10/2    Anybody ever used the "cost-of-living" salary calculators on the web?
        I'm using the one on http://bestplaces.net and also on http://salary.com.  They're
        giving me vastly different numbers.  Putting in a round number of
        100,000 as salary in San Jose, CA, if I move to Houston, TX, the
        http://salary.com web site shows that I would have to earn 64K.  But the
        http://bestplaces.net site shows that I'd have to earn 45K.  Which site
        to trust?  And what is the source of these numbers?  Neither site
        says how they calculate these things.  Thanks.
        \_ Even accounting for all the excellent "life is about living" advice
           given below, the calculators still do a very poor job of translating
           from one city to another.  Your rent in Houston may be lower but
           other living expenses are static.  A new car, computer, your next
           vacation, utilities, clothing, and a ton of other things don't
           change that much in price by location.  The 45K number is garbage.
           the 64K 'feels' very low.  I wouldn't leave this area for 64k in
           Texas even though the people there are nicer and living is easier.
           I might think about 80k if it was a great job with great people I
           knew and lots of upside.  90k would be more like it as a minimum
           to go from here at 100k to there into random job.  For me.  Whatever
           you do, you should definitely fly out there for a few days, drive
           around, see what the city is like, talk to realtors, chat with the
           locals, etc, before making any big decisions.
        \- people have convex perferences generally but with something
           like this people trade offs are wildly different. it may not
           be hard to compare rent/mortgage for same square footage
           of living space, but other factors are hard to compare both
           for hard to capture intanglible reasons [i would much prefer to
           drive bumper to bumper on the bay bridge for 45 or drive fast on
           280 for 45 min than to drive medium speed on ugly 101 for 45min].
           and even if some study could some how capture these factors,
           you know your preferences better than other people. some people
           would rather have a 2400sq ft house and a giant tv and swimming
           \_ Are you talking about dim, aka the average American with
              the typical big American dream of owning big SUVs, 4 children,
              2 dogs, and a BBQ grills in the backyard?
              \_ I hate dogs, kids, and SUVs. BBQ is fine. --dim
              \_ I hate dogs, kids, and SUVs. BBQ is fine. --gay dim
                                                             \_ This is so
                                                                hilarious.
                                                                Don't quit
                                                                your day job.
           pool in freeemont, others would rather live in 900ft space in sf
           \_ Only Eurotrash aka I-Hate-America German John and Socialist
           \_ Only Eurotrash aka I-Hate-America German John and anarchist
              lafe like urban living. The average American hates urban living.
              \_ Which is precisely why we urbanites love it. -dans
                 \_ Jawohl.  And as to below, ditto here, but I can always
                    get out of the city.  And when I do, I want to visit
                    nature, not Fresno.  -John
                 \- i dont like "urban living" because it keeps me away
                    from suburbanites. i just like living a lot of my life
                    outside the house. i generally meet friends at a bar
                    or a restaurant or a cafe. rather than going
                    over to people's houses or having them over.
                    i think if you live in some place like danville
                    or the almaden valley you probably spend more
                    time at home with your "stuff" rather than going
                    out. i also eat out a lot. i'm not being judgemental
                    here, just suggesting the preferences here are
                    radically different. i dont get milage out of having
                    my car broken into or none of the movie theaters
                    having "plenty of free parking", but that's ok
                    with me. it's still worth it .. but might not
                    be for somebody who likes spending time at home
                    with the wife and kids and working in his garage
                    woodshop. note also, before peet's/starbucks, ranch99,
                    good standard bakeries, the current ubiquity of indian
                    and thair restaurants, amazon [for books] there was a
                    and thai restaurants, amazon [for books] there was a
                    lot of "diversity" not really available easily in
                    not lot of "diversity" easily available in
                    the 'burbs. obviously this has changed a lot in
                    berkeley/walnut creek/palo alto/freemont etc.
                    if you were going to do the exact same job, how much
                    would they have to pay you to move to stockon? bakesrfield?
                    fresno? would you move to fresno for a year for $50k
                    in "hazard" pay? [no offense slouie] .. i'd reject that
                    instantly. 50k wouldnt really change my life at all
                    but i think i'd be hating that year.
                    but i think i'd be hating that year. [althought i'd
                    be willing to spend 2 days there for $250].
           and spend money on cocktails not plasma tv. so people living
           in huston and manhattan are probably looking for different things,
           so you cant take a static bundle and just price it in different
           markets. i think what makes the most sense is to compare specific
           places [say SF vs Manhattan or Chicago ... where you would be
           holding "lifestyle" reasonably constant] or decide if your
           priorities have changed and you want to change lifestyle ...
           for example a house-owning mech eng i know in san jose has
           decided to become an optometrist because she wants to live in
           the sierra foothills. in some cases you can bite the bullet and
           live a livestyle you dont want to live for a few years in return
           for big dollars, but usually that involves moving to dubai or
           iraq, not BF nowhere, USA. to move to houston i'd have to be paid
           more cash, not be able to live better at my current salary ...
           because you could not buy anything to compensate for living in
           houston vs SF ... it would be a matter of saving the money for
           future consumption.