Is it more expensive to live in an expensive city as opposed to a affordable city?

[Linda_d]

Originally Posted by freemkt

Mircea could write an essay but I'll just mention that poverty rates are based on income without regard to cost of living, and a rural poverty level income can have greater purchasing power than an urban poverty level income.

^^^

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

Thank you. I was going to say the same but you beat me to it. I am surprised that an intelligent person like mathjak could be so simplistic.

Apparently, neither of you have much actual knowledge about life in rural or predominantly rural areas. Mathjak is dead on.

Rural jobs are fewer and pay less. There is no public transportation, so 1 or more reliable vehicles is a necessity as there's no taxi service either. Generally, there are no hospitals or even doctors, dentists, etc outside of the nearest urban metro which means that any kind of health/dental/eye care involves a major undertaking in terms of time and money just to get there.

While housing costs to purchase a house are relatively low in rural areas, rents are very high for the quality of the housing you get. Most rural rental units outside of actual towns would probably be considered slum housing in urban areas, and a significant percentage would never qualify for a certificate of occupancy if rural towns/counties required those.

Crime in rural areas is also much more common that people from the cities think. In the rural South, the poor folks were infamous for making some money making moonshine. Well, in rural America, the poor and not so poor country folks became infamous for their marijuana farms tucked out in some old farmer's or farmer's widow's back acres. Now, they've moved on up to cooking meth in old equipment sheds.

Rural poverty is far more widespread than most Americans think. It's far grimmer, IMO, than urban poverty because the rural poor don't have access to most of the services that people in cities take for granted. Even when they do have some services, they often can't get to them.

No, those folks living off a gravel road with the ramshackle house created from a trailer and various additions with two dead cars on the front lawn and another one up on a make-shift jack in front of a garage that looks likely to collapse in the next windstorm are NOT rebels against materialism. They're not doomsday preppers. They're not a couple trying to live a "self sufficient life-style". They're just poor country people trying to survive.

[mathjak107]

We saw that when we had the house in the Pocono mountains. at best cost of living was 20% less and pay was less than 1/2 even for us and I have technical skills in my industry..

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

You would be surprised at how many people I've heard say that Safeway, along with Trader Joes's, are "cheap" grocery stores.

My experience is limited to Chicago and Tucson. What I find ironic in Tucson is that generally Fry's (Kroger's) and Safeway have the same items on sale each week. MOST of the Safeway specials are 10-20% higher.

Many moons ago, I was doing marketing research for a large bakery firm. You would be surprised at how many people shop at ONE grocery store, even in markets where there are a dozen competitors. It was unbelievable as I head to 3-4 markets weekly.

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As for how I track prices, I have kept a grocery price book for ages just to track pricing on the 50 SKUs that make up about 80% of my grocery spend..