Cheapest place to live?

December 23, 2006 5:43 PM

where is the easiest place (US or otherwise) for three guys to live off the income from an entry level job? food, shelter, internet, basic utilities
posted by jimmy to Home & Garden (31 answers total)

i don't remember were i saw it ,but a year or two ago i read in a national news paper , that cookeville , TN. was a very affordable city to live in. which happens to be where i'm living. but your question seems kinda broad, any other caveats you might mention?
posted by nola at 5:54 PM on December 23, 2006

Response by poster: we just need actual numbers on wage vs. rent, basically. also, low crime rates would be good as well.
posted by jimmy at 5:56 PM on December 23, 2006

Alberta's facing an incredible labour crunch... and, if you could get the appropriate documentation, I'm sure a few companies there would be happy to make entry-level living very easy indeed.

Read more here
posted by ewiar at 5:58 PM on December 23, 2006

Jimmy, you won't get actual numbers here. Gotta do your own homework, y'know. What you will get here is some direction, such as:

Sperling's BestPlaces
Places Rated Almanac
CityRating
UofD's Places Rated guide
posted by yclipse at 6:10 PM on December 23, 2006

Unfortunately, Alberta's also facing a housing crunch. Calgary currently has the tightest rental market in the country, while there are tales of tent city-type conditions in Fort McMurray.
posted by arto at 6:22 PM on December 23, 2006

Define "entry level job." McDonalds is entry level. So are some commercial fishing jobs and video-game QA jobs. Wild-ass difference in salary and expected levels of effort and time between those three.
posted by frogan at 6:24 PM on December 23, 2006

Three guys to live off the income from one entry level job, or three? Sorry if I'm being dense.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:44 PM on December 23, 2006 [1 favorite]

You're looking for college towns.

Research:
Athens, GA; Madison, WI; Lawrence, KS; Ann Arbor, MI; Austin, TX; Champaign-Urbana, IL; Greenville, NC; Boulder or Fort Collins, CO; etc...
posted by milarepa at 6:47 PM on December 23, 2006

Here's a more thorough list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_town#United_States
posted by milarepa at 6:48 PM on December 23, 2006

oops here's a direct link.
posted by milarepa at 6:50 PM on December 23, 2006

I would suggest looking into "rust belt" cities. Many have fallen on hard times and have declining populations, and therefore very inexpensive (but high quality) housing and cost of living in general. Think Erie PA, Youngstown OH, Wheeling WV. Western New York (e.g. Buffalo and environs) also very cheap. Or maybe Detroit. Places with declining economies.

Of course, the trouble with places that have declining economies is that it can be hard to find that entry level job you want! And the other thing: would you want to live there?
posted by Emanuel at 7:17 PM on December 23, 2006

Boulder, Milarepa? I can't even afford to live there and I am not in an entry-level position. ;) Seriously, though, we need figures from you if you are asking for figures? $30,000/3 guys/year...wtf? Start a business.
posted by mic stand at 7:44 PM on December 23, 2006

College towns are expensive. The landlords and businesses have a captive audience that often doesn't have cars. They know this, and take advantage of it.

But, you haven't given us enough info, or done your homework, as folks have pointed out. Here in Detroit, we've had the best ratio of wages to cost of living in the country for years, but that may be changing.

Now, I bet you are going to go, "Detroit? Eewwww! Like crime, and dirt and like, bad stuff." And, yeah, we got that. So does every other city on earth. We got other stuff, too, like great neighbourhoods with cheap, but solid, housing, arts, culture and all of that.

Get yourself to your local public library, and ask the reference librarian this question. She'll show you a bunch of books that have all the charts, stats, tables and numbers you could ever want.
posted by QIbHom at 7:54 PM on December 23, 2006

I knew someone would call me out on boulder. Yes, boulder is a little pricey, but I threw it in there because it's a pretty nice place to live. Perceived cost of living aside, I've known perhaps a dozen people who lived there, and sometimes went to college there, and were anything but wealthy. Nevertheless, I stand behind my recommendations of college towns and those college towns in particular, except maybe champaign-urban, ewww.
posted by milarepa at 8:00 PM on December 23, 2006

Work offshore at any of several crap jobs (cook, BR hand, rigger, deckhand) and share some squalid apartment in Fourchon, LA.
posted by atchafalaya at 8:47 PM on December 23, 2006

Two links that might help: here and here.
posted by JPowers at 11:07 PM on December 23, 2006

We just had a story about it in the local paper, and North Dakota was one of the cheapest & most affordable states to live in. it was #3 in the country. Very low crime rate there.
posted by drstein at 11:29 PM on December 23, 2006

The neighborhoods where poor people live aren't always the cheapest ones. Yes, many broke people live in college towns — but they live there because of the college, and could often get cheaper housing and food elsewhere if those were the only concerns. I can tell you from experience that Ann Arbor is not cheap compared to the rest of Michigan; if you just want a low cost of living, any of a dozen nearby towns will suit you better than Ann Arbor itself.

You might look into Pittsburgh. It's suffered the same rust-belt depression that Emmanuel describes. It's also been shrinking in population size for decades, so there's something of a housing surplus. But it's the healthcare and business center for half of Pennsylvania and parts of Ohio and West Virginia, so there are still decent jobs to be had.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:35 PM on December 23, 2006

College towns are good, though, because they often cater to a cash-strapped population (students) and, perhaps more importantly, they don't suck. There's a lot to do on the cheap, assuming you want to do more than eat/sleep/work. Can't speak for Ann Arbor or Boulder, but Athens (Ga) has tons of affordable housing and employers used to having unqualified workers. (Though that introduces another problem: Lots of cheap labor readily available. Still, lots of people seem to be hiring constantly.)

You could do much worse than a college town. But that's not to say you couldn't do better. Good luck!
posted by SuperNova at 1:17 AM on December 24, 2006

Oklahoma traditionally has some of the lowest-cost-of-living towns in America; something outside of Tulsa and OKC, like perhaps Enid (pop about 50K)...only 75 miles from OKC, so you're still pretty close to a major metro area.
posted by davidmsc at 1:56 AM on December 24, 2006

north dakota is major, major buttfreeze in the winter.
youngstown, ohio is the single ugliest city in the united states. one time i was passing through (as fast as i could) and a youngstonian explained to me that when somebody gets behind the wheel of a black caddy or lincoln, bystanders back away because there might be a bomb wired to the ignition.
you said "us or elsewhere" which raises an important question back at you. do you speak spanish?
because if you do, you might look at beach towns in mexico or central america. they're cheap, you won't need to pay for heating, i don't know what the job market or internet access picture is like, but they have much more of a sense of romance and positive adventure (as opposed to the adventure of standing next to an exploding lincoln) about them. good luck.
posted by bruce at 1:57 AM on December 24, 2006

Most places in Australia. Minimum wage is reasonable ($AUD12+ per hour) and if you are not fussy about the neighborhood there are some cheap places to rent in the outer suburbs of the cities or country towns.
A three bed house for $200 a week is possible.
Staple food is quite inexpensive, similar to the USA, but except for bananas, fresh fruit, vegetables and meat is quite reasonable.
Only drawback is if you are a US citizen is is unlikely you will be able to get a work visa, particularly for entry level work (although there are young persons working holiday visas).
posted by bystander at 3:43 AM on December 24, 2006

Sorry MeFi but I think you may be missing the bigger question here. The answer to the bigger question is;

Esmeraldas, Ecuador.

This is a cheap counrty where I lived for one year very comfortably teaching english with 1/2 an high school degree. Tourism is just right, not over-run but a constant stream of guests and interesting global backpackers. Life is easy there and the world seems incredibly beauiful.
These days I live just south of Tokyo, Japan but have alway promised myself to someday return to Esmeraldas to live out my life, Hope to see you there, any questions:
[e-mail]

P.S. Spanish is an easy language and nothing to fret over learning.
posted by nintendo at 4:48 AM on December 24, 2006 [2 favorites]

I dunno about 'easy' but you can survive (and enjoy) London just fine. Flatshares are extremely common and there are plenty of entry level jobs (well, in my definition thereof). Expensive place to live, but it's more than doable if all three of you have jobs.

Such a general question, so I can't really go into details.
posted by slimepuppy at 5:24 AM on December 24, 2006

Lincoln, Nebraska.

Things in its favor:
1. College town
2. Fairly liberal (for Nebraska)
3. You can get a three-bed apartment for $600/mo.
4. Entry-level jobs abound
5. The weather is just about perfect (in my eyes) in that it has equal amounts of the four seasons, with a really long Spring and Fall.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:35 AM on December 24, 2006

You can live cheap, and may be able to find a crappy job, but consider finding a growing economy. I love Portland, Maine, but when I moved here, the economy was horrible. Long term, I might've done better to live someplace with a healthier economy. In an expanding economy, your odds of promotion or new & better job are better.
posted by theora55 at 7:57 AM on December 24, 2006

Here's a Cost of Living Calculator that might help, as far as comparing US locales.
posted by SuperNova at 2:44 PM on December 24, 2006

New York City, Paris, Tokyo, just crash in some abandoned building and eat out of dumpsters ;-) Sorry, I couldn't resist after someone recommended London.

Actually, I live in Chicago now and you can rent places very cheap. I would recommend looking into it.

So, are you going to tell us the background story to this question or what?
posted by xammerboy at 5:13 PM on December 24, 2006

Northwest Arkansas is pretty good both in the availability of entry level jobs (both fast food type and otherwise) and fairly cheap housing. A fair amount of stuff to do, too.
posted by wierdo at 5:42 PM on December 24, 2006

It's an unanswerable question. I'm amazed anyone even attempted to answer it.

As I understand it, the question is "where, on the entire planet Earth, is is cheapest to live on the money from an entry-level job?" and the OP didn't bother to define "entry-level job". Or for that matter, "live".

Antarctica? Get yourself a job at a research station near the South Pole. Accommodation and food will be paid for and there's nothing to spend money on for thousands of miles.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 9:58 PM on December 24, 2006

London is not the place to think of moving to with only enough in your pocket to get by but where there is a will there is a way. Living cost is uber expensive. Transport cost is even worse, my yearly travelcard is way over £1000 (around $2000) and even socialising doesn't come cheap. A cinema ticket at my local odeon cost £8 (around $16) and I live in zone 5!

A flat-share is do-able but you wouuld still be looking to allocate at least £110 for a single room near a tube station in zone 1/2.

A friend fo mine has just left to go live and TEFL in Cadiz. The cost of living is supposed to be very favourable.
posted by mycapaciousbottega at 10:17 AM on December 25, 2006