Top 25 Cities Where You Can Live Large on Less Than $70k
We’ve all heard the real estate mantra: location, location, location. As far as price is concerned, where a house is located is typically more important than the actual features of the home. That’s why you can buy a sprawling six-bedroom, six-bath house for less than $250,000 in some markets and pay close to $1 million for a tiny one-bedroom condo in New York City.
Beyond real estate values, location also affects the overall cost of living – what you pay not just for housing, but also for food, transportation, healthcare and other everyday expenses. Salaries, of course, play an important role: A smaller salary goes further in places with a lower cost of living, while a large salary might be barely enough to get by on in an expensive city.
Top 25 Cities Where You Can Live Large on $70K a Year
With this in mind, job-hunting site Glassdoor recently came up with a cost-of-living ratio – calculated by taking a city’s median base salary and dividing it by its median home value – to find cities in the U.S. where your pay will go the furthest. Here it is: a countdown of the top 25 cities where you can live like a king or queen on less than $70K a year, along with each city’s cost of living ratio (a higher ratio number is better), median base salary, median home value and number of open jobs.
25. Raleigh, N.C.
Cost-of-living ratio: 30%
Median base salary: $62,000
Median home value: $209,400
Number of open jobs: 22,339
24. Minneapolis-St. Paul
Cost-of-living ratio: 30%
Median base salary: $65,000
Median home value: $219,400
Number of open jobs: 64,026
23. Jacksonville, Fla.
Cost-of-living ratio: 30%
Median base salary: $50,000
Median home value: $165,900
Number of open jobs: 18,205
22. Richmond, Va.
Cost-of-living ratio: 31%
Median base salary: $59,800
Median home value: $191,500
Number of open jobs: 21,454
21. Hartford, Conn.
Cost-of-living ratio: 32%
Median base salary: $68,000
Median home value: $215,800
Number of open jobs: 19,025
20. Tampa, Fla.
Cost-of-living ratio: 32%
Median base salary: $52,000
Median home value: $163,600
Number of open jobs: 40,830