Rich in a Less Desirable Location or Average in High Class City

[Anthony Gayden]

This is a simple question that has to do with cost of living. Obviously places in the Midwest have a far lower cost of living than on the West Coast or in the Northeast. Keeping that in mind, a person with a high annual income could have a drastically different lifestyle in a place such as Indianapolis as compared to Boston.

I already made this choice as I was offered the position I now hold in multiple locations throughout the US and I chose Omaha partly due to cost of living. Which would you prefer?

[Art Perkitny]

@Anthony Gayden

Interesting questions, I think it depends on what a person is looking for. If we take a look at the ratio between median home values and median household incomes for all incorporated places over 10k in population a clear pattern emerges. 

At the bottom we have Flint, MI where it takes 1.02 years of income to buy a house on average. At the opposite end we have Stanford, CA with a ratio of 26.36. Clearly the nicer an area is perceived, the more expensive the cost of living will be. 

That being said, the places with more moderate ratios (2 to 3) seem to strike a good balance between quality of life and cost of living. 

Here is a histogram showing the distribution of home value to income ratios:

Also, here is a link to the data I used as well as sources 

Link to Cost of Living Spreadsheet