Currently I am working as contactor and earning $87000 but currently I have a very good job offer which is a direct job in California with offer of $84,000+benefits. I am really exited about this new job but little worried about the cost of living there. The area is around Sanat Barbara,CA. Any advice?
-- Edited by Falcon_7X on Monday 13th of December 2010 10:05:46 PM
Santa Barbara is surrounded by different neighbourhoods, from very espensive to not that expensive, so with such a good salary you'll manage well, to my opinion. Do you have a family? I don't know where you reside currently, but the climate here is like nowhere else:)
The cost of living is very high in CA. The only way to give you an idea if this is good or not is to know what city you're in comparatively. I imagine 84,000 will not go nearly as far as 87,000 elsewhere...
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I like to use a cost of living calculator like this one when considering a move to another state: http://swz.salary.com/costoflivingwizard/layoutscripts/coll_start.asp. Google "cost of living calculator" and try a few as they all seem to take different factors into account. From there, try to come up with an average. I just used the one mentioned above from my previous city to my current city and it said I needed to make about $8000 more here to have the same quality of life. That sounds about right to me.
If that's your only income it might be difficult, but it depends on your lifestyle and how particular you are about your living arrangements. It's an extremely expensive place to live. Do you plan to buy or rent?