What's it like where you live?

[JasonRox]

I'm curious on what it is like where you live in terms of employment.

I'd like some serious input because I feel like our area just sucks.

A friend of mine just came from Alberta after staying there for 3 months and said that there are jobs everywhere. Sure cost of living is higher, but he said jobs are everywhere and you can find one the day you look for one. He's only staying down here for a month and going back.

My friend couldn't even get his old job back to make money in my area. They loved him at the place, but can't give him a job? WTF?

Minimum wage here is what everyone pays. You get a dollar more an hour than minimum and you got bragging rights. You're a teenager with a job with student wage (which is lower than minimum wage!) and you have bragging rights.

In my area, you have to dress all nice and act all professionally for a job at McDonald's for crying out loud. Employers around here are just cheap! There is a lot of money flowing around this area considering we have the Welland Canal (ships) and Niagara Falls, Ontario, which bring a lot of money.

I'm not overexaggerating my claims to getting a job a McDonald's. I couldn't even get one in high school and a lot of my friends couldn't. If you got one, you were lucky and did something. I ended up with a job at Burger King, but that's only because I knew the Hiring Manager! How pathetic is that. You need connections to get a job at a fast food place?

Anyways, I might be looking for a better job soon. I find myself to be very sociable and friendly when I talk to people. I got my current job the same day (which is rare) because he liked how I presented myself. I also think I have a great looking resume with peer tutoring and honour awards listed on it.

We will see if I can get a job that pays more than $10 an hour that does not require sitting at a phone doing telemarketing, which is all we have around here that pays nearly $10, but not quite. Sad.

Note: Here in Ontario employers can pay high school students less than minimum wage. How disgusting is that. They want these kids to save for university making below minimum wage!

 

[wolram]

If you want a good well paid job it is no use looking in papers or employment agency, you have to know people in your trade, many times advertised jobs are all ready (earmarked) the company is just going through the motions, if you do not have an established reputation it is extremely hard to find a well paid job.

 

[JasonRox]

If you want a good well paid job it is no use looking in papers or employment agency, you have to know people in your trade, many times advertised jobs are all ready (earmarked) the company is just going through the motions, if you do not have an established reputation it is extremely hard to find a well paid job.

I know that, but I'm speaking generally.

$10 an hour is not well paying. That's utter crap. I just want something like $11-12 an hour and that is utter crap. You could barely live on that if it was possible, which would be very very very difficult. Well paying would be like $20 an hour and that's not what I'm looking for right now because I know that would require a lot more.

Over here most people get paid $8 an hour, which is minimum wage. You can't possibly live off that even if you worked 50 hours a week.

My question is how difficult is it to get something that is decent not well-paying. If we got to work and be all that you can be to work at McDonald's, that shows how pathetic employment is around here.

 

[3trQN]

Virtually no employment here unless you want to be a robot or a chef, most of which pay under $8 ph.

 

[chroot]

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and work in Silcon Valley. Sometimes it seems like everyone has a Porsche, if that's any indication of employment opportunity.

- Warren

 

[Cyrus]

I live in DC so, there are always lots of Jobs. Government and Private. Cost of living is high, but it's a great place. I could not live any where else.

 

[ShawnD]

I'm in Edmonton, Alberta here. There are lots of jobs, but the cost of living is extremely high. McDonalds pays about $8/h starting. A labour or warehouse job will pay 12-14 hourly and the hours are usually 10-12 per day, often 6 days per week. The problem is that you need a car to work here. The bus system is sketchy, so your place of employment will either have no bus service or the bus service is 1-2 hours each direction. For my tiny underpowered Ford Tempo the yearly gasoline cost is up around $3000 (car gets 10km/L, about 23mpg using American gallons). Car insurance here is private which means it's a giant scam (government insurance next door in Saskatchewan is literally half as expensive). Minimum legal insurance is about $1800 per year, comprehensive for a beater is about $4000, comprehensive for a new car is about $5000 (my new Honda Civic LX will cost $5200 per year to insure, that's with no tickets or accidents on my record).

Add up all these costs and you're left with not a hell of a lot
$5000 car insurance
$3000 gasoline
$8400 rent (this is as low you'll get without living in the ghetto)
$7000 taxes (what I'll pay for $36,000 gross income)
$23,400 total fixed expenses

How expensive is food? Computer? Telephone? Internet? Utilities? Clothes? Probably the same as where you live.


There's no money to be made here. Stay out of Alberta.

 

[Beeza]

I live in NH, and the job market here seems fine. Theres plenty of jobs at fast food restaraunts (if that's what your into). There is tons of money to be made working construction and most companies will start a newbie out at 12-15$ an hour cash.

However, real estate prices here on the seacoast are ridiculous.

 

[JasonRox]

I'm in Edmonton, Alberta here. There are lots of jobs, but the cost of living is extremely high. McDonalds pays about $8/h starting. A labour or warehouse job will pay 12-14 hourly and the hours are usually 10-12 per day, often 6 days per week. The problem is that you need a car to work here. The bus system is sketchy, so your place of employment will either have no bus service or the bus service is 1-2 hours each direction. For my tiny underpowered Ford Tempo the yearly gasoline cost is up around $3000 (car gets 10km/L, about 23mpg using American gallons). Car insurance here is private which means it's a giant scam (government insurance next door in Saskatchewan is literally half as expensive). Minimum legal insurance is about $1800 per year, comprehensive for a beater is about $4000, comprehensive for a new car is about $5000 (my new Honda Civic LX will cost $5200 per year to insure, that's with no tickets or accidents on my record).

Add up all these costs and you're left with not a hell of a lot
$5000 car insurance
$3000 gasoline
$8400 rent (this is as low you'll get without living in the ghetto)
$7000 taxes (what I'll pay for $36,000 gross income)
$23,400 total fixed expenses

How expensive is food? Computer? Telephone? Internet? Utilities? Clothes? Probably the same as where you live.


There's no money to be made here. Stay out of Alberta.

Sounds like Ontario to me except no jobs. Insurance is about the same, but mine is lower now thanks to safe driving and getting older. It's about what you are paying because I go with minimum requirements.

Gas is about the same too.

The friend I was talking will be renting out a room only from a friend/aunt's place I believe for only $300-500 a month. That doesn't sound too bad.

I'm just asking around just to see how it is elsewhere. I find it quite sad that we live in a developped world and you have to work your balls off to get a decent living (unless you're lucky). It just makes no sense to me. It's like we are walking backwards.

 

[ShawnD]

Yes it does seem really crappy. A friend from my graduating class was lucky to get a chemistry job at the local university which means he can take the bus to work. He's very frugal (cheap), he does not own a car, everything he owns is from Walmart or Goodwill, but even with all these savings he lives paycheck to paycheck because he also needs to support a wife and an infant son.

I never understood why crime existed until I did a simple number crunch on the cost of living. Unless you are a professional or a crack dealer you won't get anywhere financially while working a "standard" 8 hour day. To reach your dream of owning a house you need to work 12 hour days, 6 days per week. During that time you have no friends or dates because there simply isn't time; 12 hours working, 8 hours sleeping, 1 hour transport each direction leaves only 2 hours per day of time to do anything. Sunday is used to catch up on sleep.

 

[Gokul43201]

Add up all these costs and you're left with not a hell of a lot
$5000 car insurance
$3000 gasoline

Wow. Maybe you should swap that red Ferarri for something less exotic.

My insurance and gas are less than a third of those numbers.

 

[ShawnD]

Ferarri? It's a Honda Civic. Welcome to the world of private insurance companies.
Actually I did check out the price to insure a 2006 Porsche 911 on those insurance websites. Prices given ranged between $8,000 and $15,000 per year. Third party liability (minimum required by law) for that Porsche would be about $3000. I guess statistics show that people who own Porsches cause a lot of car accidents (third party liability means you are at fault, your insurance pays to fix the other guy's car but not yours).

 

[MindRafter]

I haven't found a job whole summer. It's worse than Ontario here...I miss Ontario now...

 

[Evo]

CNN just announced the best places to live in the US and I live in the 6th best city.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/

It's got to be the well educated, high income cows.

 

[Cyrus]

I think those "best places to live" reports are a bunch of crap. I think I am capable of deciding that on my own. Someone else in here, maybe Dimitri?, asked why Americans have this obsession with ranking everything. I agree, it's stupid.

Where I live did not make it on the list, yet I find it to be a great place to live. Who are they to tell me what is good or bad?

People should think for themselves and not rely on others to think for them.

 

[chroot]

I own a 240 horsepower two-seat sports car, and only pay US $1200 per year for insurance. I don't understand why anyone would have to pay such prices for insurance on a Civic. If I had to pay that kind of money for insurance, I'd just ride my bike everywhere.

- Warre

 

[Evo]

I think those "best places to live" reports are a bunch of crap. I think I am capable of deciding that on my own. Someone else in here, maybe Dimitri?, asked why Americans have this obsession with ranking everything. I agree, it's stupid.

Where I live did not make it on the list, yet I find it to be a great place to live. Who are they to tell me what is good or bad?

People should think for themselves and not rely on others to think for them.

Alexandria, VA ranked most educated. That's where my friend in DC I visited lives, I guess he bumped that number up.

Play with the different categories, you'll come up.

I have to agree with the results though, the cost of living here is low, crime is almost non-existant, salaries are high, unemployment is low, no traffic, no polution. But I was shocked to see it rank so high. I'd take DC/Arlington over OP in a heartbeat.

 

[Evo]

I own a 240 horsepower two-seat sports car, and only pay US $1200 per year for insurance. I don't understand why anyone would have to pay such prices for insurance on a Civic. If I had to pay that kind of money for insurance, I'd just ride my bike everywhere.

- Warre

I have two cars, one is considered a sports car, I pay a little over $1k a year for both combined. It depends on your age, your gender, if you've had driver's ed, or a good driving record.

 

[wolram]

Wow, and i moan about paying £120 year on my 106, about £36 per 6 weeks
fuel, job is 36k flat, sats, time and a half, suns double time + any hours i feel i deserve to add on It is hard to find a place to live, most live in flats in town, and they can be real grotty, i was lucky finding a country cottage.
minimum wage is £3 80 per hr, but shelf stackers earn about £6, to buy a house either you have to have a very good job or man and wife work, prices are averaging £160 to £200k.

 

[Pythagorean]

I have two cars, one is considered a sports car, I pay a little over $1k a year for both combined. It depends on your age, your gender, if you've had driver's ed, or a good driving record.

yeah, and where you live, and what statutes play with your insurance. For a long itme, in Alaska, we didn't have SR22, but by the time I got my second MIP, it had been enacted (in other words, they screwed with my license for drinking underage).

I had terribly cruel insurance rates for three years, and since I"ve turned 25 my billl is down to 130 a month. But, being as I live in a college town that turns to ice for the whole winter, I've already been rear ended by a freshman girl and am thankful for insurance.

chroot: Riding my bike is out of the question in -40 weather. Except when my friend who use to do it every day calls me yella'... then I have to flex nuts. I guess there's some aesthetic bonus to having icicles hanging off your face, but it's generally not worth it to me.

 

[ShawnD]

I own a 240 horsepower two-seat sports car, and only pay US $1200 per year for insurance. I don't understand why anyone would have to pay such prices for insurance on a Civic. If I had to pay that kind of money for insurance, I'd just ride my bike everywhere.

If I could I would. Unfortunately I live about 60km from my place of work.

Apparently the insurance rate drops way way down once I'm 25 years old and married. I guess marriage puts an end to more than one kind of screwing.

 

[scorpa]

I pay about 2700 a year for car insurance, definitely no where near 5000 but still way more than I want to pay. I don't know anybody that has to pay 5000. I know civics are more money to insure because they are one of the most likely cars to get stolen but still 5000 seems insane, maybe you should shop aroiund and look at some different insurance companies.

 

[marlon]

CNN just announced the best places to live in the US and I live in the 6th best city.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/

It's got to be the well educated, high income cows.

It's really funny to see how you US-citizens always like to make charts, tables and rankings...


regards
marlon

 

[JasonRox]

I pay about 2700 a year for car insurance, definitely no where near 5000 but still way more than I want to pay. I don't know anybody that has to pay 5000. I know civics are more money to insure because they are one of the most likely cars to get stolen but still 5000 seems insane, maybe you should shop aroiund and look at some different insurance companies.

Not $5000 for his Civic. He meant new car with full coverage and that's pretty much what it would cost me if I did it.

This why I ride a scooter. I'm saving not hundreds but thousands of dollars.

I own a 1996 Dodge Neon. It sits in the driveway. I run it every other day and drive it around the street to work the brakes a bit. I can't really drive it since I have no insurance on it. (I DO NOT DRIVE IT AROUND THE CITY ONLY ON MY CITY STREET. UP AND DOWN.)

Currently, I have absolutely no payments on a monthly basis. Thank god because I haven't been working for the past month!

 

[scorpa]

Not $5000 for his Civic. He meant new car with full coverage and that's pretty much what it would cost me if I did it.

This why I ride a scooter. I'm saving not hundreds but thousands of dollars.

I own a 1996 Dodge Neon. It sits in the driveway. I run it every other day and drive it around the street to work the brakes a bit. I can't really drive it since I have no insurance on it. (I DO NOT DRIVE IT AROUND THE CITY ONLY ON MY CITY STREET. UP AND DOWN.)

Currently, I have absolutely no payments on a monthly basis. Thank god because I haven't been working for the past month!

Haha ok, guess I should have read that a bit more carefully. That makes more sense now.

 

[Moonbear]

Wow. Maybe you should swap that red Ferarri for something less exotic.

My insurance and gas are less than a third of those numbers.

Ohio has the cheapest insurance of anywhere I ever lived. I was in for serious shock when I moved to WV, which I perceived would be much cheaper than the rest of the civilized world, and found that my car insurance nearly doubled! I can't really figure out why even, since the traffic is less than OH, and driver skills seem to be a tad better, unless the rates are just higher for living close to the university, since we do have a lot more inexperienced kids on the road here who seem to do some really stupid things when driving.

Around here, the university is a major employer and with the student population, there's a lot of other businesses that thrive off their presence, so there are definitely jobs to be had. We also have quite a lot of growth occurring in the area, which is raising the cost of living a bit (though not much yet), but is also keeping anyone and everyone involved in construction quite busy (everywhere you turn, there's new construction of all types...residential, shopping malls, university buildings). The next town over, that also caters to the university community, though, has run into some problems that has put a stall on new construction, because their sewer systems have reached maximum capacity and need to be improved before they can tap anymore new buildings into them. But, that means employment for engineers and more construction crews, and likely road crews too as I'm sure it'll involve ripping up roads to install new lines.

It shocks me that you can actually pay students less than minimum wage up there in Ontario! My view of minimum wage is that it IS a student wage...in other words, meant to keep employers from taking advantage of young folks just learning a job. I'm going to be hiring a student worker this coming academic year, and am required to pay at least minimum wage, and will actually pay a little bit more...if a student is willing to put in a full 20 hour work week, I will pay enough that they can pay their tuition on their earnings (tuition is pretty low here still), which is usually what they need in addition to lab experience to put on their resume/or applications to graduate or professional schools, and they are usually willing to trade off a little bit in hourly wages for the flexibility or working in a lab where their boss understands that they need to be a student first and can accommodate them when they need a week off to focus on studying for exams, or getting a big assignment done.

 

[BobG]

CNN just announced the best places to live in the US and I live in the 6th best city.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/

It's got to be the well educated, high income cows.

Correction. Yours is the 6th best small town to live in. It's on a different list than D.C. Still, Moonbear should be kicking herself for passing up Ft Collins - they made number one on the small city list.

On the big city list, Colorado Springs is considered the best place to live in the US. City statistics.

Right now, jobs are very good.

The civilian IT industry here has its booms and busts. Things were pretty bad around here for the IT folks 4 years ago, but jobs seem to be growing again. Defense contractors sucking up any IT folks with security clearances increases job opportunities for those without clearances, as well.

We also have four military bases, plus the Air Force Academy. Spending by military personnel and civilian jobs on the base make up nearly half the city's economy and is usually pretty stable. With base closures in other parts of the country, Ft Carson has actually increased in size quite a bit. That has a big impact on all kinds of retail jobs.

Defense contractors make up another large segment of the city's economy. Most are space related, and have a lot of growth, but that's not guaranteed. Spending on Iraq while cutting taxes is creating a situtation where the military is starting to cut spending on things that affect its future to meet spending requirements for current operations. Spending for space programs has survived more or less intact, so far, but people are expecting some serious cuts this October, since a lot of defense contractor jobs are in developing future capabilities vs. current operations.

Very mild weather. People with older homes usually get by without air conditioning. For new houses that have no established trees yet, that's a little more uncomfortable. The city is surrounded by mountains to the West and ridges to the North, East, and South, meaning we're usually protected from the worst of the winter weather. Plus, the mountains offer some great recreational opportunities.

We're even the seventh safest city when it comes to natural hazards. Being so close to the mountains, tornados don't have time to form until the storms get out onto the prairie. No volcanoes, earthquakes or hurricanes. Biggest hazards are blizzards (Alburqurque lows bump up against the mountains and it snows hard and long), hail and lightning (I know the lightning hazard quite well, right now), and flash floods (there's a lot of sandy creek beds that are usually empty except immediately during and after a storm when they turn into raging rapids - some people aren't smart enough to stay out of them). The other big hazard is wild fires. They don't directly affect the city, but have a big effect on some of the areas just over the front range and a big effect East of town out on the prairies.

I love it out here. This is the best place I've ever lived. It's even better than Alaska (not nearly as many mosquitos, plus much milder winters). I think the entire PF sisterhood should move here.

 

[jtbell]

Add up all these costs and you're left with not a hell of a lot
$5000 car insurance
$3000 gasoline

Your age probably makes a big impact on your insurance bill, as does living in a city. My most recent insurance payment on my 7-year-old Chevy Prizm was about US$300 (liability plus comprehensive) for six months. I'm within shouting distance from 50, and I live in a small rural town where I can (and usually do) walk to work.

 

[Gokul43201]

... unless the rates are just higher for living close to the university, since we do have a lot more inexperienced kids on the road here who seem to do some really stupid things when driving.

Ahem...I live three blocks from the university with the highest total enrollment in the country.

Also, since WVU started the "party transit" (or whatever official name it has) system, I'd imagine incidents of DUI have fallen off a bit.

 

[BobG]

Ahem...I live three blocks from the university with the highest total enrollment in the country.

But none of them can drive. If they move their car from their parking spot, they'll spend a month circling the parking lot waiting for another fool to move their car.

 

[Evo]

Correction. Yours is the 6th best small town to live in.

The category is Best Places to live, it just turns out that the top ranked are small towns. The 10 best Large cities don't make the top overall Best Places to live category.

You can click a link to compare Colorado Springs with the Top Ten Best Places. Overland Park is the 6th overall Best Place to live. I would rather have mountains and forests, sure the architecture here is incredible and the fountains are awesome, but the area is artificially pretty.

FINALIST
Colorado Springs, CO
Best big cities rank: 1
Population: 369,800
Compare Colorado Springs to Top 10 Best Places

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/snapshots/PL0816000.html"

 

[Gokul43201]

Wow, Colorado has a flat tax?!

Columbus came in 8th in Best Big Cities! Woo!

 

[Moonbear]

Ahem...I live three blocks from the university with the highest total enrollment in the country.

I meant here, not university towns in general. I don't know if the insurance rates in this town are the same as one where there's nothing but cows to hit.

Also, since WVU started the "party transit" (or whatever official name it has) system, I'd imagine incidents of DUI have fallen off a bit.

Party transit? I think that IS DUI! I don't know of any transportation around here that is available on weekends or nights other than getting taxis or driving yourself. By someone's idiotic reasoning, the PRT stops running BEFORE the parties start. I wish they'd keep it running, because then it might actually be possible to go out to dinner downtown on a Friday night and still find a parking space somewhere (or I could just leave my car at the lab and take the PRT downtown and still be able to get back).

 

[Moonbear]

CNN just announced the best places to live in the US and I live in the 6th best city.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/

It's got to be the well educated, high income cows.

Who's opinion do they use for those rankings? I looked at that list, and wouldn't want to live any of those top-ranked places. Ann Arbor was in the top 25, and I absolutely HATED that place. Whenever anyone asked me how I liked it there, I always had to clarify..."the lab I work in, or the town?" I worked with great people there and really learned a lot, but except for two months of summer when they held all the festivals and stuff, it was the most dreary, boring, homogenous town I've ever lived in. Some random weirdo struck up a conversation while I was walking around in town one day, and commented, "I love this town...it's got so much culture!" He sounded serious, and I just answered, "Really? Where do you come from? This place has NO culture, it's too full of racists and bigots for that." At least that ended his attempts at conversation.

 

[JasonRox]

Who's opinion do they use for those rankings? I looked at that list, and wouldn't want to live any of those top-ranked places. Ann Arbor was in the top 25, and I absolutely HATED that place. Whenever anyone asked me how I liked it there, I always had to clarify..."the lab I work in, or the town?" I worked with great people there and really learned a lot, but except for two months of summer when they held all the festivals and stuff, it was the most dreary, boring, homogenous town I've ever lived in. Some random weirdo struck up a conversation while I was walking around in town one day, and commented, "I love this town...it's got so much culture!" He sounded serious, and I just answered, "Really? Where do you come from? This place has NO culture, it's too full of racists and bigots for that." At least that ended his attempts at conversation.

Maybe he's racists and fits in well. His culture.