Also, no state income tax!
Is living in california worth over 10k a year? (assuming you have a reasonable salary)
Is living in california worth over 10k a year? (assuming you have a reasonable salary)
If you're a single employee, your best bet is to live somewhere with high salaries (California or New York) and be frugal with your expenses.
If you're an employee that's married and/or have kids, I don't know. I don't have that experience yet. Best to ask someone who does.
--> BUT income tax is just one of many state taxes. For an aggregate tax %, see The Tax Foundation's report on State "Tax Burdens." Scroll down in the doc to 2008. http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/336.html
Here's some of the state tax burdens:
* Nevada: 6.6%
* Florida: 7.4%
* Texas: 8.4%
* Washington: 8.9%
* Oregon: 9.4%
* Massachusetts: 9.5%
* California: 10.5%
* New York: 11.7%
I can't imagine being an entrepreneur in the Valley with kids without at LEAST a few million in cash. In Austin you only need 1. :)
* greater ability to commute by bicycle/train/public transit. Austin's bicycle scene is growing, but it's still fairly impractical due to the lack of public transit infrastructure.
* potential for more outdoor trips - hiking around austin is fun when there's water around, but we easily have drought years too which aren't as fun. Plus, I'd think planning a ski or surfing trip is much easier out west than here. Many of my valley friends afford to share a house in tahoe during the winter.
On the upside, if you like the outdoors, there are very few places in the U.S. that are more beautiful than northern California. (I think that Austin is the best place to run my company, but everywhere had tradeoffs.)
Yes. Of course, YMMV.