Hellobee Boards

Nope, but it's NYC so to be expected.

Yes, we specifically bought here because it was more affordable. We couldn't afford much house in the suburbs closer to Boston and we also like feeling a little more like we're out in the country even though our commutes are a bit longer.

Nope, it's a very small farm town, affordable. But it's all about how much you make too, as to what's affordable or not.

Comparatively for Northern California, we live in a pretty affordable town. We moved to the next town over when we purchased our home because the last town we lived in was obnoxiously expensive for what you got. 7 miles up the road and we got a way nicer house for less than the cost of a dumpy starter home over there. It added 10-15 minutes to our commutes but not bad.

Yes, but we can't stand the town (very small with no amenities, and so-so schools). We're looking to move to an area about 30 minutes away in the coming year. A bit more expensive, but still pretty affordable.

Nope. That's OK we still like it here. I'm looking forward to cashing out and retiring early.

No! Living in a suburb of NYC, and it's not affordable. The trade off for the price is the "exclusivity" of the town and schools I guess??? I don't buy into it. We live here because of its location for both my commute and DH's commute. I think cost of living is way over priced.

I am actually from Pittsburgh, and can attest to the overall affordability and quality of life - even with recent increases. I Keep trying to nudge DH to think about moving there.

Not in the safe areas. By which I mean not gang territory.

No, it's expensive. Less than NYC and San Fran and that's about it I think! We are in a less expensive part of the city and housing prices are booming in our neighborhood which is nice for when we want to sell our condo but not nice if we want to buy a bigger place here.

It's affordable compared to a lot of European capitals and apartment-wise, you get a lot of bang for your buck when renting. Buying is very unaffordable though, at least, for what we would want. Daycare is super cheap since it is taxpayer subsidized. I'm pretty sure that we pay less than just about everyone on Hellobee other than those getting free grandma care.

Eta: we moved to Vienna from Brooklyn and basically get twice the apartment for almost half the price in an extremely desirable neighborhood.

No. It's not affordable at all. I'm in Northern California and cost of living is outrageous. It gets me mad.

I don’t think it’s generally affordable based on the average income for our area – it’s affordable if you live pretty rurally or buy an older (and I mean 1800’s older, not like 1950’s older) home in need of TLC, but housing prices are not IMO affordable for decent condition homes in the stretch of city/burbs we want to live in.

Then again, it’s pretty reasonable compared to many areas, so affordability is totally relative and personal I guess.

One of the top reasons my parents wanted to move out of Seattle in the late 90’s was affordability, so this issue has been going on a long time.

I live in a smaller town/city in the Midwest, compared to the big cities it is affordable our cost of living is less, however our wages are reflective of that as well. We don't make as much as those in metro areas. I think it is all relative.

We'll see how our new city stacks up to where we currently live. So far to get the house we want we had to pay more, but we're also getting a larger home. We save on home insurance though. From what I have priced so far daycare is more expensive there than here, but the trade off is the 4:1 ratio there is not standard as it is here.

Cincinnati is very affordable overall but the increased interest in living in an urban environment + the cities effort to revitalize these areas has skyrocketed the prices in the downtown/OTR area (compared to the rest of the city; the suburbs are still very affordable)

Well, we live in Maine. You'd think it would be affordable. But we happen to live in a coastal town and real estate is really expensive for the area. Dining out also very expensive. Wages I don't think are higher than other affluent areas. Not sure how else we measure affordability.

@LuLu Mom: I foten wonder if the wage difference is that accurate. I and several family members either have or currently worked in NYC...and I know several people in the same fields in different areas (mainly Philadelphia suburbs) who makes very similar salaries.
As for me, no, I don't consider our area to be affordable. It's a NYC suburb and if you don't have 6-700K, you really can't touch anything more than a condo or a real fixer upper.

Not very affordable. I love our city and super love our neighborhood, but it's very expensive. We are moving soon to another city in our state and home prices there are dirt cheap compared to our current city. The price of a large SF home in our new city is equivalent to the price of a 1 BR condo in our current neighborhood. That being said, there is so much right at our fingertips in our current city, so in some ways I feel like it's worth it to pay the HCOL in this area.

i live downtown in a major east coast city, and after moving here from NYC, i think it's affordable. but, i know in the bigger picture, it's becoming much more expensive. the real estate rental market is very $$$, and the sales market is getting up there. i think salaries are good here, maybe not quite at NYC level in comparable fields, but we also don't have that stratospherically paid group of finance people to buy the 5million+ homes.

I don't have much to compare it to except my in laws houses in California, and yes.... Way more affordable than California.