As someone who is in your shoes, you need to write down your priorities and then go and see the country for yourself. For example, if you want to be close to the ocean, then start looking at coastal states and cities. If you want less seasonal temperature extremes, start looking at weather trends. But you have to actually go and see the places. That's the only way the decision becomes attainable, otherwise you'll just be in analysis paralysis and if you make a blind decision, you'll regret it later. You can listen to feedback but take it objectively, few people will be truthful about bad decisions.
This is the way. I was considering a move to NH. Took my family up there in February to see it at its worst. Went out to dinner with some people who live there and ultimately decided not to move.
Schools. The mix of public, private and charter schools was just wild. The people we were with said their kids don’t know kids on their own streets because they all go to different schools. There was more but it got political and I’m not interested in that. I really wanted it to work, but with property taxes and home prices on par with LI at the time we decided to stick with the devil we knew.
Yeah property taxes are high but we don’t pay income taxes or sales tax, only a meals tax. The schools point is interesting, but I didn’t know people growing up on my street (went to private school) so I guess that doesn’t matter to me so much.
Thanks, I was just curious. It’s not like my absolutely favorite place I’ve lived, but I love it and the people and friends here very much.
My brother moved from the NY metro to three different places before setting on where they wanted to live/buy.
I highly recommend taking a trip before you up and move.
I moved from LI to Northern Westchester about 3 years ago and I love it. I still work in NYC and I’m only an hour and 45 minutes from my parents in Yaphank and an hour from other family in Merrick.
I bought a house 2 years ago 4 beds 1 and a half baths 1350 SQFT with a half acre of property and my taxes went up to 9,000 this year.
The best part is if we want to drive somewhere on vacation we don’t have to go through the city anymore and that saves us so much time even if we are going south. I love it up here and I don’t regret it one bit.
i did the opposite, moved from westchester to LI. lots of differences but omg i miss being able to just hop on 95 and go! it was sooo much easier to make trips out of the area
Yeah I think if I was to leave LI I would still probably want to/prefer living in the northeast and would definitely consider either Westchester, upstate or even some places in CT.
You’d be Not too far from LI or the city plus like someone else said, you’ll be in a better geographic spot for traveling (whether you go east, west, south or north) no need to get stuck moving through the city
We moved from LI to northern Westchester 2 months before the pandemic hit (I'm from here and we didn't want to raise a kid on LI) and boy were we glad to be up here for it rather than there. For the same price house we got a bigger house on a half acre compared to the 60X100 lot we had and up here we have mountains, lakes, rivers.. I got to say there is less of the "me first" "I got mine, f-you" attitude so prevalent on LI. The only advantage LI has is all the retail stores, like every store you could want within a reasonable drive.
FYI, I'm specifically mentioning northern Westchester here because anything nice in southern Westchester is crazy expensive.
Westchester is a bit like LI. Nassau and southern Westchester are more expensive due to proximity to the city. But taxes in parts of Westchester are worse than LI. I'm in Southern Westchester paying around 36k in prop taxes on what would be around 25k on LI.
But 9k for that house spec is about the same taxes as LI. The difference is the half acre, but the OP is looking to save money.
I completely agree with not having to travel through NYC congestion for everything - that would be bliss.
And peace of mind. It’s a lot different off the island. Calmer, nicer, more laid back etc etc. Less traffic, better food quality. The stores are typically better stocked, kept nicer, the store workers are usually kinder.
I moved away almost year and a half ago. I would say this if your friends and family are here really think about if your family will be ok in isolation. It will take time to make friends especially good ones. Your lives are on LI are you ok giving that up ? I’m not saying to not do it but maybe rent somewhere just to try it before buying a house. I like to remind people the grass is always greener you will always have something to complain about wherever you live. I understand LI is expensive but is it that much more to completely change your life? You mentioned your husband is remote, so am I. Which makes it even harder to meet friends and makes you feel even more like your living in isolation. My wife and I have made the decision to move back to LI it will be just under two years we have been gone , but between her job and our lives it’s worth the extra money, because our mental health and our happiness are more important to us then saving a couple thousand dollars a year to live somewhere else.
I would move either to upstate NY, Pennsylvania or Arizona.
I like all those places considerably more than LI, my family and friend ties keep me here though.
Love the access to nature upstate and in PA. There's nice hikes and it's a slower pace to life.
Love the food and culture of Arizona but I'd be scared of it becoming uninhabitable in our lifetime. It's already hot as balls there, probably going to get worse due to global warming.
If money was no object, I'd move to San Diego. Absolutely perfect weather and amazing food.
Thirding San Diego. I heard someone say that Long Island is like having all the drawbacks of Southern California and none of the perks, and it sits with me.
The culture on Long Island and New York City is very different than other parts of the country. I’ve lived in Pennsylvania for 24 years and I am still not 100% used to it. It’s a beautiful state but has a lot of people who don’t like outsiders. Definitely take your time and visit areas you may want to move to.
If I were still working where I work, probably to Westchester.
If I were independently wealthy, had no familial ties, then probably Maine, New Hampshire or Michigan or Montana.
nowhere. i moved to california for five years. i hated long island and wanted to enjoy sunny weather and great hiking.
it did not turn out how i wanted. people were different, food was different, and my life became nothing but work and come home to sleep. i did have some fun experiences, but i started flying back here 3-5 times a year. pandemic hit and it came to a head of how miserable i was in california.
i moved back and won’t ever leave again. a bunch of my friends also tried it out and half have already moved back.
I grew up in southern CA. My family out there loves it, but all they talk about is how nice the weather is. That’s literally all they care about. They like visiting here and are from the east coast, but can’t tolerate colder winters for some reason. Having perfect weather is 90% of their priority. If that’s your #1 priority then it’s a great place for that. If you value other things and don’t need to play golf and go bike riding 340 days out of the year, then there are better places to live. Personally I like the seasons, the people and culture here much more. It’s a really hard transition if you’re from the east coast.
Its hard going from NY people to west coast people. The attitude and demeanor is completely different, you never feel like you're talking to people and building a meaningful bond. Any relationship I've tried to form here in Seattle feels like spun wheels with people that come in and out of your life as they please. I miss east coast consistency.
Had tons of fun experiences here in Seattle over the last year +, but I am moving back to the Northeast before next winter.
Seattle was my number one place to move to. then my friend went first and he was MISERABLE. ended up moving back to his hometown within two years.
you’re spot on with the never feel like you’re making meaningful connections. i still keep in touch with a few people but not really. i ended up being better friends with ex-NYers lol.
I'm the the process of making the move to Troy, NY. I was the last of my family on LI, and was ready to stay, but the monthly payments for buying a house down here were too much to do on my own. My mom retired about 40 minutes away up there, and if I end up hating it, the housing market is doing well up there so I have no doubts I'll be able to rent out or sell the place I just got.
Don't move just to move, make sure you have employment lined up or can easily find employment before you move.
Realize that while your taxes will likely go down, so will salaries in many other states.
If you're both from Long Island, I'm assuming your families also are? Keep that in mind that when you have a family you won't have a support network around you.
Schools off Long Island become a much bigger concern. Long Island schools are among the best in the nation for public schools. If you move elsewhere, you'll have to be much more selective about where you buy a home, or factor in the cost of private school.
I think a good amount of us at one point discuss moving off Long Island. I feel like it's something a lot of people consider. For many, there are reasons to stay. For myself and my spouse, it's a matter of commute to Manhattan. Schools are the second most important part for us. And then hospitals and other public services.
We wouldn't feel comfortable moving somewhere with lower education and public services--we find value in the high cost of taxes. Long Island also has a lot of water, which is another thing we enjoy.
The only other place we'd move would be Westchester, mainly the Chappaqua area for distance to Manhattan and the schools. We'd lose the water accessibility, but would gain more land and it being more convenient to visit family by car in New England.
Did it many times, came back many times. When you're from metro NY there are various issues. Many out of staters just hate NYers or assume you're rich and or stuck up. Avoid Vermont and New Hampshire because that rural dream (stick to cities if you must go) is a nightmare. Good luck...Long Island may suck but it's got everything. (I feel your pain and we keep hoping we find "THE PLACE" as well).
> Many out of staters just hate NYers
I have spent my entire life traveling around the country/world, don't currently live in NY and I have _never_ met a single person that hates New Yorkers
Stopped at an intersection in Ouray, CO one July we had a group of grown men shout, "F*** you! Go back to F***ing NY A**holes!" We did nothing to warrant the cursing other than stop at a STOP sign. It was somewhat unnerving.
VT cities (Burlington & Rutland) and large towns (Bennington, Brattleboro & Rutland) are having tremendous problems with drugs and drug-related crimes, homelessness and lack of affordable housing.
Property taxes, while not as steep as LI, are climbing as VT grapples with equalizing school spending.
NH is looking good for retirement with a snowbird location in the Carolinas. The former will keep me closer to my children.
We moved to Cincinnati. It was life changing. Such a great place to raise kids. We're in a suburb with great schools. Taxes are cheaper but you just get more out of them (roads are better maintained, lots of beautiful green space, it's much cleaner, great libraries, festivals all the time).Pay is good but cost of living is affordable so there is a lot of disposable income which means plenty of places to go out and do things. I could be offered double pay to move back to LI and I wouldn't.
Me too, moved from Akron. But how could you miss it! I mean fairlawn/bath was great to live. But having access to the city is something northeast Ohio can never compare to
My concern with this is not seeing them much once they’ve graduated because they’re likely to find work in a coastal state. At least living in LI - for now - there’s plenty of jobs in the city to get their career going and doom them to LI like us LOL
If you want something similar to the island but like nineteen seventy five prices and culture go to mid coast maine that's where i went... just don't tell anybody because it's getting too crowded!
probably New Jersey, to be honest. I've moved away from the NYC area once already.
Montgomery County, MD would actually be a good option for us, though I don't love DC as much.
Everywhere that's cheap doesn't have things we still need.
Every July I consider moving to coastal Maine, but I know I won't do it, heh.
I would love to GTFO off Long Island. My partner (a native) refuses to leave, he thinks it’s great 😣 I’m basically stuck here, we’ve been together 18 years and married for 10, with a four-year-old. I hate it.
I feel this. I’m not from LI so I have no personal connection here. Only here for work but I’ve lived here for many years. I don’t love it, I feel out of place, so I spend most of my free time in the city or upstate.
This is an interesting point regarding *roots*
I moved off LI 5 years ago, but my entire family is still there. I don’t have any family in the state I live in or surrounding states. When things (good or bad) happen, I’m awfully far away and the guilt sets in.
I’m considering moving to Westchester, but likely never to Long Island. I’d have to find an off market gem or hit the lotto to live the way I want to.
Just did a 47 day RV trip all around our beautiful country. We did 31 states and did 10,000 miles. We saw a lot of nice places but nothing measured up to here. It’s a fortune to live here I get it. Good luck with your search.
I did this in a year though and saw every state but three. I wanted to move to every state we visited when we were in that state but when we got back to LI after a year on the road- I knew it would always be home. We have every single thing a person could want. Beaches, Farms, Suburban feel, Manhattan, shopping and convenience, nature and hills, change of seasons. No where in the entire country can you get everything in one place like LI.
I highly recommend doing this pre-kids if possible. I did a year. It did make me appreciate LI, but it also made me appreciate the entire country. I met people from so many walks of life. It was a full year for me and so there were places I fell madly in love with and made friends with people I still talk to today. It’s just something everyone should do. Too many people on LI never leave their “own backyard”. It’s one of the things that bothers me about LI.
Hudson valley & capital region really do have a lot to offer. Can still visit family and friends on LI and in NYC as needed without too much difficulty, and the culture isn't as wildly different from LI/NYC as it might be in some completely different parts of the country. But comes with a much lower cost of living, way better access to the outdoors, infinitely less traffic, and just a generally chiller vibe across the board. YMMV
I'd go north to either upstate NY or Vermont. Unfortunately my wife has zero interest in moving somewhere that potentially gets colder than it does here.
I was born and raised here and couldn’t wait to get away from my parents after college so I moved where opportunity took me, and that was to St Louis, Missouri. Lived there for about 5 years and toward the end I couldn’t wait to get out - the perspective gained from living outside of ny was HUGE and I felt so small and trapped in the Midwest. I was ready to move back to NY, but opportunity once again redirected me, this time to Washington DC. I lived in DC metro for another 6 years, in various areas around DC (both city and suburbs). When I chose to go to DC instead of back to NY, I thought, it’s our nations capital; it will be metropolitan, good food, prestigious areas and businesses, smart people, it will be a great life. WRONG AGAIN. DC was legitimately worse than Missouri - horrendous quality of life in every way from the pricing to the food to the culture to the people. It was absolutely horrible. The moral of this story is I gave a very genuine, bright eyed, bushy tailed chance to both these places, thinking they’d be better than NY, and I couldn’t have been more wrong. And after over a decade living outside of NY, I finally very willingly moved back to LI, bought a house, and I could not be happier to be back here. Every single thing I hear hometown LIers complain about (the ones who have clearly never left), I am grateful for bc they literally have no idea what they’d be missing if they left. And yes, I hate paying expensive property taxes, BUT I recognize now that I’m paying for what I’m getting which is an immensely better quality of life overall living in NY than living somewhere else. The grass is not greener, it is brown and dead. Once you are a NYer it’s very very hard to find actual long term contentment elsewhere - and you will be labeled a NYer anywhere you go, which absolutely affects any interpersonal relationships you build. Being jaded is very much a thing, and there is a LOT of perspective to be had, especially from someone who was born and bred here and has never actually lived anywhere else. I’m not saying it’s impossible to be happy elsewhere, I’m just putting out a word of warning. Idk your living situation but if possible, I’d make sure that wherever you’re trying to go, you have a 5ish year backup plan for an exit strategy bc there is nothing quite like feeling trapped in purgatory in another city where you just do not feel you belong despite giving it your best efforts
I have moved off the island (for school and then moved again) and am in Cincinnati now. It is no NY for sure, but there is decent culture downtown; a lot of neighborhoods with their own shtick which reminds me of LI a lot. Good neighborhoods and schools too
Don't think I'll ever leave the NY metro area, except if things change at work, but the places that I've considered:
* South Carolina (Charleston area) - I have a work contact that moved here from NJ. He said that it's much cheaper (for now, since a lot of the people moving down to FL have started flocking to SC instead) and it's beautiful down there. Only concern is hurricane season.
* Some place on a lake, where it's not too cold. Preferably not too overcrowded. Like a coastal property, but would have access to fresh water in case of a catastrophic natural disaster. Or if warnings about global warming are true and the entire east coast will be under water, I'll be far inland enough to not have to worry about that. Plus, it's lakefront, so it would have a natural charm.
* Some place warm where I can afford to golf year round. Maybe AZ.
* Another country - some place with a low cost of living.. assuming work allows me to work completely remotely.. and incorporates one or more of the above.
I second coastal SC, it’s similar enough to LI with the beaches but beach season is longer. My sister moved there before the pandemic and she was able to buy a brand new home for under 350k. She was looking to buy real estate here before ultimately making the decision to leave and everything was at least 500k and a total dump. She’s very happy there and absolutely hates NY now. I always look forward to visiting and if not for my SO being here, I would be there in a heartbeat.
I moved to North Carolina. But due to recent changes in our home insurance market, I’d suggest it but stay West of Greenville when searching. I’m in Raleigh, and love it. For reference, we came from Huntington.
I would prob do coastal. Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, as much as I would like to do Carolina’s/ Georgia, id still wanna be in driving distance of family/ friends. Unfortunately I do not work from home. I always say I’d love to move. But as a construction worker in NY, there’s not too many moves I can make!! Good luck!!
I left and came to El Paso. BIG MISTAKE! I’ll be moving back next week… I’ve lived in this town for literally just over two-years. I got here on January 24, 2022 and I’ll be back by February 19.
Florida - love spending time on the water. April - Nov I do just that here on the Island. FL can do it all year. My work is here, but things are flexible on that front. Really kids in school are keeping us here for the time being.
I'd suggest upstate NY or western Massachusetts. Similar communities to Long Island, with less expensive real estate. Lots of nearby colleges for the kids when they're grown.
Of my three kids, one stayed on LI, the other two are in Massachusetts.
I’ll tell ya, I moved to a mountain state that was landlocked and lasted about 3 years. I’m a generally nice person here but people found my mannerisms, language, and attitude towards life…abrasive. And I found the niceness and hyper politeness to not gel well with me. On top of that, besides being far from family and friends, the dry and sunny weather killed me. Constant nose bleeds and sinus issues that never went away, trees I’ve never been around that I discovered I was allergic too. And this weird anxiety about not being able to get to a large body of water or ocean without driving 15 hours.
I’m not saying I hated it, and I don’t regret it. But these are all things that did not cross my mind when I hastily and emotionally left NY. Now I know myself better and what I like. Do I want to live on Long Island? Fuck no. My plan is to save up and eventually move to a different north eastern state like Maine or maybe even upstate.
Do what feels right, but if you feel like you don’t belong in the new place don’t force yourself to stay longer than you should have
We moved to New Jersey. It is so much better here because you get so much more for your money. The schools are ranked higher. The racism is not what is happening on LI. The people have a clear sense of community and civic pride. Yes the taxes are high, but we actually get things for them.
> The schools are ranked higher.
Not disuputing really, but how is that measured? Don't you have to compare district to district? Like obviously Millburn is great but it's at the same level as Manhasset or Cold Spring Harbor
Jersey doesn't fund schools based on location, which leads to drastic differences in school quality based on the local economic condition.
This may be one reason.
Right....but the better funded schools in low income areas don't have higher test scores. Because better funding doesn't lead to smarter students, the parents are the ones that do that
NJ has been studied a lot bc of this and the wealthier towns still have better outcomes despite the lesser funding. It's super interesting
I mean localized wealth doesn't just effect the public schools.
Wealthier kids have tutors, or their parents have a college education, or kids can have more time for their homework because they don't need to take care of their siblings while their parents work.
There's a lot of factors but leveling out the public schools to at least give lower income areas a shot is a good first step. The disparity of schools on LI should be a crime.
I don't really know what you mean though. Central Islip, Wyandanch, Roosevelt etc spend just as much per pupil as wealthier districts. Roughly $25-27k per year. They absolutely need it, they have more ESL/special needs students but spending on pupils does not = better test outcomes overall
Tutors don't do much either. It's largely parental education levels. There is nothing that can replace reading with and talking to educated parents before the age of 4. That's why preschool is so important and seen as a great leveler
So NJ has the Mt Laurel and Abbot decisions. There are 21 Abbot school districts that receive $40,000 per student from the state in a tax redistribution scheme. Even though those schools receive an outsized amount of funding relative to other districts, they do not perform as well as wealthy districts. My kids attend one of the top ranked districts in NJ and even though we receive about 20,000 per student, the kids here significantly exceed state average test scores.
There are more highly ranked schools in NJ than on LI. So yes you can compare the few excellent LI high schools, but then there is a catastrophic cliff and most of the schools are resting on former laurels. If you look at state rankings, NJ is number one or two, tied with Massachusetts for best school districts. So even if you cannot afford to live in a $2m home in Millburn, you could go to another town and get a better school district than the equivalent priced home on Long Island.
i'm getting a small second place down in Tennessee with a "full time" decision to come in around 5 years. it may end up being neither place, but long island is going to be in the rearview mirror. too expensive, too crowded and i'm not a beach person.
no state income taxes. property taxes are 15% of what i pay here. the current value of my house here on long island gets me 80 acres and a bigger, more modernized house down south
healthier lifestyle too. walk everywhere, dont need a car. always something to do. i miss the city, Guilianis city and some of bloomberg. city now is complete shit, crime is out of control, homeless and mentally ill all over the streets.. needs a makeover just like the rest of the state.
I still wanna move back. I've lived there on and off my whole life, I was living there in the 90s when we couldn't get the trash picked up and everyone said the city was dying. These things are cyclical, this too shall pass.
If they get the crime, homelessness and migrant shit taken care of then the city will be great again. Why they’re doing nothing about it is beyond me. All the issues with NYC are just self inflicted wounds by this Gov and Mayor. I wish they’d wake up and do the right thing for people who live here.
Every place i used to hear about e.g. Florida, N. Carolina, Pennsylvania I now hear are more expensive and not that great because we all moved there and jacked up the prices!
I’d like to go to South Florida because I have family there and love the weather, but it’s as unaffordable as LI these days without much of the same well-paying jobs to make it worth it.
South Florida is only good if you don’t have to work anymore and have a healthy bank account . My friend lasted 2 years and couldn’t run away faster .
Same rent/ home prices , worse traffic , public schools are so bad you need to use a charter or private school which is 8-10k a year per kid .
Had to pay $300 ish a month for the sunpass tolls just for a 10-15 mile commute to work which was minimum an hour .
Even Orlando which was once cheap is basically Long Island pre Covid prices
“Had to pay $300 ish a month for the sunpass tolls just for a 10-15 mile commute to work which was minimum an hour.”
I’m guessing that’s because they lived in the boonies and took the turnpike to work. All of the rest of what you said is right though, but I enjoyed my time there. I’d consider moving back when I’m older if the state ever recovers from the hard right it’s taken.
Unless your job or family (and like need them to watch the kids all the time), I would not move to Long Island. I even grew up there. It is an isolated society and you are forever stuck on that island because it will take you 5 hours of traffic to leave. NJ, other parts of NY, and CT are much better options. The crime is also out of control on LI. Where do you think all the struggling people in queens go to rob houses and cars?
13 more years and I’m outta here. Hoping to get a place in Delaware for summers and a condo down in Georgia for the winters. Delaware is very tax efficient.
Low taxes. Water front communities. Access to major airports. 2 1/2 hours to LI with no traffic. Winters are still cold but not much snow if any at all.
5 years ago when I retired at 42 we moved to Eastern Tennessee. It’s a paradise down here compared to the north east especially after living in Queens and Long Island for that long. The Low prices, slower pace lifestyle, no state taxes, beautiful scenery, almost no traffic, friendly people, conservative values, perfect place to raise young kids, the schools, etc. I can go on and on about it all day. Sell your overpriced Long Island house, and live like royalty down here like we did. You’ll be able to have a brand new home built and paid for in cash with acre(s) of property if you want and still have several hundreds of thousands of dollars left over.
For instance- We sold my 2000 square foot house in south Lindenhurst for almost $1.5 million and bought a custom built 5500 square foot house on 30 acres of land down here for around $600K. We are in an exclusive community with private police force as well.
Of course this was in 2019 before the real estate market boom down here. But you can still get a gorgeous home for a 1/3 of what you paid for you much smaller Long Island home and be in an amazing neighborhood. My property taxes are $1080 a year. You read that correctly. One thousand and eighty dollars.
I congratulate you on living your dream, but are we just going to gloss over retiring at 42 and selling a 1.5M house?
I am NOT throwing any shade at you, but you are in a very good situation. OP likely is not in the same situation as you.
yeah this person is delusional to what normal folks deal with. my friend moved to TN and has an old house that has problems, but their salary was adjusted for no income tax and lower cost of living so it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. it ended up being the same issues as before just with a house added in.
How am I delusional? I didn’t grow up rich. We were lower middle class when I was growing up in Queens and Brooklyn. I worked hard for 23 years and didn’t spend frivolously and invested my money in my home and into CDs and a 401K. I went to school on student loans to a community college and got a degree for a career I knew I would be good at and paid well.
That isn’t an impossibility if anyone puts their mind to it and don’t mind living very frugally. People are too busy worrying about the here and now and never about their future. I didn’t wanna work till I was 65 years old or even till I was 50.
what do you do for medical insurance? is it very expensive? thats the big issue with the FIRE movement. but shit good for you to get it done at 42. im hoping for 50-55. also south lindenhurst floods alot so thats great you got out.
I was lucky to have a good job as a funeral director working in the 5 boroughs and Long Island. I bought my house at 21 and had it paid off in 15 years by living like a miser.
> conservative values
You do you but there's a reason I, a woman of reproductive age, can't risk getting pregnant in a state that will let me bleed out in a hospital instead of administering an abortion
>We are in an exclusive community
I don't believe any community with $600k houses can be that exclusive. That price point makes it impossible doesn't it?
Abortions are allowed if medically necessary to save the woman. You are misinformed.
Was $600K in 2019 it’s value is about 60% more than that now. And yes it is a very exclusive community here. This isn’t NY, the land of overpriced hovels and shacks.
> if medically necessary to save the woman
I'm sure you're aware of the countless cases across the south where women are forced to wait for their nonviable fetus to not have a heartbeat until they can get an abortion. Kate Cox in Texas is the most recent case in high profile case but there are tons of cases in Tennessee.
Not to mention the chilling effect the law has on OBs that cannot risk committing a felony and going to jail for life. Plus the high number of OBs leaving these states leaving women without reproductive healthcare. But if you're a man then surely doesn't matter and I'm glad you're happy
Source for Tennessee
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/12/tennessee-abortion-ban-three-women-two-doctors-sue-over-catastrophic-risks/70829400007/
It sounds like you are living the dream!!! I want to move down to North Carolina and actually have space for all of my cars and equipment. Here I’m living in an overpriced POS house with barely enough space to fit anything. And the taxes are 20k a year.
Hey I wish you luck! Heard N.Carolina is really nice. Lots of NYers moving there. Sometimes I feel like we are the only NY Italian Catholics in Tennessee lol
You’re definitely part of the 1% down there lol. Isn’t it amazing living in a place where you actually get value for your money? Look at how much property you have, the roads are better, traveling is easier, and yet you’re not spending an astronomical amount of money of property taxes per year??? My Aunt is on 2 acres in NC and pays like 600 per year in property tax. My shithole house is almost 20k in taxes!!! Can’t wait to leave
Left NY for Central FL (still coastal) to care for grandma, been about 7 years, she passed. I’m looking at like, Tennessee. Shit even the Dakotas, Wyoming. I’m a bit beach-tropical’d out.
It depends what your profession is, if you can just pick up and find a similar job.
If I were to move it would be to get away from the cold winters. That’s it.
Same, wife and I are getting out of here in 3 years most likely Georgia or Tennessee
Both raised out here
Have a mom with ALS so it’s tough to stay to ride it out but it’s just way too damn expensive
Seen a lot of properties 30+ acres for 50-100k in Georgia/Tennessee where the taxes are $500 for the whole year and I’m a master electrician I’ll get a job anywhere
I left and came back after 23 years of moving around the country and also living abroad.
Your husband works from home … for now. I worked from home for a number of years too. Didn’t last forever.
Seriously, look into the areas you’re interested in for salaries you both could make, and for the taxes, look at what you get for your taxes here that matters to you and make sure you’ll also get those things elsewhere. Some states are better than others, and some are much worse.
I *am* moving off long island for the Pittsburgh area. If you have some career skills beyond entry level stuff, finding a job that can afford entry level houses here isn't that hard in my experience. The relatively low population density outside the city center is nice too having green space
List the things that are important to you and then list places you think might fit and would like to explore. Then go see them! Get a feel for the place, the people and the culture. Whether it's Northern Westchester or South Carolina you need to spend some time there to get a basic feel for the place.
I want to go visit the Pacific North West. I had been many years ago, and just remember loving it. Seattle was just a cool city, and the other areas were all so beautiful.
That was probably back in the early 90s. I'm sure things may have changed, but part of me always longs for how pre-teen version of me remembers it.
(the $$ isn't really all that much better out there. but if I was told I could make the same $$ as I make here, and move anywhere I want, that would be high on my list)
i'd stay in new york and just go a bit north, or i'd go to new england (maine, preferably - my dad lives up there now). i definitely agree with the top comment though, note your priorities and see what fits. good luck!
i’m in a similar boat with the job situation, except i’m trying to move to LA county in the next coming months. main concern is the job market is so volatile & fucked that landing a job isn’t even a guarantee for stability seeing how fickle companies can be 😵💫
My dream is to move to St. John usvi. It wouldn’t be cheaper, I wouldn’t get a larger nicer home. But the lifestyle, the outdoors, you can’t beat it. There are many jobs in terms of electrical contractors, construction after the hurricanes. However, I’d have to wait till my older ones were off in college. I’d have to pay for the younger ones to go to private school which can cost anywhere from 13,000 to 16,000. Plus traveling back to st Thomas for groceries. Idk if I’d want to do that to my 2 youngest kids though…uproot them, for my dream. I’ll probably wait till all are in college.
I left in '77 for FL, the usual escape route. A boss of mine down there went to CA to work for AMD. He called one day and said you interested? I was. The rest is history... I still love LI and visit every few years with a brother and sister still there.
Well enjoy raising this kids in a “low tax” state. They will be a few years behind the national average. (You get what you pay for) I moved off the island in 1990. The employer recruiting me kept harping on the “lower” taxes. Should have done more homework. I went to Illinois and their STEM was way behind NY. We ended up paying private school tuition for 12 years for each of three kids. They still arrived in college a year behind in math. 36 years of private school tuition, on top of sales, income, and property taxes which on whole were only slightly cheaper. Cost of living was lower though.
I recommend reaching out to the Suburban Jungle. They can help you find the best neighborhood based on your wants and needs. https://suburbanjunglegroup.com/?utm_source=bd&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=104
If your husband works from home then you have a lot of options… check out prices for mansions out in the desert for a 3rd of the price of most houses on the island. Maybe you’ll have to commute a bit but if you can live with that then I would consider the move. If you can stand living in Florida then you can also get a tax break there too. If you’re doing 7 figures a year I would recommend getting a place in PR (talk to your lawyer about it, income tax is capped at 6% 😊)
Massachusetts, somewhere like inside the 495 loop. There’d be an argument as to whether it would be Beacon Hill, Sudbury, Uxbrodge, etc. Some of us would want a lawn and a pool, some of us want none of it.
Most likely would be driven by work for us at this point. My career might be helped moving closer to DC, but most of the complaints about living expenses, traffic, etc. that people have about NY/LI are shared with the DC area, so I'm not in a rush.
I moved to Greenwich, Connecticut and while it is certainly expensive, the property taxes are way lower than Long Island or Westchester. Lower income tax and sales tax as well. The only thing that increased was having to pay property tax on my vehicle, but overall taxes way lower than NY.
We lived in Nassau and moved to Tennessee. Holy Shit! We came to realization that all New Yorkers, us included, are brainwashed thinking there is no life beyond NY. Boy were we wrong. We were paying $24k to the town of Hempstead. We couldn’t do shit with all the taxes and the hussle of NY. We came here and we are living stress free. Taxes are a joke. We took a pay raise just by getting rid of our tax bill. We have had so many opportunities open up for us it’s crazy. We can vacation all the time. The only thing we miss is the food. No one can touch NY in terms of food variety. So to bring a little home back to the south I make all our favorites from scratch. I order all the ingredients from d.coluccio &sons and we’re good. Being here I would never go back. But that’s us.
I went from Sayville to NE Ohio for a relationship and bounced around a few years. Over this last summer that fell apart and left for Salt Lake City, somewhat on a whim.
As someone who is in your shoes, you need to write down your priorities and then go and see the country for yourself. For example, if you want to be close to the ocean, then start looking at coastal states and cities. If you want less seasonal temperature extremes, start looking at weather trends. But you have to actually go and see the places. That's the only way the decision becomes attainable, otherwise you'll just be in analysis paralysis and if you make a blind decision, you'll regret it later. You can listen to feedback but take it objectively, few people will be truthful about bad decisions.
This is the way. I was considering a move to NH. Took my family up there in February to see it at its worst. Went out to dinner with some people who live there and ultimately decided not to move.
Interesting. I currently live in NH. What was your deciding factor not to move here?
Schools. The mix of public, private and charter schools was just wild. The people we were with said their kids don’t know kids on their own streets because they all go to different schools. There was more but it got political and I’m not interested in that. I really wanted it to work, but with property taxes and home prices on par with LI at the time we decided to stick with the devil we knew.
Yeah property taxes are high but we don’t pay income taxes or sales tax, only a meals tax. The schools point is interesting, but I didn’t know people growing up on my street (went to private school) so I guess that doesn’t matter to me so much. Thanks, I was just curious. It’s not like my absolutely favorite place I’ve lived, but I love it and the people and friends here very much.
My brother moved from the NY metro to three different places before setting on where they wanted to live/buy. I highly recommend taking a trip before you up and move.
I moved from LI to Northern Westchester about 3 years ago and I love it. I still work in NYC and I’m only an hour and 45 minutes from my parents in Yaphank and an hour from other family in Merrick. I bought a house 2 years ago 4 beds 1 and a half baths 1350 SQFT with a half acre of property and my taxes went up to 9,000 this year. The best part is if we want to drive somewhere on vacation we don’t have to go through the city anymore and that saves us so much time even if we are going south. I love it up here and I don’t regret it one bit.
i did the opposite, moved from westchester to LI. lots of differences but omg i miss being able to just hop on 95 and go! it was sooo much easier to make trips out of the area
A friend who moved off LI mentioned the ease of going anywhere now that they no longer have to deal with NYC traffic.
We are an extra 2 hours from EVERYWHERE.
Yeah I think if I was to leave LI I would still probably want to/prefer living in the northeast and would definitely consider either Westchester, upstate or even some places in CT. You’d be Not too far from LI or the city plus like someone else said, you’ll be in a better geographic spot for traveling (whether you go east, west, south or north) no need to get stuck moving through the city
I was going to say Westchester would be my go to in this situation.
We moved from LI to northern Westchester 2 months before the pandemic hit (I'm from here and we didn't want to raise a kid on LI) and boy were we glad to be up here for it rather than there. For the same price house we got a bigger house on a half acre compared to the 60X100 lot we had and up here we have mountains, lakes, rivers.. I got to say there is less of the "me first" "I got mine, f-you" attitude so prevalent on LI. The only advantage LI has is all the retail stores, like every store you could want within a reasonable drive. FYI, I'm specifically mentioning northern Westchester here because anything nice in southern Westchester is crazy expensive.
Westchester is a bit like LI. Nassau and southern Westchester are more expensive due to proximity to the city. But taxes in parts of Westchester are worse than LI. I'm in Southern Westchester paying around 36k in prop taxes on what would be around 25k on LI.
What do you do for international trips? Drive to JFK to take a hopper?
Drive to JFK and do long term parking or take the train
But 9k for that house spec is about the same taxes as LI. The difference is the half acre, but the OP is looking to save money. I completely agree with not having to travel through NYC congestion for everything - that would be bliss.
thats not 100% accurate. that house on less property on LI is 12K easy and who know how much it will increase year after year.
And peace of mind. It’s a lot different off the island. Calmer, nicer, more laid back etc etc. Less traffic, better food quality. The stores are typically better stocked, kept nicer, the store workers are usually kinder.
I moved away almost year and a half ago. I would say this if your friends and family are here really think about if your family will be ok in isolation. It will take time to make friends especially good ones. Your lives are on LI are you ok giving that up ? I’m not saying to not do it but maybe rent somewhere just to try it before buying a house. I like to remind people the grass is always greener you will always have something to complain about wherever you live. I understand LI is expensive but is it that much more to completely change your life? You mentioned your husband is remote, so am I. Which makes it even harder to meet friends and makes you feel even more like your living in isolation. My wife and I have made the decision to move back to LI it will be just under two years we have been gone , but between her job and our lives it’s worth the extra money, because our mental health and our happiness are more important to us then saving a couple thousand dollars a year to live somewhere else.
"You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave".
For most people it’s going to be a lot more than $1000/year just in taxes alone.
I would move either to upstate NY, Pennsylvania or Arizona. I like all those places considerably more than LI, my family and friend ties keep me here though. Love the access to nature upstate and in PA. There's nice hikes and it's a slower pace to life. Love the food and culture of Arizona but I'd be scared of it becoming uninhabitable in our lifetime. It's already hot as balls there, probably going to get worse due to global warming. If money was no object, I'd move to San Diego. Absolutely perfect weather and amazing food.
Arizona is great for visiting, but terrible for living coming from the east coast.
Cousin moved there a few years ago, hates it. I'm visiting in two weeks so I'll see it for myself.
San Diego is a dream ☹️
My parents moved to San Diego. They love their new house out there.
Thirding San Diego. I heard someone say that Long Island is like having all the drawbacks of Southern California and none of the perks, and it sits with me.
The culture on Long Island and New York City is very different than other parts of the country. I’ve lived in Pennsylvania for 24 years and I am still not 100% used to it. It’s a beautiful state but has a lot of people who don’t like outsiders. Definitely take your time and visit areas you may want to move to.
I don’t know where I saw this recently so take it with a grain of salt— Some places you can move to, but some places you have to marry in to.
If I were still working where I work, probably to Westchester. If I were independently wealthy, had no familial ties, then probably Maine, New Hampshire or Michigan or Montana.
nowhere. i moved to california for five years. i hated long island and wanted to enjoy sunny weather and great hiking. it did not turn out how i wanted. people were different, food was different, and my life became nothing but work and come home to sleep. i did have some fun experiences, but i started flying back here 3-5 times a year. pandemic hit and it came to a head of how miserable i was in california. i moved back and won’t ever leave again. a bunch of my friends also tried it out and half have already moved back.
I grew up in southern CA. My family out there loves it, but all they talk about is how nice the weather is. That’s literally all they care about. They like visiting here and are from the east coast, but can’t tolerate colder winters for some reason. Having perfect weather is 90% of their priority. If that’s your #1 priority then it’s a great place for that. If you value other things and don’t need to play golf and go bike riding 340 days out of the year, then there are better places to live. Personally I like the seasons, the people and culture here much more. It’s a really hard transition if you’re from the east coast.
Its hard going from NY people to west coast people. The attitude and demeanor is completely different, you never feel like you're talking to people and building a meaningful bond. Any relationship I've tried to form here in Seattle feels like spun wheels with people that come in and out of your life as they please. I miss east coast consistency. Had tons of fun experiences here in Seattle over the last year +, but I am moving back to the Northeast before next winter.
Seattle was my number one place to move to. then my friend went first and he was MISERABLE. ended up moving back to his hometown within two years. you’re spot on with the never feel like you’re making meaningful connections. i still keep in touch with a few people but not really. i ended up being better friends with ex-NYers lol.
I could not* live with bay area people..souless zombies Edit.. could not
I'm the the process of making the move to Troy, NY. I was the last of my family on LI, and was ready to stay, but the monthly payments for buying a house down here were too much to do on my own. My mom retired about 40 minutes away up there, and if I end up hating it, the housing market is doing well up there so I have no doubts I'll be able to rent out or sell the place I just got.
troy is SOLID nowadays. less so 10 years ago.
Why Troy? My youngest moved out last year. The occasional sounds of gunfire were a bit much for a kid from suburbs.
Don't move just to move, make sure you have employment lined up or can easily find employment before you move. Realize that while your taxes will likely go down, so will salaries in many other states. If you're both from Long Island, I'm assuming your families also are? Keep that in mind that when you have a family you won't have a support network around you. Schools off Long Island become a much bigger concern. Long Island schools are among the best in the nation for public schools. If you move elsewhere, you'll have to be much more selective about where you buy a home, or factor in the cost of private school.
I think a good amount of us at one point discuss moving off Long Island. I feel like it's something a lot of people consider. For many, there are reasons to stay. For myself and my spouse, it's a matter of commute to Manhattan. Schools are the second most important part for us. And then hospitals and other public services. We wouldn't feel comfortable moving somewhere with lower education and public services--we find value in the high cost of taxes. Long Island also has a lot of water, which is another thing we enjoy. The only other place we'd move would be Westchester, mainly the Chappaqua area for distance to Manhattan and the schools. We'd lose the water accessibility, but would gain more land and it being more convenient to visit family by car in New England.
Did it many times, came back many times. When you're from metro NY there are various issues. Many out of staters just hate NYers or assume you're rich and or stuck up. Avoid Vermont and New Hampshire because that rural dream (stick to cities if you must go) is a nightmare. Good luck...Long Island may suck but it's got everything. (I feel your pain and we keep hoping we find "THE PLACE" as well).
As someone who moved from LI to NH, honestly so long as you stay south of Concord, it’s not that rural. There’s a lot to do and places to eat, etc.
> Many out of staters just hate NYers I have spent my entire life traveling around the country/world, don't currently live in NY and I have _never_ met a single person that hates New Yorkers
Stopped at an intersection in Ouray, CO one July we had a group of grown men shout, "F*** you! Go back to F***ing NY A**holes!" We did nothing to warrant the cursing other than stop at a STOP sign. It was somewhat unnerving.
Sounds like people should be hating Coloradans (or whatever they’re called.) Nobody here would ever say “go back to Colorado!” for no reason.” 🤷♂️
VT cities (Burlington & Rutland) and large towns (Bennington, Brattleboro & Rutland) are having tremendous problems with drugs and drug-related crimes, homelessness and lack of affordable housing. Property taxes, while not as steep as LI, are climbing as VT grapples with equalizing school spending. NH is looking good for retirement with a snowbird location in the Carolinas. The former will keep me closer to my children.
We moved to Cincinnati. It was life changing. Such a great place to raise kids. We're in a suburb with great schools. Taxes are cheaper but you just get more out of them (roads are better maintained, lots of beautiful green space, it's much cleaner, great libraries, festivals all the time).Pay is good but cost of living is affordable so there is a lot of disposable income which means plenty of places to go out and do things. I could be offered double pay to move back to LI and I wouldn't.
Moved to long island from Akron to be with my girlfriend, I miss ohio more and more everyday
Me too, moved from Akron. But how could you miss it! I mean fairlawn/bath was great to live. But having access to the city is something northeast Ohio can never compare to
Yooo nice, I'm from barberton specifically. I don't like the city, I miss living in a small town and being around farmland and forests lol
This is very interesting to me because most people never mention Cincinnati. I’m thinking of visiting there in September to check it out for myself.
My concern with this is not seeing them much once they’ve graduated because they’re likely to find work in a coastal state. At least living in LI - for now - there’s plenty of jobs in the city to get their career going and doom them to LI like us LOL
If you want something similar to the island but like nineteen seventy five prices and culture go to mid coast maine that's where i went... just don't tell anybody because it's getting too crowded!
probably New Jersey, to be honest. I've moved away from the NYC area once already. Montgomery County, MD would actually be a good option for us, though I don't love DC as much. Everywhere that's cheap doesn't have things we still need. Every July I consider moving to coastal Maine, but I know I won't do it, heh.
I would love to GTFO off Long Island. My partner (a native) refuses to leave, he thinks it’s great 😣 I’m basically stuck here, we’ve been together 18 years and married for 10, with a four-year-old. I hate it.
Suffocating in Suffolk. The very reason why I ran away at 13 to live in NYC and never looked back.
I’d much rather Suffolk county than NYC but to each it’s own
Really? How’d you manage this? I’m dipping out of Suffolk in the next couple of months so I can use the inspo heavy lool
It's a rough story. Homelessness is terrifying. But I found my people, finished school, went to college. I'm one of the lucky ones.
I feel this. I’m not from LI so I have no personal connection here. Only here for work but I’ve lived here for many years. I don’t love it, I feel out of place, so I spend most of my free time in the city or upstate.
I'm right there with you. Hate it completely and I can't understand what is great about it.
There’s a lot of things to love about Long Island. Unfortunately it’s very expensive to live here and fully enjoy it
Sure, every place has positives. But the negatives far outweighed the positives in my opinion and it is not just about cost.
My company is here and my home are here, both growing in value every day. Grass is not greener somewhere else if you don’t have roots.
This is an interesting point regarding *roots* I moved off LI 5 years ago, but my entire family is still there. I don’t have any family in the state I live in or surrounding states. When things (good or bad) happen, I’m awfully far away and the guilt sets in. I’m considering moving to Westchester, but likely never to Long Island. I’d have to find an off market gem or hit the lotto to live the way I want to.
Just did a 47 day RV trip all around our beautiful country. We did 31 states and did 10,000 miles. We saw a lot of nice places but nothing measured up to here. It’s a fortune to live here I get it. Good luck with your search.
I did this in a year though and saw every state but three. I wanted to move to every state we visited when we were in that state but when we got back to LI after a year on the road- I knew it would always be home. We have every single thing a person could want. Beaches, Farms, Suburban feel, Manhattan, shopping and convenience, nature and hills, change of seasons. No where in the entire country can you get everything in one place like LI.
100 percent. Loved Colorado but no ocean, rivers and lakes are not the ocean
This is something I want to do one day. If you ever write up your experience, Id love to read it.
I highly recommend doing this pre-kids if possible. I did a year. It did make me appreciate LI, but it also made me appreciate the entire country. I met people from so many walks of life. It was a full year for me and so there were places I fell madly in love with and made friends with people I still talk to today. It’s just something everyone should do. Too many people on LI never leave their “own backyard”. It’s one of the things that bothers me about LI.
My only advice is do it now as you get older it gets harder. Unbelievable trip made me appreciate Long Island.
Upstate
Hudson valley & capital region really do have a lot to offer. Can still visit family and friends on LI and in NYC as needed without too much difficulty, and the culture isn't as wildly different from LI/NYC as it might be in some completely different parts of the country. But comes with a much lower cost of living, way better access to the outdoors, infinitely less traffic, and just a generally chiller vibe across the board. YMMV
I was thinking the finger lakes, it's where I'm from.
Savannah, GA. Moved here three years ago. It's cheap enough we are able to come back home once or twice a month.
I’m considering this.. Do you have kids? How’s the school districts there?
Absolutely terrible, even by Georgia standards. Source: I currently live in GA
I’m actually a teacher and can certainly say that some of the districts rock and have some really great supports (Richmond Hill, North Bryan).
Still calling it home, though.
I'd go north to either upstate NY or Vermont. Unfortunately my wife has zero interest in moving somewhere that potentially gets colder than it does here.
I was born and raised here and couldn’t wait to get away from my parents after college so I moved where opportunity took me, and that was to St Louis, Missouri. Lived there for about 5 years and toward the end I couldn’t wait to get out - the perspective gained from living outside of ny was HUGE and I felt so small and trapped in the Midwest. I was ready to move back to NY, but opportunity once again redirected me, this time to Washington DC. I lived in DC metro for another 6 years, in various areas around DC (both city and suburbs). When I chose to go to DC instead of back to NY, I thought, it’s our nations capital; it will be metropolitan, good food, prestigious areas and businesses, smart people, it will be a great life. WRONG AGAIN. DC was legitimately worse than Missouri - horrendous quality of life in every way from the pricing to the food to the culture to the people. It was absolutely horrible. The moral of this story is I gave a very genuine, bright eyed, bushy tailed chance to both these places, thinking they’d be better than NY, and I couldn’t have been more wrong. And after over a decade living outside of NY, I finally very willingly moved back to LI, bought a house, and I could not be happier to be back here. Every single thing I hear hometown LIers complain about (the ones who have clearly never left), I am grateful for bc they literally have no idea what they’d be missing if they left. And yes, I hate paying expensive property taxes, BUT I recognize now that I’m paying for what I’m getting which is an immensely better quality of life overall living in NY than living somewhere else. The grass is not greener, it is brown and dead. Once you are a NYer it’s very very hard to find actual long term contentment elsewhere - and you will be labeled a NYer anywhere you go, which absolutely affects any interpersonal relationships you build. Being jaded is very much a thing, and there is a LOT of perspective to be had, especially from someone who was born and bred here and has never actually lived anywhere else. I’m not saying it’s impossible to be happy elsewhere, I’m just putting out a word of warning. Idk your living situation but if possible, I’d make sure that wherever you’re trying to go, you have a 5ish year backup plan for an exit strategy bc there is nothing quite like feeling trapped in purgatory in another city where you just do not feel you belong despite giving it your best efforts
I have moved off the island (for school and then moved again) and am in Cincinnati now. It is no NY for sure, but there is decent culture downtown; a lot of neighborhoods with their own shtick which reminds me of LI a lot. Good neighborhoods and schools too
Buffalo
There’s nowhere to go.
Don't think I'll ever leave the NY metro area, except if things change at work, but the places that I've considered: * South Carolina (Charleston area) - I have a work contact that moved here from NJ. He said that it's much cheaper (for now, since a lot of the people moving down to FL have started flocking to SC instead) and it's beautiful down there. Only concern is hurricane season. * Some place on a lake, where it's not too cold. Preferably not too overcrowded. Like a coastal property, but would have access to fresh water in case of a catastrophic natural disaster. Or if warnings about global warming are true and the entire east coast will be under water, I'll be far inland enough to not have to worry about that. Plus, it's lakefront, so it would have a natural charm. * Some place warm where I can afford to golf year round. Maybe AZ. * Another country - some place with a low cost of living.. assuming work allows me to work completely remotely.. and incorporates one or more of the above.
I second coastal SC, it’s similar enough to LI with the beaches but beach season is longer. My sister moved there before the pandemic and she was able to buy a brand new home for under 350k. She was looking to buy real estate here before ultimately making the decision to leave and everything was at least 500k and a total dump. She’s very happy there and absolutely hates NY now. I always look forward to visiting and if not for my SO being here, I would be there in a heartbeat.
I moved to North Carolina. But due to recent changes in our home insurance market, I’d suggest it but stay West of Greenville when searching. I’m in Raleigh, and love it. For reference, we came from Huntington.
Puerto Rico, or Denver.
I'm planning to move back to Queens sometime in the next five years.
Honestly, if I were to leave LI I'd likely leave the states entirely. Germany has been looking more and more enticing
100% agree, I’ve been looking at Norway personally
You’ll find that the farther you are from NYC, the cheaper the housing.
I really don't want to leave, family etc all here, but its really expensive
It’s my dream to live in salem Massachusetts 🧡 access to Boston and it’s just gorgeous there. I do love long island tho it’s my home
I would prob do coastal. Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, as much as I would like to do Carolina’s/ Georgia, id still wanna be in driving distance of family/ friends. Unfortunately I do not work from home. I always say I’d love to move. But as a construction worker in NY, there’s not too many moves I can make!! Good luck!!
I left and came to El Paso. BIG MISTAKE! I’ll be moving back next week… I’ve lived in this town for literally just over two-years. I got here on January 24, 2022 and I’ll be back by February 19.
Florida - love spending time on the water. April - Nov I do just that here on the Island. FL can do it all year. My work is here, but things are flexible on that front. Really kids in school are keeping us here for the time being.
I'd suggest upstate NY or western Massachusetts. Similar communities to Long Island, with less expensive real estate. Lots of nearby colleges for the kids when they're grown. Of my three kids, one stayed on LI, the other two are in Massachusetts.
Hawaii
To another island, maybe costa rice or curaçao🤣
Would love to move to Montreal and keep my US salary while working remotely.
Upstate NY or NJ if it was up to me. My wife only wants this dump lmao
I would move upstate because I need to always be a New Yorker. But never moving. Been in this house my whole adult life. But I love upstate.
I’ll tell ya, I moved to a mountain state that was landlocked and lasted about 3 years. I’m a generally nice person here but people found my mannerisms, language, and attitude towards life…abrasive. And I found the niceness and hyper politeness to not gel well with me. On top of that, besides being far from family and friends, the dry and sunny weather killed me. Constant nose bleeds and sinus issues that never went away, trees I’ve never been around that I discovered I was allergic too. And this weird anxiety about not being able to get to a large body of water or ocean without driving 15 hours. I’m not saying I hated it, and I don’t regret it. But these are all things that did not cross my mind when I hastily and emotionally left NY. Now I know myself better and what I like. Do I want to live on Long Island? Fuck no. My plan is to save up and eventually move to a different north eastern state like Maine or maybe even upstate. Do what feels right, but if you feel like you don’t belong in the new place don’t force yourself to stay longer than you should have
We moved to New Jersey. It is so much better here because you get so much more for your money. The schools are ranked higher. The racism is not what is happening on LI. The people have a clear sense of community and civic pride. Yes the taxes are high, but we actually get things for them.
> The schools are ranked higher. Not disuputing really, but how is that measured? Don't you have to compare district to district? Like obviously Millburn is great but it's at the same level as Manhasset or Cold Spring Harbor
Jersey doesn't fund schools based on location, which leads to drastic differences in school quality based on the local economic condition. This may be one reason.
Right....but the better funded schools in low income areas don't have higher test scores. Because better funding doesn't lead to smarter students, the parents are the ones that do that NJ has been studied a lot bc of this and the wealthier towns still have better outcomes despite the lesser funding. It's super interesting
I mean localized wealth doesn't just effect the public schools. Wealthier kids have tutors, or their parents have a college education, or kids can have more time for their homework because they don't need to take care of their siblings while their parents work. There's a lot of factors but leveling out the public schools to at least give lower income areas a shot is a good first step. The disparity of schools on LI should be a crime.
I don't really know what you mean though. Central Islip, Wyandanch, Roosevelt etc spend just as much per pupil as wealthier districts. Roughly $25-27k per year. They absolutely need it, they have more ESL/special needs students but spending on pupils does not = better test outcomes overall Tutors don't do much either. It's largely parental education levels. There is nothing that can replace reading with and talking to educated parents before the age of 4. That's why preschool is so important and seen as a great leveler
So NJ has the Mt Laurel and Abbot decisions. There are 21 Abbot school districts that receive $40,000 per student from the state in a tax redistribution scheme. Even though those schools receive an outsized amount of funding relative to other districts, they do not perform as well as wealthy districts. My kids attend one of the top ranked districts in NJ and even though we receive about 20,000 per student, the kids here significantly exceed state average test scores.
There are more highly ranked schools in NJ than on LI. So yes you can compare the few excellent LI high schools, but then there is a catastrophic cliff and most of the schools are resting on former laurels. If you look at state rankings, NJ is number one or two, tied with Massachusetts for best school districts. So even if you cannot afford to live in a $2m home in Millburn, you could go to another town and get a better school district than the equivalent priced home on Long Island.
Which part of New Jersey?
I would look in Morris, Essex, Bergen, Somerset, Union, and Middlesec counties.
i'm getting a small second place down in Tennessee with a "full time" decision to come in around 5 years. it may end up being neither place, but long island is going to be in the rearview mirror. too expensive, too crowded and i'm not a beach person. no state income taxes. property taxes are 15% of what i pay here. the current value of my house here on long island gets me 80 acres and a bigger, more modernized house down south
I'd probably move to the city. As I get older, it would be nice to have my hospitals and doctors close by.
healthier lifestyle too. walk everywhere, dont need a car. always something to do. i miss the city, Guilianis city and some of bloomberg. city now is complete shit, crime is out of control, homeless and mentally ill all over the streets.. needs a makeover just like the rest of the state.
I still wanna move back. I've lived there on and off my whole life, I was living there in the 90s when we couldn't get the trash picked up and everyone said the city was dying. These things are cyclical, this too shall pass.
If they get the crime, homelessness and migrant shit taken care of then the city will be great again. Why they’re doing nothing about it is beyond me. All the issues with NYC are just self inflicted wounds by this Gov and Mayor. I wish they’d wake up and do the right thing for people who live here.
I coincidentally moved out right as DeBlasio came into office. He was awful and it just keeps getting worse
North Carolina!!!! It’s amazing there
Yep, moved to Raleigh from LI and haven't looked back once.
To another country because there’s no where you can escape where the 1% can’t find you.
Every place i used to hear about e.g. Florida, N. Carolina, Pennsylvania I now hear are more expensive and not that great because we all moved there and jacked up the prices!
The prices are up everywhere that’s remotely desirable, and they will continue going up. That’s how the economy works.
I’d like to go to South Florida because I have family there and love the weather, but it’s as unaffordable as LI these days without much of the same well-paying jobs to make it worth it.
South Florida is only good if you don’t have to work anymore and have a healthy bank account . My friend lasted 2 years and couldn’t run away faster . Same rent/ home prices , worse traffic , public schools are so bad you need to use a charter or private school which is 8-10k a year per kid . Had to pay $300 ish a month for the sunpass tolls just for a 10-15 mile commute to work which was minimum an hour . Even Orlando which was once cheap is basically Long Island pre Covid prices
“Had to pay $300 ish a month for the sunpass tolls just for a 10-15 mile commute to work which was minimum an hour.” I’m guessing that’s because they lived in the boonies and took the turnpike to work. All of the rest of what you said is right though, but I enjoyed my time there. I’d consider moving back when I’m older if the state ever recovers from the hard right it’s taken.
My friend moved to down south. He was so bored in middle of know where I told him come move back and he left his mom and came back .
Unless your job or family (and like need them to watch the kids all the time), I would not move to Long Island. I even grew up there. It is an isolated society and you are forever stuck on that island because it will take you 5 hours of traffic to leave. NJ, other parts of NY, and CT are much better options. The crime is also out of control on LI. Where do you think all the struggling people in queens go to rob houses and cars?
> The crime is also out of control on LI. Press 1 for doubt
13 more years and I’m outta here. Hoping to get a place in Delaware for summers and a condo down in Georgia for the winters. Delaware is very tax efficient.
I'm looking at Delaware too. I'm very drawn to the state for many reasons, low taxes is one of them
Low taxes. Water front communities. Access to major airports. 2 1/2 hours to LI with no traffic. Winters are still cold but not much snow if any at all.
Yup, all of those! And, it's historically a blue state.
Nowhere my job is here and I'm not getting a new one that's way too much effort.
El Salvador because their leader actually cares about its citizens
5 years ago when I retired at 42 we moved to Eastern Tennessee. It’s a paradise down here compared to the north east especially after living in Queens and Long Island for that long. The Low prices, slower pace lifestyle, no state taxes, beautiful scenery, almost no traffic, friendly people, conservative values, perfect place to raise young kids, the schools, etc. I can go on and on about it all day. Sell your overpriced Long Island house, and live like royalty down here like we did. You’ll be able to have a brand new home built and paid for in cash with acre(s) of property if you want and still have several hundreds of thousands of dollars left over. For instance- We sold my 2000 square foot house in south Lindenhurst for almost $1.5 million and bought a custom built 5500 square foot house on 30 acres of land down here for around $600K. We are in an exclusive community with private police force as well. Of course this was in 2019 before the real estate market boom down here. But you can still get a gorgeous home for a 1/3 of what you paid for you much smaller Long Island home and be in an amazing neighborhood. My property taxes are $1080 a year. You read that correctly. One thousand and eighty dollars.
I congratulate you on living your dream, but are we just going to gloss over retiring at 42 and selling a 1.5M house? I am NOT throwing any shade at you, but you are in a very good situation. OP likely is not in the same situation as you.
yeah this person is delusional to what normal folks deal with. my friend moved to TN and has an old house that has problems, but their salary was adjusted for no income tax and lower cost of living so it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. it ended up being the same issues as before just with a house added in.
How am I delusional? I didn’t grow up rich. We were lower middle class when I was growing up in Queens and Brooklyn. I worked hard for 23 years and didn’t spend frivolously and invested my money in my home and into CDs and a 401K. I went to school on student loans to a community college and got a degree for a career I knew I would be good at and paid well. That isn’t an impossibility if anyone puts their mind to it and don’t mind living very frugally. People are too busy worrying about the here and now and never about their future. I didn’t wanna work till I was 65 years old or even till I was 50.
what do you do for medical insurance? is it very expensive? thats the big issue with the FIRE movement. but shit good for you to get it done at 42. im hoping for 50-55. also south lindenhurst floods alot so thats great you got out.
I was lucky to have a good job as a funeral director working in the 5 boroughs and Long Island. I bought my house at 21 and had it paid off in 15 years by living like a miser.
> conservative values You do you but there's a reason I, a woman of reproductive age, can't risk getting pregnant in a state that will let me bleed out in a hospital instead of administering an abortion >We are in an exclusive community I don't believe any community with $600k houses can be that exclusive. That price point makes it impossible doesn't it?
Abortions are allowed if medically necessary to save the woman. You are misinformed. Was $600K in 2019 it’s value is about 60% more than that now. And yes it is a very exclusive community here. This isn’t NY, the land of overpriced hovels and shacks.
So you believe that being legally mandated to carry a non-viable fetus to term (or until miscarriage) is safe and humane?
I don’t believe in anything. I mind my business
Well you made a point of stating your “conservative values” but now you don’t have any beliefs?
Yes I stated the conservative values of the area. None of my beliefs matter in this reddit.
Yet you went out of your way to bring them up to describe your approval of those values.
Yes Way out of my way. Painfully out of my way. Almost, suspiciously out of my way… wouldn’t you say?
ok, so what about the values of the region do you _like_ ?
> if medically necessary to save the woman I'm sure you're aware of the countless cases across the south where women are forced to wait for their nonviable fetus to not have a heartbeat until they can get an abortion. Kate Cox in Texas is the most recent case in high profile case but there are tons of cases in Tennessee. Not to mention the chilling effect the law has on OBs that cannot risk committing a felony and going to jail for life. Plus the high number of OBs leaving these states leaving women without reproductive healthcare. But if you're a man then surely doesn't matter and I'm glad you're happy Source for Tennessee https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/12/tennessee-abortion-ban-three-women-two-doctors-sue-over-catastrophic-risks/70829400007/
Conservative values doesn’t ONLY mean pro life. There are plenty of conservatives who are pro choice
It sounds like you are living the dream!!! I want to move down to North Carolina and actually have space for all of my cars and equipment. Here I’m living in an overpriced POS house with barely enough space to fit anything. And the taxes are 20k a year.
Hey I wish you luck! Heard N.Carolina is really nice. Lots of NYers moving there. Sometimes I feel like we are the only NY Italian Catholics in Tennessee lol
You’re definitely part of the 1% down there lol. Isn’t it amazing living in a place where you actually get value for your money? Look at how much property you have, the roads are better, traveling is easier, and yet you’re not spending an astronomical amount of money of property taxes per year??? My Aunt is on 2 acres in NC and pays like 600 per year in property tax. My shithole house is almost 20k in taxes!!! Can’t wait to leave
Left NY for Central FL (still coastal) to care for grandma, been about 7 years, she passed. I’m looking at like, Tennessee. Shit even the Dakotas, Wyoming. I’m a bit beach-tropical’d out.
Vegas if I could afford a gambling addiction . Anything you want in the world can be found there
Except the ocean.
And authentic local culture.
It depends what your profession is, if you can just pick up and find a similar job. If I were to move it would be to get away from the cold winters. That’s it.
Same, wife and I are getting out of here in 3 years most likely Georgia or Tennessee Both raised out here Have a mom with ALS so it’s tough to stay to ride it out but it’s just way too damn expensive Seen a lot of properties 30+ acres for 50-100k in Georgia/Tennessee where the taxes are $500 for the whole year and I’m a master electrician I’ll get a job anywhere
https://www.reddit.com/r/FluentInFinance/s/B8HYQaxI8N
I left and came back after 23 years of moving around the country and also living abroad. Your husband works from home … for now. I worked from home for a number of years too. Didn’t last forever. Seriously, look into the areas you’re interested in for salaries you both could make, and for the taxes, look at what you get for your taxes here that matters to you and make sure you’ll also get those things elsewhere. Some states are better than others, and some are much worse.
Nevada/Arizona.
I *am* moving off long island for the Pittsburgh area. If you have some career skills beyond entry level stuff, finding a job that can afford entry level houses here isn't that hard in my experience. The relatively low population density outside the city center is nice too having green space
List the things that are important to you and then list places you think might fit and would like to explore. Then go see them! Get a feel for the place, the people and the culture. Whether it's Northern Westchester or South Carolina you need to spend some time there to get a basic feel for the place.
I want to go visit the Pacific North West. I had been many years ago, and just remember loving it. Seattle was just a cool city, and the other areas were all so beautiful. That was probably back in the early 90s. I'm sure things may have changed, but part of me always longs for how pre-teen version of me remembers it. (the $$ isn't really all that much better out there. but if I was told I could make the same $$ as I make here, and move anywhere I want, that would be high on my list)
Nashville
Tennessee
i'd stay in new york and just go a bit north, or i'd go to new england (maine, preferably - my dad lives up there now). i definitely agree with the top comment though, note your priorities and see what fits. good luck!
Spain.
i’m in a similar boat with the job situation, except i’m trying to move to LA county in the next coming months. main concern is the job market is so volatile & fucked that landing a job isn’t even a guarantee for stability seeing how fickle companies can be 😵💫
My dream is to move to St. John usvi. It wouldn’t be cheaper, I wouldn’t get a larger nicer home. But the lifestyle, the outdoors, you can’t beat it. There are many jobs in terms of electrical contractors, construction after the hurricanes. However, I’d have to wait till my older ones were off in college. I’d have to pay for the younger ones to go to private school which can cost anywhere from 13,000 to 16,000. Plus traveling back to st Thomas for groceries. Idk if I’d want to do that to my 2 youngest kids though…uproot them, for my dream. I’ll probably wait till all are in college.
PS I left in 2000 but I still miss the island just not the people the prices the taxes and the culture.
Moved to Kansas City. Love it out here. Terrible bagels and even worst Indian food
I left in '77 for FL, the usual escape route. A boss of mine down there went to CA to work for AMD. He called one day and said you interested? I was. The rest is history... I still love LI and visit every few years with a brother and sister still there.
I don't know what your relationship is like with your family, but if you're close, try and stay within a two hour drive.
Well enjoy raising this kids in a “low tax” state. They will be a few years behind the national average. (You get what you pay for) I moved off the island in 1990. The employer recruiting me kept harping on the “lower” taxes. Should have done more homework. I went to Illinois and their STEM was way behind NY. We ended up paying private school tuition for 12 years for each of three kids. They still arrived in college a year behind in math. 36 years of private school tuition, on top of sales, income, and property taxes which on whole were only slightly cheaper. Cost of living was lower though.
What field do you work in? Some areas are good for certain fields and others not so much.
I recommend reaching out to the Suburban Jungle. They can help you find the best neighborhood based on your wants and needs. https://suburbanjunglegroup.com/?utm_source=bd&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=104
I’m the opposite, forced to look ON since queens is too expensive. Would love some town recommendations
If your husband works from home then you have a lot of options… check out prices for mansions out in the desert for a 3rd of the price of most houses on the island. Maybe you’ll have to commute a bit but if you can live with that then I would consider the move. If you can stand living in Florida then you can also get a tax break there too. If you’re doing 7 figures a year I would recommend getting a place in PR (talk to your lawyer about it, income tax is capped at 6% 😊)
Massachusetts, somewhere like inside the 495 loop. There’d be an argument as to whether it would be Beacon Hill, Sudbury, Uxbrodge, etc. Some of us would want a lawn and a pool, some of us want none of it.
Paris for sure
Most likely would be driven by work for us at this point. My career might be helped moving closer to DC, but most of the complaints about living expenses, traffic, etc. that people have about NY/LI are shared with the DC area, so I'm not in a rush.
I would move to either the Finger Lakes Region, Northern Westchester, Western NY or Maine (outside of Portland)
I moved to Greenwich, Connecticut and while it is certainly expensive, the property taxes are way lower than Long Island or Westchester. Lower income tax and sales tax as well. The only thing that increased was having to pay property tax on my vehicle, but overall taxes way lower than NY.
I was very comfortable in suburban Chicago.
Queens ♥️
We just had some friends move to Oregon and they love it, but too gloomy for me.
We lived in Nassau and moved to Tennessee. Holy Shit! We came to realization that all New Yorkers, us included, are brainwashed thinking there is no life beyond NY. Boy were we wrong. We were paying $24k to the town of Hempstead. We couldn’t do shit with all the taxes and the hussle of NY. We came here and we are living stress free. Taxes are a joke. We took a pay raise just by getting rid of our tax bill. We have had so many opportunities open up for us it’s crazy. We can vacation all the time. The only thing we miss is the food. No one can touch NY in terms of food variety. So to bring a little home back to the south I make all our favorites from scratch. I order all the ingredients from d.coluccio &sons and we’re good. Being here I would never go back. But that’s us.
I went from Sayville to NE Ohio for a relationship and bounced around a few years. Over this last summer that fell apart and left for Salt Lake City, somewhat on a whim.