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Deciding on a place to live


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As some of y'all know, I've been at a low point in life recently and I'm making the best effort I can to put everything together. I've been taking residential electrician courses, and those will finish up between February and May of next year. I'm also saving up money to make a long term move.

I am considering:

Trenton, New Jersey

Brown Deer, Wisconsin

Ballwin, Missouri

Clovis, California

Dothan, Alabama

I considered cost of living, crime and work opportunities for an electrician when doing research to choose between these five places. I'm not really leaning in any direction. I'd like any advice y'all can give and for y'all to tell me which of these cities you'd choose and why. Suggestions for other cities are welcome to. :cheers:

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One thing to bear in mind is whether you would like the ability to still visit home easily or not. If you don't want the temptation to do so then the California destination seems substantially better, if you do then...Wisconsin or Missouri? No idea which is actually closer, I think Wisconsin?



Other than that, I know nothing about any of them. Maybe check the online dating scene? :p


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One thing to bear in mind is whether you would like the ability to still visit home easily or not. If you don't want the temptation to do so then the California destination seems substantially better, if you do then...Wisconsin or Missouri? No idea which is actually closer, I think Wisconsin?

Other than that, I know nothing about any of them. Maybe check the online dating scene? :p

haha, thank you. I would not be returning home for a very, very long time. So the ease of getting home doesn't matter to me anymore. I doubt I'd even contact anyone for the first few months, until I became comfortable. And yeah, Wisconsin is a little closer to me but it's not enough of a difference to factor in.
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What? 'Bama is closer to New Orleans and you'll need a nearby vacation destination for any of those places.

In all seriousness, I'll do some homework. You're doing this smart. I made a similar assessment when shopping for grad school. Opportunity plus low cost of living really helped me in my 20's.

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Why not somewhere in say central New Jersey? I puts you between New York and Philadelphia so must be plenty of work opportunities in either place or in between.

That's true, I guess I wanted to limit the cold weather climates but I'll keep on researching and see what I like.

What? 'Bama is closer to New Orleans and you'll need a nearby vacation destination for any of those places.

In all seriousness, I'll do some homework. You're doing this smart. I made a similar assessment when shopping for grad school. Opportunity plus low cost of living really helped me in my 20's.

Oh trust me, New Orleans being accessible is a huge selling point for Dothan. :D if I was willing to bring someone with me when I pull the trigger, NOLA would be the runaway choice. But rent there is ridiculous, as you know. Whatever you find will be appreciated, though.

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O believe me, I know about the freekin rent. Everything here has gotten so expensive. You'd need TWO roomates to even think about competing with the kind of cost of living you're looking at in the other cities.

Keep us iin mind when you're more settled. There's some super nice places to live in the 'burbs or country that are super nice for families and always work for electricians. Water + wiring = work.

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Have you checked out the standard pay rate for an electrician in the areas that you're considering? Or which areas are beginning to build up the most? That can be important for an electrician... new buildings, etc. Then there's income tax %... sales tax...


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O believe me, I know about the freekin rent. Everything here has gotten so expensive. You'd need TWO roomates to even think about competing with the kind of cost of living you're looking at in the other cities.

Keep us iin mind when you're more settled. There's some super nice places to live in the 'burbs or country that are super nice for families and always work for electricians. Water + wiring = work.

You know I'll always keep ya in mind. Y'all were too good to Nate and I.

Have you checked out the standard pay rate for an electrician in the areas that you're considering? Or which areas are beginning to build up the most? That can be important for an electrician... new buildings, etc. Then there's income tax %... sales tax...

of course. The cities I listed were all within the top 5% of their states for lowest city taxes across the board. As for building, that's something to look into. Especially in Cali and whatever I find in Central Jersey.
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Of the ones you've listed, I'd pick Clovis, but that's only because it's the only one I know and it's near enough to family. Given other options, I probably wouldn't go there.



However, good for looking up those statistics on the areas! That's really important stuff, as is a stat on who's building what -- more construction/repair probably means more chance for jobs. I'd add these, too, if you haven't already:


- Weather.


- Demographics (e.g. you would be, basically, the black man in Clovis*. Decide whether you're okay with this or not.)


- licensure requirements, if any, in the states/areas you're thinking of moving to. Are there reciprocal agreements, or will you need a new license?


- the cost/effort of continuing education in those areas, if the license requires it


- your desire to be near larger cities, transportation, etc.


- what type of electrical work you want to do, and how that feeds into where to move. Again, e.g., if you decide you want to be a gaffer, you might be better off moving to LA or NYC (or SF or other city with a large theatre/film industry) so that you can get the relevant experience.


- do you want to be completely independent, or work with an existing company, or work as a "dedicated subcontractor" type?




If you can find anyone from the cities, or maybe reach out to any organised groups for more information, that might be good as well. Ask any local unions or boards for feedback, maybe?



*Okay, that's an exaggeration. But the latest stats I found say <3% of the population is black. Which, you know, doesn't automatically mean anything except that it's probably a really big change on top of the initial huge change that is moving / moving so far away. Just something to bear in mind.


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Of the ones you've listed, I'd pick Clovis, but that's only because it's the only one I know and it's near enough to family. Given other options, I probably wouldn't go there.

However, good for looking up those statistics on the areas! That's really important stuff, as is a stat on who's building what -- more construction/repair probably means more chance for jobs. I'd add these, too, if you haven't already:

- Weather.

- Demographics (e.g. you would be, basically, the black man in Clovis*. Decide whether you're okay with this or not.)

- licensure requirements, if any, in the states/areas you're thinking of moving to. Are there reciprocal agreements, or will you need a new license?

- the cost/effort of continuing education in those areas, if the license requires it

- your desire to be near larger cities, transportation, etc.

- what type of electrical work you want to do, and how that feeds into where to move. Again, e.g., if you decide you want to be a gaffer, you might be better off moving to LA or NYC (or SF or other city with a large theatre/film industry) so that you can get the relevant experience.

- do you want to be completely independent, or work with an existing company, or work as a "dedicated subcontractor" type?

If you can find anyone from the cities, or maybe reach out to any organised groups for more information, that might be good as well. Ask any local unions or boards for feedback, maybe?

*Okay, that's an exaggeration. But the latest stats I found say <3% of the population is black. Which, you know, doesn't automatically mean anything except that it's probably a really big change on top of the initial huge change that is moving / moving so far away. Just something to bear in mind.

I'm glad you mentioned demographics because it peaked my curiosity. Dothan has a 30% black population and Brown Deer has a 12.5% black population. The rest are all under 4%. I'm not sure if that will factor in but it's something to think about. The rest of the advice is sound, I'll probably be reading up on licensing requirements in the states I'm considering all night.

That may be true, but Trenton NJ and NYC both have the highest pay for electricians in the country as of 2012 (don't know about now, but how much could that have changed in two years?)

http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/electrician/salary

You're right. Looking more into it, with enough budgeting and planning, Trenton could be affordable that far out. It's not as expensive as some other areas of Jersey.

I'd choose Clovis. You'd be living right next to the Sierra Nevadas and close to several National Parks, including Yosemite, Sequoia, and King's Canyon, all of which are spectacular.

have you been to all of those places?
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I lived not far from Dothan, Al for 5 years, but this was 25 years ago. I know then, the area was certainly growing and expanding. I actually lived in Enterprise, a much smaller town closer to Fort Rucker, but we would go to Dothan for the mall and better (not sure I can say "fine") dining. Cost of living was great then (cost of college even better). Weather takes a bit to get used to though, but after a few years, you barely notice the 90 degrees with 90% humidity. Hurricanes are not too fun though, and I think we had at least one a year



Good luck!


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