How I Live Better In My Hometown Than I Ever Would In A "Glamorous" Big City "When I decided to move back to Buffalo after graduating college, everyone around me was confused. Not just my college friends, but also my peers back home who couldn’t fathom why I’d willingly move back to the rust belt city that so many of them longed to escape. And although returning to be with my family was a huge factor, it wasn’t the only one. Another major reason was that the cost of living in my hometown was so stinking cheap." My take below. Living in New York, or LA, or in Silicone Valley is glamorous and the pay, if you can pull it off, incredible. Everyone wants that $100,000+ per year hit. But the cost of living is a grind as is the ocean of people surrounding you at all times. Rent in San Jose is a minimum of $3,000 per month unless you live in a rat warren of roommates. Who can afford that? And so the local communities have special housing programs for firefighters, teachers, police because without that they did not have the means to live near work.
In middle America, however, things are completely different. One can live on $60,000 per year, buy a home and save for retirement. All things out of the price range of anyone in Silicone Valley not making at least $200,000. For some reason, Millennials have fallen for the salary and glitz trap, but soon they will want families, and then the glitz becomes little more than glitter, and the high cost of living even mediated by the high salary a trap. Much of middle America awaits with low housing costs, low land costs, low cost of living, and a family-friendly environment. I expect these alternatives to be attractive. Alexis notes that where she lives the weather is less than optimal, but middle America is huge, stretching from the Northeast to the South, to the Mountain West and beyond. If the area weather is important, you can pretty much dial in what you want. If recreation drives you, you can dial in that as well. The Millennials are America's largest demographic group, once they become fully adult and politically aware, I expect they will begin changing America to meet what they want more tightly. I strongly doubt that will mean big city life and no family. Millennials are poised to alter the face of America. I would not be surprised to see the change be a retrenchment to family, suburbs, exurbs and even rural life. It might take a while, but I feel a change wind blowing. Thanks Alexis for an excellent article. Keep planting the seeds of this idea in Millennials.
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