I have lived in metro CO my entire life, back when it was a “cow town.” With nothing much to do.
I moved to a rural area of MN thinking much like you , that the costs would be lower. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth. You’d think that services like lawn mowing would be lower - this was actually MORE expensive than the city. And with less help than I’d get from a neighbor as I’d had surgery that summer. The service providers are rare, most people do their own landscape lawn care. The ones in biz, charge a lot and they assume you’re wealthy , or you’d be mowing the lawn yourself.
Same with other areas like simple 20 move of some furniture pieces - had to have a 12 yr old and bro do the work, and then had people drive up from the cities (an hour a half drive). This was the most painful aspect as I’m single and I rely on hired help and neighbors. Cost a lotta money and hard to find.
Property taxes - don’t even get me started lolz. Property around a lake, you’re usually voting in another locale- so every time votes come up to stick it to part time dwellers, they’ll do it. I was not going to be a part time resident, but was still hit with heavy property taxes.
Have to drive FAR for everything - closest major shopping area 1 -1.5 hrs away. Time = money, driving = wear n tear on the car even if gas is cheap.
Eating out was not a deal, it was about the same is in city. No fast food - could be good(do t eat it) could be bad (good food more expensive)
Homes were older , like you say, and u less you can do home improvements on your own or hire someone , and hiring is difficult , and expensive. I thought it might be like renovating in the metro but waaaaaay more difficult.
I eventually ditched my idea of the idyllic rural retreat and returned to metro area due to cost and difficulty of living . I think if you have 2 incomes , are in a partnership or family, know how to do most/all your own work- you could handle it and it would be a reduction in costs.
I’d add that if you know to work on homes and reno- update them, you would have a steady income
And could probably use homes your updating to live in while working there. Just an idea- if you like to work , there’s plenty of it. Single or couple , partnership could do this and live on lakes, fish, hunt, hike etc. definitely opportunity for those so inclined .
It depends as much on how you live as where you live to some extent. What I see is that there isn't any place to run to when food prices and utility prices are so high. There's only so far people can be squeezed.
I have lived in all sorts of housing environments through the years and none of them were idyllic. From military government quarters, to crappy little houses, to one a couple miles outside of the nearest town in a very rural county, to now a seniors suburban subdivision near a major city. I've also lived in my fair share of apartments as well.
I count my blessing for now as I bought my current house just ahead of the housing crisis right at the end of the Covid year for a very good price, compared to what they're selling for here now. If I were to sell my house now, I would make well over $100,000 in profit. But I'm not going to sell anytime soon.
With a recession coming, I wonder if the housing bubble is going to pop. If it does, I'm prepared to ride it out. I don't live in a necessarily high cost of living area but I wouldn't consider it a low one either. We are where we are for whatever reasons we decided to live there. Our incomes are dictated by the economy, or lack thereof. I'm more worried about what happens to people like me who are seniors living on our pensions now if the government goes bankrupt. Which. with Trump acting like a mafia boss, could very well happen.
The cheaper it is, the fewer the social services, too. I used to be a volunteer driver for the elderly. One couple had moved way outside the city limits, to a much cheaper area. But she got sick and he got disabled, and they couldn't drive. So all their doctor appointments required either our volunteer service, an Uber, or a cooperative neighbor with a car. Just getting groceries was very difficult for them. Living in town would have meant higher costs, but they could have used public transit and the Access-a-Ride service that the transit system subsidized. If necessary, they could have had groceries delivered. It's a very difficult trade-off.
This is such a good point. As we age, proximity to good medical services is crucial. Although I love my house and neighborhood, I would REALLY love living way out in the sticks with no one close by. Country living suits me, but as a senior, it is impractical. I know lots of seniors who stay in cities because that is where the hospitals, specialists, excellent mental health and cancer centers are.
Thank you for this article, Michelle! What it really tells us is that capitalism is not sustainable for the majority of the population.
"Maybe the real question isn’t where life is cheaper, but where it’s still possible."
I think the problem, in this late stage of capitalism, is not where you live but the system itself: the fact that everything is commodified and requires money, and we are given so little of it these days compared to many of us in previous eras where we had a robust factory economy and good-paying government jobs with great benefits -- compared to what we have today, which is a low-paying service sector and gig economy when prices for almost everything keep going up and more of what is left of our already paltry social safety net is being raided by the billionaires we continue voting for (and expecting to help us!). Automation in general, including AI, is rendering our human labor power less and less valuable to capitalists, whose main concern is how to preserve class rule now that money is becoming increasingly difficult for workers to come by (while still very easy for them).
We have to make our peace with the fact that the current system is archaic and not intended to work in an advanced post-industrial civilization that renders commodification of items and private ownership of the industries a materially unnecessary burden on the working class. Wealthy politicians are more concerned with making the already-wealthy wealthier than they are with "helping" us.
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area an extremely high cost of living area on a very modest income. For me the benefits of living in a culturally vibrant and aesthetically stimulating area outweighs the burden of cost. There are many tradeoffs - I don't own a home and I drive an older car. Gas prices and insurance are challenging and I still have job though I'm past retirement age but I can find places to shop for food and necessities that have amazing quality and prices that are no higher than low cost areas. Utilities are also high but our good weather keeps energy costs in winter low and for entertainment there are always parks and free music and an abundance of activities to enjoy. For me the value of nature and space and beauty and "lifestyle" an area offers are the things that make a place livable. I don't have children to raise but even if I did I would want to be located near an interesting urban environment. I have lived in New York and California all my life and have always found a way to get by.
I wasn't implying that at all. I know there is art and culture in the midwest and everywhere but I think it tends to be centered around urban areas and those areas are usually higher cost of living areas everywhere. I was just stating my experience
as a low income person living in a high income area and why I choose that.
I live in a small town quite close to Peoria, and you can still buy a great house in the vicinity of $100k in either my town or Peoria. And Peoria has a civic center, symphony, university, museums etc.
I live in one of the most expensive cities in the US. Was going to move to WA state prior to COVID. Post COVID it was no longer affordable. One thing you left out is when you get older, how far you are from your Drs.
Wow! If I'd known, I could have saved you all that money of black out curtains by eliminating the issue, closer to you. Earth Therapeutics Dream Zone sleep mask. Soft and comfortable and shuts out all light. I got the added benefit of usually falling asleep with 5 - 10 mins of putting it on. I buy a replacement about every 2/3rds of a year as the elastic wears out. $10 on Amazon.
And NO. I don't work for them or promote them. Jst a personal suggestion based on experience.
I should have mentioned I recommend that brand specifically. I tried others and they didn't work nearly as well. Most let too much light in around the edges. I never tried a bandana, but I would think it would be less than the best solution.
We moved from a very HCOL city on the west coast to a small city in a rural county in eastern WA. Utilities, property taxes, and insurance rates are HIGHER because the cost of maintaining infrastructure is spread over a much smaller population base. Before you buy in a small town, check out what the residents are paying for water, sewer, and electricity and factor that in to your budget. Homeowners insurance may be higher too since fire protection depends in some part on volunteer services, there aren’t hydrants on every corner, and it just takes longer to get to a fire if you are out in the sticks. Gas is more expensive in a remote area because sales volumes are lower and there are few places where you have a gas station across the street from another gas station and they are competing on saving a few pennies a gallon. Thrifting is another area where there are fewer options because there are fewer people here and they are poorer—the stuff they get rid of isn’t going to be a bunch of hidden treasure.
Now—-the good news…..you can buy amazing produce really inexpensively from local hobby farmers and small scale farmers. A full size freezer is an absolute must-have and will pay for itself in a year if you pay attention to local farm stands and freeze/can fresh in season fruits and veggies. We buy our meat from local small scale growers—if you buy a whole or half beef, pig, or lamb the cost per pound is less than what you pay at the grocery store and your meat is pasture raised, humanely slaughtered and cut and wrapped locally. Some local onion and potato farmers allow gleaning—if you are really into minimal living you can glean if you have a place to store the bounty. There is almost always somebody around who keeps chickens and who will barter or sell eggs for a fair price and they are home grown eggs from chickens that run around.
Growing your own garden, keeping chickens and having fruit trees and berry patches is also an option, but I won’t say it’s a way to get inexpensive food—the startup costs are an investment, and it seems like every year we have to buy something for the garden. It’s a fun hobby though and the sense of accomplishment from canning your own tomatoes or making your own pickles is considerable.
Housing is a real problem in rural areas that have been stagnant or losing population since nobody updates or expands housing stock if there’s no population growth. Rentals are scarce and of low quality. Recently we’ve seen some people move into the area seeking a lower cost of living and even a modest influx of new residents causes the rental market to be really difficult. Again—it’s a percentage issue.
Entertainment is less expensive if you take advantage of what is on offer locally. We can get baseball tickets for $10 and see a pretty entertaining game and see a lot of people we know. Community theater and orchestra tickets are affordable. We’re lucky in that we have a college here in town and there are sports, arts, and other community events that are fun and affordable.
Our city is about 35,000 people with another 15,000 in the county, and we’re far enough away from other cities that our hospital is critical access which has protected it from the most savage cuts in the past—not sure what the future holds though. I’m sure there are other “sweet spot” places in other states that are big enough to offer some amenities but rural enough that there is a local food economy and less competition for housing.
I am fortunate to live in a community very similar in size, but to be just across the river from a bigger city with all the amenities (which I hardly ever take advantage of, but they’re there.) There’s a hospital so close I could walk there, and world-class larger hospitals just across the bridge.
We do have paid fire, police and paramedic services here but a lot of places don’t and you definitely want to consider that, especially if for instance you have a heart condition etc.
I’ve lived in huge cities, medium-sized cities, and small rural areas over the past 15 years. The biggest variability is cost of rent or mortgage. Food seems to cost about the same everywhere, except if you’re someplace like NYC. Same with utilities. We recently moved from a small rural area to a medium sized city and while our rent went up, our food and utility costs are almost identical. And some things that we paid for in the country are free in the city because of higher city resources (like speech therapy for our toddler.)
Another complicating factor here is that many traditionally LCOL areas have seen an explosion in new residents since 2020, especially as more and more people work remotely. My former small town was about 2 hours away from a major city and many people from that city moved out to the country because now they could live somewhere peaceful and “cheaper” without compromising their city jobs. As a result, housing prices in the area have been skyrocketing, and the money from these wealthier individuals skewed the local economy, despite the fact that there were still very few local in-person jobs available and the town itself was still severely underresourced. Now the town is turning into a HCOL area without many of the benefits like access to culture, public transport, a big library system, etc etc, and without access to high paying jobs for many people. I suspect there are many towns with stories like this.
Maybe rather than LC and HC there is a sweet middle spot where jobs are more plentiful than in a rural area and costs more modest than in the highest of cost areas. In the DC area I'm thinking Baltimore or Prince George's maybe Columbia . In the LA area Pampona? When a city is constrained by geography this is harder to find. Austin?
Certainly moving from high to low is more economically doable than the reverse. Thoughts on that point aging in locations with long drives and unavailable medical care is not easy.
I'm 90 km (56 miles) from the nearest Walmart, which i know is the devil's store, but it's so much cheaper than anywhere out here in my LCOL area. I'd have to be buying a lot to make the drive worthwhile, and i usually end up just paying more for things. The push to "buy local" doesn't really take into account that part of it. On the plus side, i do buy less. 😏
We paid off our mortgage early several years ago, Michelle (shared goal when Deb & I bought this place in 2000). You probably have a plan already, because it’s you, but we put money into a property/school tax account every month so we can “painlessly” 🙄 pay the twice a year taxes. Automatic credit union transfer, no thought required. (Be nice if the tax collector could do that, but they still prefer paper checks.)
My thoughts exactly. I left CA, purchased a house in FL, and now with limited income, at least I am still ahead of where I'd be if I hadn't moved to a lower cost area. Still nothing extra, and I absolutely hate having to check the price on groceries. I hear you !
I went from HCoL (NYC) to MCoL (western Colorado) to LCoL (middle Georgia) areas. The need for a car everywhere but a handful of cities is a real budget buster, and I'm totally rebelling. I will not buy a car with these greedy prices, dealerships that are essentially cartels, and insurance that has both legitimately (popular vehicle tech and sensors are expensive to repair) and illegitimately soared. I'm not spending $50K on a car until it can drive itself while I do other things.
I sold my 2005 Honda CR-V in 2022 because I wasn't using it at all in Colorado (live with my mom, and I can't do distance driving without having road hypnosis problems). I figured if I needed a car in the future, I'd get one then...but did not anticipate the permanence of "supply chain issues" pricing.
By the way, this is the best comment section I've ever seen on Substack. Great info!
I have lived in metro CO my entire life, back when it was a “cow town.” With nothing much to do.
I moved to a rural area of MN thinking much like you , that the costs would be lower. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth. You’d think that services like lawn mowing would be lower - this was actually MORE expensive than the city. And with less help than I’d get from a neighbor as I’d had surgery that summer. The service providers are rare, most people do their own landscape lawn care. The ones in biz, charge a lot and they assume you’re wealthy , or you’d be mowing the lawn yourself.
Same with other areas like simple 20 move of some furniture pieces - had to have a 12 yr old and bro do the work, and then had people drive up from the cities (an hour a half drive). This was the most painful aspect as I’m single and I rely on hired help and neighbors. Cost a lotta money and hard to find.
Property taxes - don’t even get me started lolz. Property around a lake, you’re usually voting in another locale- so every time votes come up to stick it to part time dwellers, they’ll do it. I was not going to be a part time resident, but was still hit with heavy property taxes.
Have to drive FAR for everything - closest major shopping area 1 -1.5 hrs away. Time = money, driving = wear n tear on the car even if gas is cheap.
Eating out was not a deal, it was about the same is in city. No fast food - could be good(do t eat it) could be bad (good food more expensive)
Homes were older , like you say, and u less you can do home improvements on your own or hire someone , and hiring is difficult , and expensive. I thought it might be like renovating in the metro but waaaaaay more difficult.
I eventually ditched my idea of the idyllic rural retreat and returned to metro area due to cost and difficulty of living . I think if you have 2 incomes , are in a partnership or family, know how to do most/all your own work- you could handle it and it would be a reduction in costs.
I’d add that if you know to work on homes and reno- update them, you would have a steady income
And could probably use homes your updating to live in while working there. Just an idea- if you like to work , there’s plenty of it. Single or couple , partnership could do this and live on lakes, fish, hunt, hike etc. definitely opportunity for those so inclined .
Specific to N MN , ME, places which are vacation meccas
It depends as much on how you live as where you live to some extent. What I see is that there isn't any place to run to when food prices and utility prices are so high. There's only so far people can be squeezed.
I have lived in all sorts of housing environments through the years and none of them were idyllic. From military government quarters, to crappy little houses, to one a couple miles outside of the nearest town in a very rural county, to now a seniors suburban subdivision near a major city. I've also lived in my fair share of apartments as well.
I count my blessing for now as I bought my current house just ahead of the housing crisis right at the end of the Covid year for a very good price, compared to what they're selling for here now. If I were to sell my house now, I would make well over $100,000 in profit. But I'm not going to sell anytime soon.
With a recession coming, I wonder if the housing bubble is going to pop. If it does, I'm prepared to ride it out. I don't live in a necessarily high cost of living area but I wouldn't consider it a low one either. We are where we are for whatever reasons we decided to live there. Our incomes are dictated by the economy, or lack thereof. I'm more worried about what happens to people like me who are seniors living on our pensions now if the government goes bankrupt. Which. with Trump acting like a mafia boss, could very well happen.
The cheaper it is, the fewer the social services, too. I used to be a volunteer driver for the elderly. One couple had moved way outside the city limits, to a much cheaper area. But she got sick and he got disabled, and they couldn't drive. So all their doctor appointments required either our volunteer service, an Uber, or a cooperative neighbor with a car. Just getting groceries was very difficult for them. Living in town would have meant higher costs, but they could have used public transit and the Access-a-Ride service that the transit system subsidized. If necessary, they could have had groceries delivered. It's a very difficult trade-off.
This is such a good point. As we age, proximity to good medical services is crucial. Although I love my house and neighborhood, I would REALLY love living way out in the sticks with no one close by. Country living suits me, but as a senior, it is impractical. I know lots of seniors who stay in cities because that is where the hospitals, specialists, excellent mental health and cancer centers are.
Thank you for this article, Michelle! What it really tells us is that capitalism is not sustainable for the majority of the population.
"Maybe the real question isn’t where life is cheaper, but where it’s still possible."
I think the problem, in this late stage of capitalism, is not where you live but the system itself: the fact that everything is commodified and requires money, and we are given so little of it these days compared to many of us in previous eras where we had a robust factory economy and good-paying government jobs with great benefits -- compared to what we have today, which is a low-paying service sector and gig economy when prices for almost everything keep going up and more of what is left of our already paltry social safety net is being raided by the billionaires we continue voting for (and expecting to help us!). Automation in general, including AI, is rendering our human labor power less and less valuable to capitalists, whose main concern is how to preserve class rule now that money is becoming increasingly difficult for workers to come by (while still very easy for them).
We have to make our peace with the fact that the current system is archaic and not intended to work in an advanced post-industrial civilization that renders commodification of items and private ownership of the industries a materially unnecessary burden on the working class. Wealthy politicians are more concerned with making the already-wealthy wealthier than they are with "helping" us.
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area an extremely high cost of living area on a very modest income. For me the benefits of living in a culturally vibrant and aesthetically stimulating area outweighs the burden of cost. There are many tradeoffs - I don't own a home and I drive an older car. Gas prices and insurance are challenging and I still have job though I'm past retirement age but I can find places to shop for food and necessities that have amazing quality and prices that are no higher than low cost areas. Utilities are also high but our good weather keeps energy costs in winter low and for entertainment there are always parks and free music and an abundance of activities to enjoy. For me the value of nature and space and beauty and "lifestyle" an area offers are the things that make a place livable. I don't have children to raise but even if I did I would want to be located near an interesting urban environment. I have lived in New York and California all my life and have always found a way to get by.
I know coastal people always think the Midwest is devoid of art, music, interesting food etc.
But it’s untrue.
I wasn't implying that at all. I know there is art and culture in the midwest and everywhere but I think it tends to be centered around urban areas and those areas are usually higher cost of living areas everywhere. I was just stating my experience
as a low income person living in a high income area and why I choose that.
No offense intended.
I live in a small town quite close to Peoria, and you can still buy a great house in the vicinity of $100k in either my town or Peoria. And Peoria has a civic center, symphony, university, museums etc.
I live in one of the most expensive cities in the US. Was going to move to WA state prior to COVID. Post COVID it was no longer affordable. One thing you left out is when you get older, how far you are from your Drs.
I live close enough to a community hospital to walk. World-class medical centers are just across the bridge in a larger city.
If we keep closing hospitals, this will become dicier for many.
Wow! If I'd known, I could have saved you all that money of black out curtains by eliminating the issue, closer to you. Earth Therapeutics Dream Zone sleep mask. Soft and comfortable and shuts out all light. I got the added benefit of usually falling asleep with 5 - 10 mins of putting it on. I buy a replacement about every 2/3rds of a year as the elastic wears out. $10 on Amazon.
And NO. I don't work for them or promote them. Jst a personal suggestion based on experience.
I’d been using a bandana! It was an imperfect solution, obviously.
I should have mentioned I recommend that brand specifically. I tried others and they didn't work nearly as well. Most let too much light in around the edges. I never tried a bandana, but I would think it would be less than the best solution.
We moved from a very HCOL city on the west coast to a small city in a rural county in eastern WA. Utilities, property taxes, and insurance rates are HIGHER because the cost of maintaining infrastructure is spread over a much smaller population base. Before you buy in a small town, check out what the residents are paying for water, sewer, and electricity and factor that in to your budget. Homeowners insurance may be higher too since fire protection depends in some part on volunteer services, there aren’t hydrants on every corner, and it just takes longer to get to a fire if you are out in the sticks. Gas is more expensive in a remote area because sales volumes are lower and there are few places where you have a gas station across the street from another gas station and they are competing on saving a few pennies a gallon. Thrifting is another area where there are fewer options because there are fewer people here and they are poorer—the stuff they get rid of isn’t going to be a bunch of hidden treasure.
Now—-the good news…..you can buy amazing produce really inexpensively from local hobby farmers and small scale farmers. A full size freezer is an absolute must-have and will pay for itself in a year if you pay attention to local farm stands and freeze/can fresh in season fruits and veggies. We buy our meat from local small scale growers—if you buy a whole or half beef, pig, or lamb the cost per pound is less than what you pay at the grocery store and your meat is pasture raised, humanely slaughtered and cut and wrapped locally. Some local onion and potato farmers allow gleaning—if you are really into minimal living you can glean if you have a place to store the bounty. There is almost always somebody around who keeps chickens and who will barter or sell eggs for a fair price and they are home grown eggs from chickens that run around.
Growing your own garden, keeping chickens and having fruit trees and berry patches is also an option, but I won’t say it’s a way to get inexpensive food—the startup costs are an investment, and it seems like every year we have to buy something for the garden. It’s a fun hobby though and the sense of accomplishment from canning your own tomatoes or making your own pickles is considerable.
Housing is a real problem in rural areas that have been stagnant or losing population since nobody updates or expands housing stock if there’s no population growth. Rentals are scarce and of low quality. Recently we’ve seen some people move into the area seeking a lower cost of living and even a modest influx of new residents causes the rental market to be really difficult. Again—it’s a percentage issue.
Entertainment is less expensive if you take advantage of what is on offer locally. We can get baseball tickets for $10 and see a pretty entertaining game and see a lot of people we know. Community theater and orchestra tickets are affordable. We’re lucky in that we have a college here in town and there are sports, arts, and other community events that are fun and affordable.
Our city is about 35,000 people with another 15,000 in the county, and we’re far enough away from other cities that our hospital is critical access which has protected it from the most savage cuts in the past—not sure what the future holds though. I’m sure there are other “sweet spot” places in other states that are big enough to offer some amenities but rural enough that there is a local food economy and less competition for housing.
This is some really good info!
I am fortunate to live in a community very similar in size, but to be just across the river from a bigger city with all the amenities (which I hardly ever take advantage of, but they’re there.) There’s a hospital so close I could walk there, and world-class larger hospitals just across the bridge.
We do have paid fire, police and paramedic services here but a lot of places don’t and you definitely want to consider that, especially if for instance you have a heart condition etc.
I’ve lived in huge cities, medium-sized cities, and small rural areas over the past 15 years. The biggest variability is cost of rent or mortgage. Food seems to cost about the same everywhere, except if you’re someplace like NYC. Same with utilities. We recently moved from a small rural area to a medium sized city and while our rent went up, our food and utility costs are almost identical. And some things that we paid for in the country are free in the city because of higher city resources (like speech therapy for our toddler.)
Another complicating factor here is that many traditionally LCOL areas have seen an explosion in new residents since 2020, especially as more and more people work remotely. My former small town was about 2 hours away from a major city and many people from that city moved out to the country because now they could live somewhere peaceful and “cheaper” without compromising their city jobs. As a result, housing prices in the area have been skyrocketing, and the money from these wealthier individuals skewed the local economy, despite the fact that there were still very few local in-person jobs available and the town itself was still severely underresourced. Now the town is turning into a HCOL area without many of the benefits like access to culture, public transport, a big library system, etc etc, and without access to high paying jobs for many people. I suspect there are many towns with stories like this.
Maybe rather than LC and HC there is a sweet middle spot where jobs are more plentiful than in a rural area and costs more modest than in the highest of cost areas. In the DC area I'm thinking Baltimore or Prince George's maybe Columbia . In the LA area Pampona? When a city is constrained by geography this is harder to find. Austin?
Certainly moving from high to low is more economically doable than the reverse. Thoughts on that point aging in locations with long drives and unavailable medical care is not easy.
I'm 90 km (56 miles) from the nearest Walmart, which i know is the devil's store, but it's so much cheaper than anywhere out here in my LCOL area. I'd have to be buying a lot to make the drive worthwhile, and i usually end up just paying more for things. The push to "buy local" doesn't really take into account that part of it. On the plus side, i do buy less. 😏
We paid off our mortgage early several years ago, Michelle (shared goal when Deb & I bought this place in 2000). You probably have a plan already, because it’s you, but we put money into a property/school tax account every month so we can “painlessly” 🙄 pay the twice a year taxes. Automatic credit union transfer, no thought required. (Be nice if the tax collector could do that, but they still prefer paper checks.)
Enjoying Trailer Park Rules, btw!
Yes, I pack everything I can back like a little squirrel—nothing I earn has taxes withheld, either. I never feel like my money is safe to spend.
My thoughts exactly. I left CA, purchased a house in FL, and now with limited income, at least I am still ahead of where I'd be if I hadn't moved to a lower cost area. Still nothing extra, and I absolutely hate having to check the price on groceries. I hear you !
I went from HCoL (NYC) to MCoL (western Colorado) to LCoL (middle Georgia) areas. The need for a car everywhere but a handful of cities is a real budget buster, and I'm totally rebelling. I will not buy a car with these greedy prices, dealerships that are essentially cartels, and insurance that has both legitimately (popular vehicle tech and sensors are expensive to repair) and illegitimately soared. I'm not spending $50K on a car until it can drive itself while I do other things.
I’ve kept my 20-year-old car.
I sold my 2005 Honda CR-V in 2022 because I wasn't using it at all in Colorado (live with my mom, and I can't do distance driving without having road hypnosis problems). I figured if I needed a car in the future, I'd get one then...but did not anticipate the permanence of "supply chain issues" pricing.
By the way, this is the best comment section I've ever seen on Substack. Great info!