The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Where do I want to live?
snorepez
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm in a transition stage in my life right now, but I need to find a permanent place. As far as in which state I want to live, I'm not entirely sure, but as far as what I prefer that place to have is: cold weather, "big city," public transportation (ex. subway), and affordable (~$700) one bedroom apartments. I figure that's a decent net to cast as far as preferences go.
Since the job market isn't too strong right now, I'll list my general work experiences and education, in case that could affect my choices of states: Bachelor's degree in Education, 2 years teaching high school English, 3 months teaching English abroad.
Any suggestions are appreciated. And if I was too broad, I can elaborate with specifics. Thank you!
Since the job market isn't too strong right now, I'll list my general work experiences and education, in case that could affect my choices of states: Bachelor's degree in Education, 2 years teaching high school English, 3 months teaching English abroad.
Any suggestions are appreciated. And if I was too broad, I can elaborate with specifics. Thank you!
snorepez on
0
Posts
edit: Chicago is also amazing.
Chicago is a good example of a "big city" to me. I've considered moving there, because as you said, it's supposedly amazing and meets most of my preferences (aside from the rent, which I don't know about there). And as far as shitty areas go...I just prefer not to be in known neighborhoods where gangs and drug deals happen. Do you know of any specific small and affordable neighborhoods in Chicago that you can recommend?
Also, not to totally rain on the Chicago parade, because it is an amazing city, but the teaching market is rough there. A couple friends who live there are teachers, and they work part time jobs with the occasional substitute teaching job. I'd try to have a job lined up first.
You might wanna check out Minneapolis, cool city, not as expensive as Chicago (though not quite as "Big City" as Chicago)
Twin Cities isn't a bad idea either, same with Madison or Milwaukee. Obviously smaller than Chicago but cheaper and can get here fairly easily by car or train.
You could move to the suburbs of a big, cold city for that, but you will probably need a car in that case, which would kill your "good public transit."
And just because housing prices are dropping does not mean that rents are dropping; all of those people trying to unload their houses have to live somewhere.
I can't say much about the market for teachers, my MiL is an elementary school teacher and she got a job in Westminster (suburbish of Denver) pretty quick 2 years back or so.
PSN Hypacia
Xbox HypaciaMinnow
Discord Hypacia#0391
What, exactly, do you mean, OP? I assumed you meant "frequent snowfall during the fall/winter/spring."
Otherwise, yeah, totally.
What are rental prices like in Columbus and Cleveland? Those might work.
I thought OP wanted a big city? 14,000 doesn't seem very big to me.
College towns might be tough since lots of recent eduction graduates looking for jobs? You do have the extra experience, though. How tied are you to education field?
I mean, you could probably get it done, but it won't be very comfortable.
Just depends on how cold you need it to be.
I'm betting in the Carolinas you could find some pretty solid one bedrooms for that price... it's just hotter there, and there's no public transit.
You have three criteria and the only seem completely opposed to each other.
If you were a teacher in Chicago would you really be only able to afford a 700 dollar rent and no car payment at all? Your salary should change, right?
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
What I'm mostly concerned about is: $rent and public transportation (subway, bus, rails). Plus,"city activities" (I use Brooklyn/Bronx/Buenos Aires as barometers for this criteria, because those are really the only "big cities" I've either lived in or visited that I enjoyed the constant number of activities to do, and I don't consider mountainbiking to be one of those activities, for example).
Thanks for the suggestions so far.
Good point. I have enough savings to live between the $1k-$1.5k rent mark for at least 6 months, but I figured without knowing everyone's suggestions, I would leave that initial rent mark low. But as far as a change in salary is concerned, I probably wouldn't pass $33k given my background. And as a few people have already mentioned, the teaching game is pretty slim right now, so I figure I'll be doing tutoring or the like for a while until I can find a permanent career job.
Our education system is sorta imploding, so there's that.
My only other experiences involve Baltimore and DC, I dont think you could live in DC with 700 rent, but I could be wrong. Baltimore is... well watch the Wire. Both cities have a ton of character and experience the full range of seasons.
Chicago sounds like what you're looking for, but the job market for teachers is pretty awful. I have a lot of first hand experience working with educators in the city and the surrounding suburbs, and it's hard -- there's tons of competition, very few jobs, and not much guarantee that you'll keep a job much longer than a year if you do manage to get one.
That said, it is an amazing city, and education reforms will be making sweeping changes to the landscape in CPS schools, city charters, and schools throughout the state. So things could get better, or...they could get worse.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Edit: for cities, Boston meets all criteria except price, which it fails miserably. Somerville or Roxbury might work, though. Detroit is cheap enough that you could probably buy a place next to a station outright, but it's Detroit.
Depending on the area of the city/outlying area, you can find an apartment in the ~$700 range easily, but the closer to downtown you get you'll obviously be looking at more or finding a roommate.
want Dropbox? use my referral! | steam
Although the cost of living in the Carolinas is low, they pay their teachers very poorly (by mid-western standards). When I graduated from college I got a number of job offers in the Carolinas but the starting rate was around 24,000-25,000 and the pay did not progress very quickly from those numbers.
Also, to echo what other people are saying, it's a rough job market for teachers right now in mid-western states. I would make sure you check the job market in whatever area you plan to move to before making a final decision.
Have you taught in an urban area before?
Ooooh, while I wouldn't ever move there, Cincinnati is cold and a big city, but doesn't really have a good public transportation system. He could probably find an apartment for $700 easy though.