[Teckeeee]

Originally Posted by dnvrsoul

Since you live in Colorado-stay there..I have lived in Florida for four years and have had to return to school-once I'm done I will return west-employers do not pay well (to say the least) and since the majority of the companies here are small-you will not even have decent benefits (I've worked for three employers and none had a 401k plan, and I worked in Finance).

I actually had two employers tell me they pay me in sunshine-and that is the reason they can offer me 45% less then what I was making in Denver-but the COL is not much cheaper here.

I am trying to stay in Denver just not finding what I am looking for so broadening my horizons. My wife is the one that keeps pushing to move to Florida so I figured why not apply.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by dnvrsoul

I actually had two employers tell me they pay me in sunshine-and that is the reason they can offer me 45% less then what I was making in Denver-but the COL is not much cheaper here.

Wow, 45%...that's staggering and not especially a good deal since Denver is sunnier on average than Florida (300 days to 100 days a year respectively).

[TriMT7]

Interestingly, the BLS data on salaries across industries is not as cut and dry as many on here make it out to be.

I took a random occupation:



And, one can see that across various sectors, comparing (TX to FL since it has been mentioned here on this thread)... in some occupations you will do better "statistically" in FL, and others you will do better in TX:

Florida - May 2012 OES State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

Florida - May 2012 OES State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates


Any employer in Florida offering 45% lower salaries is going to reap what they sow in terms of quality of employee. They do it because they can, I suppose.

[Teckeeee]

Tri that's a great chart never seen it repd

[TXRyan23]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

Interestingly, the BLS data on salaries across industries is not as cut and dry as many on here make it out to be.

I took a random occupation:



And, one can see that across various sectors, comparing (TX to FL since it has been mentioned here on this thread)... in some occupations you will do better "statistically" in FL, and others you will do better in TX:

Florida - May 2012 OES State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

Florida - May 2012 OES State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates


Any employer in Florida offering 45% lower salaries is going to reap what they sow in terms of quality of employee. They do it because they can, I suppose.

Considering that most of those jobs require multiple languages, I wouldn't exactly call that a great comparison, I mean, honestly... New Mexico and Arizona have more areas with the darker blue shade than Texas and Florida, Arizona has a higher median income than Florida, but New Mexico is far behind both.

I'd also add that Texas has a much larger area, which, while not necessarily meaning more pay, I would assume that with a much stronger economy and much broader amount of land and cities, would offer better job prospects, not to mention the much cheaper cost of living which would futher offset the gap in pay.

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by TXRyan23

Considering that most of those jobs require multiple languages, I wouldn't exactly call that a great comparison, I mean, honestly... New Mexico and Arizona have more areas with the darker blue shade than Texas and Florida, Arizona has a higher median income than Florida, but New Mexico is far behind both.

Way to move the ball, TXRyan!

1) "Speech language pathology" has to do with speech and communication therapy. Not an ESOL teacher, whom I suspect make much less.

2) If "knowing multiple languages" were the metric, then SE Florida, not SW Florida, would have the highest salaries.

3) "Amount of shading" means jack. Where one can see high population and light shading, one will expect a glut of qualified speech pathologists chasing the same jobs.

Originally Posted by TXRyan23

I'd also add that Texas has a much larger area, which, while not necessarily meaning more pay, I would assume that with a much stronger economy and much broader amount of land and cities, would offer better job prospects, not to mention the much cheaper cost of living which would futher offset the gap in pay.

The Texas unemployment rate and Florida unemployment rate are .6% difference.

"Cost of living" in Texas is definitely cheaper than SE Florida. I'm not so sure if it's much cheaper in Northern FLorida. AND coastal Texas also suffers from high insurance and an oppressive 3% property tax that works to keep home prices down (but monthly mtg payment layouts are the same). Not to mention, people like me who would prefer to live in city limits will find housing costs comparable.

Lots of land and sprawl are Texas' biggest friends on affordability. Just like Atlanta. But honestly, you can drive an hour to work every day and get a fantastic house in Texas for little money, but if I wanted to I can also do that and get a great house in Port St. Lucie as well.

Having recently refinanced, my house appraised at appx. $213/sq. ft., in town, with pool. Seems a bit pricey, but in the historic and in-town neighborhoods of Houston, I really wouldn't do much better than that.

"In town" Texas: Houston TX Real Estate - 1608 Shearn St - 2/1 for 285k?

In my neighborhood:

"In town" WPB: 817 Claremore Drive, West Palm Beach FL - Trulia

[craigtnelson]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

Interestingly, the BLS data on salaries across industries is not as cut and dry as many on here make it out to be.

I took a random occupation:



And, one can see that across various sectors, comparing (TX to FL since it has been mentioned here on this thread)... in some occupations you will do better "statistically" in FL, and others you will do better in TX:

Florida - May 2012 OES State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

That is a fantastic resource. Thanks for posting. Reppage.

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

Interestingly, the BLS data on salaries across industries is not as cut and dry as many on here make it out to be.

I took a random occupation:



And, one can see that across various sectors, comparing (TX to FL since it has been mentioned here on this thread)... in some occupations you will do better "statistically" in FL, and others you will do better in TX:

Florida - May 2012 OES State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

Florida - May 2012 OES State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates


Any employer in Florida offering 45% lower salaries is going to reap what they sow in terms of quality of employee. They do it because they can, I suppose.

The problem with BLS data is it's too generic often to be accurate, many job titles do not even fit into the categories they develop leaving many wondering if they were even counted.

By looking at the map you posted, there sure seems to be a lot more dark blue areas in the northeast and west than here....but a "Speech Pathologist" is not exactly a common job, I would say it's quite specialized.

Just since "high tech" was mentioned, I looked up my friend's profession who moved to the SF Bay Area from here, quite obvious data on the salaries but I would say based on his experience and feedback it's quite accurate. Also looked up other "Engineering/Science" related positions, on state levels not county the data speaks for itself....

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by THX 1138

The problem with BLS data is it's too generic often to be accurate, many job titles do not even fit into the categories they develop leaving many wondering if they were even counted.

By looking at the map you posted, there sure seems to be a lot more dark blue areas in the northeast and west than here....but a "Speech Pathologist" is not exactly a common job, I would say it's quite specialized.

Just since "high tech" was mentioned, I looked up my friend's profession who moved to the SF Bay Area from here, quite obvious data on the salaries but I would say based on his experience and feedback it's quite accurate. Also looked up other "Engineering/Science" related positions, on state levels not county the data speaks for itself....

Engineering/Science is also pretty generic, don't you think? I do agree that the "high tech" jobs thing is not presently producing any sea changes for the Florida economy, but you have to start somewhere. The strong industries in Florida remain finance, insurance, legal and medical. This is not a place where one will work their way up the corporate ladder from mailroom to CEO. But honestly, does anyone do that anymore?


Also, Metro-by-metro view is also more relevant to most people. "Average state" for someone looking to move to Sopchoppy vs. Ft. Lauderdale will not allow them to gauge their prospects.


Take a look at the links, not the graphs - which are limited in number on the BLS site. The links provide detailed, hard data on any number of occupations.

The point is that there is no hard line "salaries are higher in X state vs. Y state".... MAYBE you can say that about all the NE states vs. the sunbelt states... maybe also California vs. everyone else out west ...for which it really is a COL thing. 100k in FL is like $130k in NY. But in most cases, you will do better in Florida for some occupations, and worse in Florida for some occupations. That's how things work.

Anecdotes go every which way: I have a friend who moved from the NE where he was in a science (geology) based occupation, and while it took him a long time to find something in his field, he now makes comparable salary + no income tax. He also now owns a two br house instead of a 2 br condo for the same price. Oh, and he manages to work 4 days a week.

I also have a friend who is a lawyer (not sure what he was making in NY), with a wife who was a teacher who was making a lot more in NY. She complains about salaries, but in NY they had a small condo to rent outside of the city, while in Florida they have a new construction, 4br house in a gated community.


Finally, a friend of mine who works for a national company was offered $10,000.00/year more than he was making in Florida to move to the Bay area for the same position, but in a higher volume environment. Factoring in what he could get for his money in terms of rent or to buy, as well as local and state taxes in CA, he would end up the same or maybe even a bit worse, and stayed where he is.

[Swimmom32]

the salaries are higher here in NC than in Florida by a long shot depending on what you do for a living....so there is a hard line with salaries and cost of living..South Florida is extremely expensive just like the Northeast..We have lived in Both...NC income tax however is quite high but the cost of living is much less ....There is not much Finance in South Florida maybe other parts like Tampa etc, and the salaries are well not so great..Now healthcare seems to be doing very well but that is all across the board from what we read since my son will be going into the medical field..it also depends which town you decide to reside in as well, Boca and weston in Particular are expensive where some other towns the rent or cost of a home will be less and or property taxes so if one made less they might be able to live somewhere else that might be a less money....Salaries will always be more up north so that would not be much of a comparison, Florida's upside is there is no Income Tax and for the most part that does certainly help...