Salary or scenery?

[Sonagi]

I recently moved to a college town in the midwest in order to take a new job. The job is great, the salary and benefits are good, and the town itself is pleasant. However, drive 20 minutes out of town, and it's cornfields and soybean fields in every direction. My hometown is similarly monotonous, but I lived overseas for several years in cities near the mountains or the sea. Natural beauty was a car ride away, and I often took weekend trips with friends.

I am toying with the idea of looking for a job in either Virginia or North Carolina, two states with mild four-season climates, mountains, and coastline. When I use cost of living calculators, I find that my standard of living would decline by 10-15% if I relocate. I am a public school teacher, so every dollar counts.

Has anyone made a similar choice? What did you choose?

[TheseGoTo11]

If you stay out of the expensive Northern VA suburbs, you will find plenty of cheap housing in other parts of the state, and you shouldn't see a noticeable decline in your SoL.

Charlottesville is a college town with mountain views, and housing gets really cheap just a few miles outside that city. You might want to check it out.

[Sonagi]

Thanks for the advice, TheseGoTo11. I took courses at George Mason, so I'm well aware of the extremely high cost of living around DC. Charlottesville would be great, but I'd have to compete against U-VA grads for teaching jobs. Do you know anything about Roanoke?

[ezcheese]

my girlfriend and i recently moved from north carolina to the boston area of massachusetts. we did it for the money and we know it will be relatively short-term. we are trying to make as much money as we can while we're younger so that we will be in a good position to retire at a relatively young age.

i definitely know where you're coming from, although we do have the advatage of being 10 minutes away from boston, so it's not all bad. we both miss north carolina very much. we're actually flying down to charlotte this weekend to be with family, which will be great. i can't wait!

[GRS328]

I recently moved to a college town in the midwest in order to take a new job. The job is great, the salary and benefits are good, and the town itself is pleasant. However, drive 20 minutes out of town, and it's cornfields and soybean fields in every direction. My hometown is similarly monotonous, but I lived overseas for several years in cities near the mountains or the sea. Natural beauty was a car ride away, and I often took weekend trips with friends.

I am toying with the idea of looking for a job in either Virginia or North Carolina, two states with mild four-season climates, mountains, and coastline. When I use cost of living calculators, I find that my standard of living would decline by 10-15% if I relocate. I am a public school teacher, so every dollar counts.

Has anyone made a similar choice? What did you choose?

LOL, sounds like Champaign, IL to me! Although, I guess most midwest college towns are surrounded by corn fields.

Cost of living is a difficult choice. I know personally, if I could live anywhere in the U.S., I would love to live in San Diego. But the cost of living there is so high, I don't even know how I would make ends meet. So unless I win the lottery, I don't think I'll ever get to live there. I would love the combination of natural beauty and urban scene SD would provide, but I just don't know if I could handle the adjustment in standard of living (not to say my standard is all that high now). Anyway, good luck with your decision. Go Illini basketball!

[Sonagi]

Whistle-stop, I do indeed live in Champaign.

[urbanvb]

Hampton Roads area of Va might have several offerings for you. Williamsburg Va is home to College of William & Mary. The coast of Va Beach is about an hour drive south and I believe the mountains are a 2 hour drive. If you desire for a more urban setting you may want to check out ODU located in Norfolk, VA. Norfolk is in the midst of an urban renaissance and growth as new housing is being built at a fever pitch. Norfolk is also located near the coast including the Chesapeake Bay.

[Recchia]

Definitely environment. A good urban environment can actually offset certain expenses (mainly transportation) and is much more valuable to me than making a ton of money. If I got a job offer to make more money in some crap "city" (I won't mention any specifics...) vs. less in a real urban city, I'd choose the urban one in a heartbeat.