum memberships.
In my case I moved from MCOL to HCOL, but actually the new daycare (second biggest expense) was cheaper so the total delta wasn’t what we expected.
That’s a good point. Yeah I think primarily it’s housing and state taxation
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Watty
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by Watty »

I live in the Atlanta suburbs. The cost of housing and property taxes will vary a lot depending on where you buy a house. There is really not a substitute for doing a dummy tax return and making up a spreadsheet to figure out what your costs would be here.

It is just my impression but housing costs in Atlanta seem to vary a lot more by location than other cities that I have lived in. Part of the reason is that the commute in Atlanta is so important because of the bad traffic. Similar houses that are ten miles apart can vary in price by $100K or more mainly because of the commute.
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gogreen
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by gogreen »

Watty wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 10:05 pm . Similar houses that are ten miles apart can vary in price by $100K or more mainly because of the commute.
Lol in my area houses 2 miles apart vary at price at least by 25%
muffins14
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by muffins14 »

gogreen wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 5:19 am
Watty wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 10:05 pm . Similar houses that are ten miles apart can vary in price by $100K or more mainly because of the commute.
Lol in my area houses 2 miles apart vary at price at least by 25%
So, it seems like an important next step is to understand where you would want to live in the new city and how much it would cost
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gogreen
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by gogreen »

muffins14 wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 8:28 am
gogreen wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 5:19 am
Watty wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 10:05 pm . Similar houses that are ten miles apart can vary in price by $100K or more mainly because of the commute.
Lol in my area houses 2 miles apart vary at price at least by 25%
So, it seems like an important next step is to understand where you would want to live in the new city and how much it would cost
Yeah that might be extremely tricky. I'd say it requires 9-12 months to rent and explore before making the decision. Not sure if the relocation packages includes that but I'll definitely ask :annoyed
KyleAAA
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by KyleAAA »

gogreen wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:08 pm
muffins14 wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 8:59 pm
If you share the two cities, people can try to answer based on their experience
Here's the problem with sharing the locations -
I live in a Charlotte NC suburb and looking to move into an Atlanta GA suburb with good schools
CLT-ATL = +9%
actual suburb - ATL = -3%
next street suburb - ATL = -18% :annoyed
actual suburb - top ATL suburb I'm considering atm = +12%

So you see my issue, right :mrgreen: ?
Charlotte and Atlanta suburbs are fairly comparable in price IME. The city of Atlanta itself is quite a bit more expensive. Of course, there are nice suburbs and not-so-nice suburbs and price can vary quite a bit between them. Also, commute length is a big factor in Atlanta.
muffins14
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by muffins14 »

gogreen wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 8:45 am
Yeah that might be extremely tricky. I'd say it requires 9-12 months to rent and explore before making the decision. Not sure if the relocation packages includes that but I'll definitely ask :annoyed
Firstly, you can do some online research, like "in X City, what neighborhoods have A,B,C characteristics", and you'll know your commute.

You should be able to get a sense of areas & prices from that alone, and then if you visit in person for a week, you can see the neighborhoods and do some open houses in person.

It shouldn't take 9 months to pick a place to live, but you're certainly able to choose to move after your first lease if you do not like the one you chose. Personally I'd advise not buying immediately unless you have needs for a family such that you can't move in 1-2 years to a new/better location.
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22twain
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by 22twain »

gogreen wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:08 pm looking to move into an Atlanta GA suburb with good schools
If you're going to work downtown, you might want to consider ease of access to a MARTA rail station, e.g. Doraville in the northeast, Indian Creek in the east, or Sandy Springs or North Springs to the north. That would lead you to various parts of Gwinnett County.

I live in the region between Charlotte and Atlanta, drive to Charlotte a few times a year, and Atlanta maybe once a year. Charlotte is OK, but I'd have to get combat pay in order to deal with I-85 or I-285 in Atlanta on a daily basis. :annoyed I normally park at Doraville and ride MARTA into town.
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gogreen
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by gogreen »

22twain wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 3:45 pm
gogreen wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:08 pm looking to move into an Atlanta GA suburb with good schools
If you're going to work downtown, you might want to consider ease of access to a MARTA rail station, e.g. Doraville in the northeast, Indian Creek in the east, or Sandy Springs or North Springs to the north. That would lead you to various parts of Gwinnett County.

I live in the region between Charlotte and Atlanta, drive to Charlotte a few times a year, and Atlanta maybe once a year. Charlotte is OK, but I'd have to get combat pay in order to deal with I-85 or I-285 in Atlanta on a daily basis. :annoyed I normally park at Doraville and ride MARTA into town.
How safe is MARTA? Read some tough stories about BART :annoyed
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somewhatentertained
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by somewhatentertained »

Echo what others said. I wouldn't go by online estimates. Look at your own budget, name the largest expenses, and try to find adequate replacements in the Atlanta burbs. Research house prices, and use the bank rate site calc with current mortgage rates to estimate what your new outlay would be. Don't forget taxes insurance and HOA. For us, housing and transportation are our biggest expenses. Look at your potential commutes to your usual hotspots, work, kids' activities etc. and calculate about how much your gas would be for that many miles, if substantially higher don't forget to up maintenance costs too. And so on. Real world numbers beat random website averages any day.
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by KyleAAA »

gogreen wrote: Sat May 21, 2022 12:04 pm
22twain wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 3:45 pm
gogreen wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:08 pm looking to move into an Atlanta GA suburb with good schools
If you're going to work downtown, you might want to consider ease of access to a MARTA rail station, e.g. Doraville in the northeast, Indian Creek in the east, or Sandy Springs or North Springs to the north. That would lead you to various parts of Gwinnett County.

I live in the region between Charlotte and Atlanta, drive to Charlotte a few times a year, and Atlanta maybe once a year. Charlotte is OK, but I'd have to get combat pay in order to deal with I-85 or I-285 in Atlanta on a daily basis. :annoyed I normally park at Doraville and ride MARTA into town.
How safe is MARTA? Read some tough stories about BART :annoyed
I only had a knife pulled on me once on MARTA.
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gogreen
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by gogreen »

KyleAAA wrote: Sat May 21, 2022 6:59 pm
gogreen wrote: Sat May 21, 2022 12:04 pm
22twain wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 3:45 pm
gogreen wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:08 pm looking to move into an Atlanta GA suburb with good schools
If you're going to work downtown, you might want to consider ease of access to a MARTA rail station, e.g. Doraville in the northeast, Indian Creek in the east, or Sandy Springs or North Springs to the north. That would lead you to various parts of Gwinnett County.

I live in the region between Charlotte and Atlanta, drive to Charlotte a few times a year, and Atlanta maybe once a year. Charlotte is OK, but I'd have to get combat pay in order to deal with I-85 or I-285 in Atlanta on a daily basis. :annoyed I normally park at Doraville and ride MARTA into town.
How safe is MARTA? Read some tough stories about BART :annoyed
I only had a knife pulled on me once on MARTA.
Hope it’s not for ‘today’ :sharebeer :annoyed
sandan
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Re: How to compare COL between 2 locations?

Post by sandan »

After the great Covid equalization, I think the biggest COL factors are occupational opportunities (with the cost being much higher for a dual earner family), dating pool (if single), type of commute/lifestyle, and proximity to grandparents (if there are children involved). I emphasize occupational opportunities, because it is costly to move two people when future earnings potential is included in an individual's projections.. Employers strategically recruit internal managers with families to "MCOL/LCOL" areas with less opportunities to lock them in at lower long term wages. Even the federal government has joined in on this approach.
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