Insert bad reference to Clash song here

February 24, 2008 4:49 PM

How do I decide where to move next, (or not) when a limited salary is one of the factors?

I will be graduating in May with an M.Ed, with the plan of becoming a sixth grade language arts teacher. I currently live in Phoenix, and I am trying to decide to stay or move to another city. Whatever my decision is, it will likely be permanent, as I am 30, and have already lived overseas, moved around a lot, and worked at low-wage jobs. I'd like to get settled and start building a pension.

Aside from the obvious factors of job availability (I will start looking into this once I narrow down potential locations) and the ability to transfer my certification over to another state (36 states have reciprocal agreements with Arizona), how do I decide?

Phoenix cons: A distinct lack of culture: live music, ethnic food, indie movies, arts & theater. A new Wal-Mart is considered the height of excitement, and malls and shopping centers are everywhere. A political and social climate that is more conservative and religious than is to my liking, and which doesn't have the same values I do. A lack of a social scene outside wealthy Scottsdale and the college atmosphere of Tempe; as a teacher I will fit into neither category. Everything is far away, because "metro Phoenix" is really just a collection of suburbs. Ridiculously hot summers. Very little diversity.

Phoenix pros: Cheap real estate. I can buy a two bedroom condo for under $100k, and in some sectors of the metro area, it's more like $80k, with very little down. Payments would be roughly the same as renting, so if I stay, I'll buy a place eventually. Mild winters. Plenty of jobs, since new communities are being built all the time.

Other bits of information: I lived in San Francisco for two years during college, so I definitely became a bit spoiled. Phoenix is certainly never going to measure up in my eyes, and part of me would just like to say "the hell with it" and move back. I spent another two years living abroad in a city where my salary was not commiserate with the cost of living, and things got so bad that I had to decide whether I wanted to eat or have electricity, or between the phone and electricity. I had the benefits of living in a big city available to me, but no money to do anything.

Other than a love for travel, I don't need much, but I really don't want to live like that again. I'm fine with being a renter for the rest of my life, but I do need to be able to meet basic expenses, plus pay off my student loan.

So to summarize: Is it crazy for someone who is on their own, earning a teacher's salary, to try and move to a big city? What cities will offer the cultural amenities that I want/need, but still allow me to like an adult? Or is it crazy to live in a city that I hate, but will offer more financial stability?

I've read similar questions about specific cities like SF, but my question is more general, I guess. Fellow teachers, I would love to hear from you!

posted by lemonwheel to work & money (8 comments total)

Do you know about find your spot? You can put in the aspects of a city that you want, and lots of other factors, including some cost factors at the end, and it will tell you places that match your criteria.
posted by daisyace at 5:06 PM on February 24

CityData is a great reference. Check out the forums as well as the main web site; testimonials (or brickbats) from people who have actually lived in a particular city are golden, and CityData has plenty of them.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:20 PM on February 24

I know I say this in every question of this kind, but consider Madison. Very cheap by coastal standards, quick bus to Chicago for those times when you need to be in a really big city. Three really great seasons a year, one bad one, which I'd take over a Phoenix summer in a heartbeat.

Cultural climate: lots of live music, good ethnic food from some ethnicities and not others, plenty of movies from mass-market to no-budget (including an annual film festival). Politically liberal. Lots of social life not centered on college. Public schools, by all accounts, very good and well-supported. Some people call it "Frozen Berkeley."

I don't think it's as cheap as you describe Phoenix as being. It's very livable, bikable, easy to get around; but if you want a condo in five figures you're not going to live right downtown.
posted by escabeche at 5:49 PM on February 24

IANAT(eacher), but I would suggest Minneapolis if you can deal with the winters. Lots of culture (live music, theater, etc, big immigrant communities), great neighborhoods, good schools. Lots of outdoorsy stuff 7 months of the year. Not as cheap housing-wise as you describe AZ, but pretty damn reasonable. More about the culture and feel of the city: coffeeshops on every corner, more greenspace than any other city in the country, and the most theaters per resident in the country.
posted by lunasol at 7:10 PM on February 24

If you want to have kids someday, settle down somewhere that would be good to raise kids (and where you can afford to buy a house to raise them in so they have stability growing up instead of moving rentals every few years). Once you have kids you're not going to have time for "live music, ethnic food, indie movies, arts & theater" for several years anyway.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:23 PM on February 24

Nope, no kids in my future. I'm going to have 120 11 and 12 year olds in my classroom every day, so I don't think I'd want any of my own.
posted by lemonwheel at 9:57 PM on February 24

Consider Dallas, or around Dallas? I live in Plano, personally, and I find plenty of ethnic food, diversity, indie music and movies, etc. It has a lot of the downsides of Phoenix (namely malls, conservatism, general consumer culture), to be sure, but it has its upsides: cheap real estate, generally decent weather (hot summers but not as hot as Phoenix, otherwise anything below 50 is freezing cold :) ), plenty of booming school districts and a lot of the arts and culture things you want. Dallas is actually a fairly big city and easily accessible by car if you end up living in the 'burbs. As you seem to be looking for Phoenix with a culture bonus, I'd suggest Dallas as a workable solution.
posted by MadamM at 12:05 AM on February 25

I'd rather be slightly broke in a place I love than have enough but wish I was somewhere else.
posted by loiseau at 2:52 AM on February 25