There are many examples where that's not true: places like the beautiful college town of madison, Houston, Chicago, etc. High living costs are a self imposed problem: housing regulation and zoning.
I agree, generally, but that's ignoring geographic boundaries which are huge for cities like Seattle and San Francisco. It's not the main issue (regulation and zoning are) but it's still a big piece of it.
Yeah I guess you could get around it by building a ton of infrastructure like in Japan.
Nah, I'd say it counts. Population is under 5,000. It's very much NOT Raleigh.
Atherton is 7,000 people. It's also 30 miles outside of SF. Is that rural then?
No, because its 4-miles away from Palo Alto (city of 60k).
Rural is mostly about being far away from urban centers. Buies Creek NC is 30+ miles from its nearest population center (10k+ citizens). While Atherton is 4-miles away from its nearest population center (60k+ citizens in Palo Alto).
I know millennials with combined household incomes in excess of $200k who can't afford to buy, because huge student loans are required to get that kind of income if mommy and daddy aren't rich in the first place.
I know people in their 20's who make 100K+ but cannot afford anything because they get starbucks in the morning, expensive lunch and dinner at a bar daily.
> Not in all desirable players. Only ones that limit construction. Toronto has more construction (120) cranes than anyone else in North America (Seattle & LA second at 50), and prices are still crazy even with a building boom. * https://www.on-sitemag.com/heavy-equipment/toronto-remains-u... * https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/economic/2019/0... And that 120 is just in the city proper, the suburbs have mor…
Cranes suggest there is demand, not that it has yet been met.
Three points. 1) The condos being built in Toronto are "luxury" apartments .. apart from space (perhaps to justify the lack thereof), many trimmings are opulent (granite counters seem standard now). 2) Toronto does restrict houses (not condos) because of the greenbelt put in place about a decade ago. 3) The transit system in Ontario and the highways are quite horrible for people living far away (e.g. above the green built).
The classic American Dream is: * A stable job (that pays "enough" and isn't too stressful) * Own a home * (optionally) Raise a family * Enjoy weekends free, as well as vacations (and the ability to afford them) At least that is my interpretation. If there are atypical American Dreams, I'm curious what those might include.
100k is about $5900 a month after taxes and modest 401k contribution. Let's subtract some typical expenses (erring on the more expensive side) $200 - water + electricity $100 - high speed internet $160 - decent wireless plan $250 - employer subsidized health insurance $150 - car insurance $50 - netflix, spotify, hulu $700 - groceries $800 - go out to dinner twice a week (or some other activity) $350 - car payment + g…
That food bill is sky high, holy shit. My households food bill is 300-400 a month and we never eat out. 12k a year makes a difference.
> From MY perspective, both Buies Creek and Coulee City are rural. Yeah - for a person who is adjusted to only living in big cities then sure. However, Buies Creek is 30 minutes away from the downtown of a city. It is not rural by almost anyone else's definition. It'd be like saying Atherton, CA is rural because it's a "smaller" town of 7k people. Ignoring that it's within a 8 million population metro and within 30-4…
> Yeah - for a person who is adjusted to only living in big cities then sure I've never lived in any big city. Literally never. Not even close, always 20+ minutes away from the major city. The thing is: suburbia itself is a network of smaller cities. Buies Creek has no "smaller city" near it. Buies Creek IS the city. -------- To continue your Atherton example... Atherton is a suburb of ___Palo Alto___, not a suburb o…
> Not even close, always 20+ minutes away from the major city.
lol - this is so disconnected from how anyone who lives a truly rural lifestyle would think of it.
20 minutes is a joke! Living multiple hours away is considered more standard.
I am 34 years old working remotely as data scientist, making $107k TC. My wife who I've been married to for 13 years is a stay-at-home mother as we have two children in grade school. Since they are in the school she is turning in our half-acre into a sustainable garden with chickens. We own our home, are financially comfortable while saving $1500 a month, and travel. We were planning a 2-month trip to Japan this upco…
To be blunt, your post is completely tone-deaf. Has it ever occurred to you that your military benefits are part of the reason why nobody else in the US can afford housing?
Why yes, life would be easier for most Americans if they could get 2 graduate degrees and healthcare for free. Oh wait, it's not "for free", its for "doing something most people consider morally abhorrent".
Interestingly housing is very expensive in the cities in Vietnam, on a relative basis. A friend’s mother sold a 1000 sq ft home in Saigon for $250,000. New apartments are often $100k+. Considering the average wage is $6,000 in Saigon, the housing is outrageous.
Similarly, a good chunk of urban housing in Canada, Australia and NZ are priced completely out of line with what median salaries in those areas could afford. These are likely houses marketed towards "investors", aka rich people who don't need a mortgage or have a network of private lenders who specialize in providing credit for the house-flipping industry.
I live in the Bay Area now, but I grew up in Hamilton, New Zealand. I'm back home with greencard stuff at the moment.
On my parents relatively modest street houses are now selling for $850k. These were houses that cost $400-500k ten years ago. People simply do not make the incomes necessary to make these prices sustainable. I have one friend, of everyone I grew up with and went to University who's making north of $100k as someone in their mid-late twenties. Everyone else is making substantially less. Whereas in the Bay Area half of my friends are making $100k + (and often substantially more than that).
Atherton is 7,000 people. It's also 30 miles outside of SF. Is that rural then?
No, because its 4-miles away from Palo Alto (city of 60k). Rural is mostly about being far away from urban centers. Buies Creek NC is 30+ miles from its nearest population center (10k+ citizens). While Atherton is 4-miles away from its nearest population center (60k+ citizens in Palo Alto).
It has a population center of 20k within 15 miles. That was only one that I looked at. I didn't even have to try for that. I know nothing about that region but at an eagle eye's glance, it's obviously a suburb. It's part of an incorporated metropolitan area. It is, therefore, a suburb. It is not rural. Atherton isn't a suburb of Palo Alto btw. Palo Alto is the suburb.
$100,000 still a lot of money. You can buy a beer in Vietnam for 20 cents. The problem in the Bay Area, where I live, is we artificially limit the amount of housing. So prices move to infinity.
Interestingly housing is very expensive in the cities in Vietnam, on a relative basis. A friend’s mother sold a 1000 sq ft home in Saigon for $250,000. New apartments are often $100k+. Considering the average wage is $6,000 in Saigon, the housing is outrageous.
I used to work for a company that had about half of its employees in India, and I was curious about the cost of living there. Looking at apartments in a major city, they were not a great deal cheaper than the US. People frequently claim lower salaries in countries other than the US are balanced by cheaper prices, but my impression is that a developed-world style apartment and car are usually comparably expensive pretty much anywhere, from London to Noida. Mathematically, cheaper rice can't make up for it if you are making enough to live in an urban area.