You are missing my point, let me clarify. Cost of living indices normally factor in taxes. Looking at just taxes, doesn't address housing costs, property taxes, etc. Looking at taxes only doesn't address the big picture, the actual cost to live in a give area. Make sense? Of course I looked at taxes before moving from CA to CO, I cut my tax bracket in half immediatly because of the flat 4.7 in CO. I also looked at the cost to buy a house, property taxes, and cost of utilities in the winter, etc.
From the Seattle area....on one of the Islands in Puget Sound....and North to the Canadian border. And....it does not rain 8 to 9 months per year....like someone mentioned in a previous post. VSTscalper
When I was a boy we did our vacations at Orcas Island. Puget Sound is one of my favorite places in the world.
Im from Portland OR, and recently relocated to SoCal for climate more to my liking. "The 'Couve" in washington is basically a subburb of Portland and a quick drive over the bridge drops you in the city. Washington has easier income and property taxes than oregon, though sales tax is an issue for some, but lots of people do their shopping in portland proper to save on sales tax. As the boomers in Portland retire, lots of them are buying houses on the washington side to save on taxes, but still be in the area and close to family. I would not want to live in Vancouver itself, as in my opinion it is fairly trashy, but there are some fantastic places on the washington side further east that offer a higher quality of life, and fast access to metropolitan portland if so desired. A lot of these places have been occupied by young retired tech millionaires moving out of seattle and looking for windsurf and sit on their tidy fortune, so any fine dining and high speed internet infrastructure is readily available.
Also, bear in mind the proposed time changes for the exchanges. Trading may soon be starting at 5:30 AM for the west coast.
VST Scalper if I could ask, Is it true that Portland gets more rain than Seattle? I heard that somewhere. Seattle is beautiful, I was there for the summer as a kid, it did drizzle alot in the morning though.
Good point, if I move in the future I want to move east not west for trading reasons. Dominican Republic is EST zone I believe
I lived in Portland for 8 years and agree with most of what you say. People read about Vancouver where you pay no state income tax then get to go buy everything without sales tax in Oregon and think it is a great deal. Well, it is a great deal, but you pay for it by having to live in Vancouver. I think trashy is an excellent description. There is something to be said for some of the Vancouver burbs you mention, but they didn't really strike my fancy. Maybe if you were reeeeally into windsurfing. And alot of those towns are sooo white-picket-fence boring. Maybe if I was raising kids I would want to raise them there, but I'm looking for something a little more "alive" personally. I currently live in the Seattle area, mainly because of family and friends that are here. If I had none of that holding me here, I'd probably try out one of the islands in the Puget Sound. Or Maui. The problem with Maui is that they have an insane quarantine of 2 months or something for pets that come in. I wouldn't subject my poor animals to that. They would never forgive me.