Top 20 Small Cities

by Jim the Realtor | Oct 5, 2024 | Where to Move | 0 comments

Not everyone craves the bright lights and crowded spaces of big cities. In fact, almost one-third of Americans (31%) say they would prefer to live in the suburbs, compared to 16% for urban areas and 24% for rural communities. Small-city life can be best for those who appreciate more wiggle room, fewer degrees of separation and shorter commutes, to name just a few of its advantages. Granted, these little urban areas demand some tradeoffs, too, such as fewer restaurant options or shorter business hours.

One of the best perks of living in a city with a relatively small population is affordability. For example, the cost of living for a two-parent, two-child family in a small New York town can be as low as around $7,000 per month, while the cost for the same family in Manhattan is nearly twice as much ($13,300), according to the Economic Policy Institute.

To find out which small cities outshine the rest, WalletHub compared more than 1,300 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 based on 45 key indicators of livability. They range from housing costs to school-system quality to the number of restaurants per capita.

Read the full article here:

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-small-cities-to-live-in/16581

Friendly Deer Population

by Jim the Realtor | Oct 3, 2024 | Where to Move | 2 comments

It will be a very long time before people like this can afford a home here (if ever), so they might as well move elsewhere. But he also touches on the perceived ‘travesty’ of property tax rules, which makes me think that the youngsters will dismantle Prop 13 once all the elderly die off.

When wealth advisor Clint McCalla, 37, lived in San Diego with his wife and kids, they loved being close to the beach and the world-class zoo.

“It was a beautiful city and great place to raise a family,” explains McCalla. “But the cost of living was far too high to justify staying.”

They were renting a house—and having trouble finding one to buy.

“Property tax rules in California are a travesty,” says McCalla. “You currently have a system that provides legacy real estate owners and investors with a disproportionate benefit relative to new buyers. Combine that with a state that has refused to build new housing in any significant way for 20 years, and it creates the problem we now see.”

That, along with income taxes, factored into the couple’s decision to leave California and move to Austin, TX, in September 2023.

Now that they’ve settled in, the McCallas couldn’t be happier with their choice.

“Almost everything costs less in Austin,” says McCalla. “Housing is the biggest savings for our family. We’ve been able to buy a wonderful home in an excellent school district with great neighbors, sunset views, and an exceedingly friendly deer population.”

Although he misses his friends and colleagues dearly, he knows the move was the right decision for his family. “I didn’t feel like we would ever be in the position to get ahead in California, with how things were trending,” McCalla says.

https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/where-wealthy-millennials-moving-to-and-from/