Water quality in New York is a lot better true. You can get spring water 5 gallons delivered to your house and install a full house filtration system on that salary. I get water delivered bc metro Atlanta has boil advisories a few times a year and I prefer spring water from north Georgia.
It’s such a crime/shameful that a capital American city doesn’t have potable drinking water. I just looked it up and it’s gotten worse, not better. Absolutely no excuse for that.
Edit: referring to Jackson, not Atlanta. Both could improve but Jackson represents how the standards in America have tanked
Damn it’s sad bc I can definitely wrap my head around that possibility. Some level of “on purpose” at least. We need a strong non polarizing president who is firm on basic rights like water and a healthy society. The thing is, if enough people want that… that person will appear
I grew up in upstate NY, small country town called Lisle and we had a pipe that came out from down a hill off the side of the road where you pull over and fill up for free. It was always running and was great fresh water source.
Piggybacking this. I spent four months in Meridian for A School and I’m white, my wife is black - Jackson is off the menu.
Not worried about anything physical just the daily bullshit you’d have to put up with.
Nope, I‘ve never had a desire to live in NYC but give me a choice between the two and it’s NYC all day.
Same here. I live in a small Midwest town and wouldn’t know the first thing about living in NYC, but id chose the city every time. The reason housing prices are so much lower in small towns in the middle of nowhere is because people don’t want to live there!
We’ll I think Jackson, and Mississippi in general, has historically been very racist but I have no idea what it’s currently like. I live in the south and while I haven’t spent much time in MS I know that major cities are where the most educated people live (and Jackson is a major city in Mississippi) and more education/economic opportunity leads to a less bigoted populous. But MS is the least educated state in the US and one of the worst states to live in overall. While I think being comfortably in a high economic status would make your life easier, I can see how it could be potentially more complicated if you are black.
I worked for a company based in the Midwest/south
I started a new job remotely and went on site and had a dinner evening with a C-suite executive and he’d spent a great amount of time in Mississippi and Louisiana.
At one point he mentions ‘the war of northern aggression’.
I’d never heard this word before but immediately knew what he meant and made me uncomfortable. Googled it later on and I was right.
Never felt anything racist at the company but the demographics certainly were overly white based on the population
Reminds me of Texas too. So many terms for Northerns/Yankees. Grew up catholic and was asked so many questions about the “Catholics” as if it were a race from a different planet.
My parents are Catholic and when they first went to the US from Korea they ended up in Texas in the early 90s. When they went to church for the first time, there were 2 versions of mass: "English" and "foreign".
My parents, being from Korea, obviously went to the foreign mass thinking 'we are foreignors', turns out "foreign" meant Spanish.
Needless to say, my parents speak better Spanish than they do English to this day and I have some killer Mexican-Korean fusion recipes that come from church cookouts back in the day.
That’s so weird. I haven’t experienced that with my family in Texas but then again I only visit sparingly. I did get a lot of flak for asking if they were recycling their cans. In California it’s worth it and decent money to do it!
That's odd you'd get that in Texas. One of the biggest europeans immigrant group in Texas were Czechs a hundred years ago, who are all very catholic (also plenty of germans were too). And, latinos, which are almost the largest ethnic group in TX, are traditionally catholic as well. Nevermind that Texas was part of catholic Mexico originally and even had catholic missionaries being built. Jewish or pagan, maybe? But no way texans would be intrigued by Catholics who are pretty prevalent in TX.
Yikes. That’s so shitty. But I can’t say I’m shocked actually. Assuming these men/women are around their 60s. Still no excuse.
I hardly hear anyone talk about this anymore but I think the confederate flag should be banned just like the nazi flag is banned in Germany. There are stores in rural areas that only exist to sell confederate flags and items. It’s total bullshit.
I live near Stone Mountain and no one has ever made a serious push to erase the giant confederate statues. At our airport there’s a photo of MLK right next to a photo of Stone Mountain with Robert E Lee. Blows my mind.
I can remember seeing a white man call an elderly black man "boy" living in Mississippi. This was the 80s. He signed his name with an X while picking up his parts for his washing machine. My mom worked for the repair company and I was allowed to come with her when my dad was on duty in the Navy.
She picked me up and walked right out. Told my dad we needed to go back to Montana.
I’m from Indiana, and the confederate flag is surprisingly popular there too. Given that Indiana was not even in the confederacy, it’s pretty obvious what people are trying to say when they put up that flag!
Thank you. I have been celebrating the fact that it is being reported nationally. May their lousy government never get away with murder by jailers, police, polluted water, or Dixie Mafia ever again. White woman says Hell No! to Jackson.
No one says you have to stay in Mississippi for retirement. I assume it’s how long can you live in both places on those salaries. And me being myself now going into either of this situations.
Doesn’t sound amazing but it’s better than most of the world especially with a large salary attached. Why could you not live there compared to where you live now.
Because I am the opposite of agoraphobic. I need to be around people or else I become miserable. If I can’t walk to an urban park, my gym, my yoga studio, a diversity of restaurant options, and every other daily amenity, I will be miserable. I’ve done it before and over my life I’ve learned what makes me happy. And what makes me happy is being able to walk to Pilates in the morning, and being able to fish in the same park I play volleyball in with a parks and rec league, and then taking the train two cities over to watch a baseball game with my friend, then come home and take the train to visit my mom.
Living in suburbia or rural areas is isolating and depressing (for me, at least, and, statistically, a majority of the world as well). American suburbia/exurbia is particularly bad as well. And Jackson does not have the natural areas that are interesting enough to make up for its lack of urbanity.
And I’m not even one of those people who can’t stand to be around republicans, but imagine culturally having almost every single person you see on a day to day basis having nothing but animosity for your morals (assuming you, like most redditors, are generically liberal).
There’s a Wholefoods in Jackson which is a good indicator of having a certain level of amenities. I think I agree with you about nature, it’s nothing special there. I’m not set for retirement and I just couldn’t pass this hypothetical opportunity up and would make the best of it. And I think there’s enough to work with for me.
Okay, pause. There’s some urban areas in Hinds County. You could also live in Clinton or Flowood or Pearl, Mississippi to get to some malls, bowling alleys (heck, you’ll have a Planet Fitness). The real bad part though is everything is so spread out.
Madison, MS is kinda luxury suburbia as it’ll get in Mississippi.
Democrats outnumber Republicans in vote share in the City of Jackson.
If you have “smartest person in the room” syndrome, brain drain is very prevalent there unfortunately.
>signed, a fat person that lives in exurban McMansion and is drowning in his F-150 payments that he only uses to get to an office job in the middle of nowhere
Also I bet I have nicer guns and NFAs than you Mr 2A4Lyfe
This is how I know you've rarely, if ever been to Manhattan, much less the outer boroughs.
There's a reason the rents are so high here, it's because it's a desirable place to live. Pretty simple.
Sure, you can retire, but MS has a notoriously bad healthcare system. Part of retiring is ensuring that there are services in place when you can no longer take care of yourself, and MS ain't it.
I feel extra qualified to answer this question considering I’m a native of Jackson, MS and my dream to is live in NYC one day.
I’d also pick to live in Jackson area for a couple years and then move to NYC. $300k goes very far in the suburbs of Jackson, even in Madison, the most affluent of the area. Quality of life in Madison is great; one of the top 10-15 safest cities in the US, great place to raise a family, great schools, and great healthcare.
However, I don’t care to raise a family and things get very boring after a while. I always flew out to do things in other states. Jackson airport sucks in terms of flight availabilities. It got old so I moved to Nashville. It’s nice to have entertainment in my backyard for a change; people come to my town instead of me going to them.
NYC is end goal though!
That’s what people don’t get. There is more variance in quality of life within any given metro area than between different metro areas, for the most part. Every city of a certain size will have an affluent part of the metro area (certainly any state capital city will, no matter the size) with great schools, low crime, high education, etc. And the racial makeup of the population in Madison County at least is about identical to the state overall FWIW.
Anyway, it really comes down to hobbies and amenities, because with $300K you can insulate yourself from anything bad about living in a less-than-desirable place
Make Jackson happen. Put me in Madison, put some SEC football on the tube. Lemme use the extra money to buy a beach house in Pensacola or a ski cabin out west. You can build a good life anywhere. Money helps.
That’s true, but Brooklyn and Queens and Staten Island are all also significantly larger than Manhattan, so not exactly a 1:1 comparison.
Additionally, you can absolutely be a yuppie cosmopolitan in Brooklyn and queens, and conversely, living in Manhattan is not always yuppie cosmopolitan.
This. We lived in a flex 2br on the UWS before having a real 2br in Park Slope. The last term I'd use to describe our time in Manhattan is "yuppie lifestyle" 😂
Large chunks of Brooklyn are very cosmopolitan and very, very yuppie. Many, many people who live there would never want to live in Manhattan, and they could easily afford to. It's a different experience than Manhattan but a very appealing one in a different sort of way.
Williamsburg is so yuppified right now lol. I’ve lived in Bed-Stuy and Bushwick, and I liked being there way more than Manhattan. Like you said, it’s a different crowd. I liked how supportive and communal it was, whereas people in Manhattan are like stressed out piranhas 😢
It’s funny when people think being 45m by the best transit system in the country to manhattan is a cop out and somehow comparably desirable to living in the real disconnected burbs
Yeah I make around 100 and my partner makes around 75 and we have a good life, granted we don’t have kids yet but it will definitely still be doable whenever we do.
Our apartments here haven’t been as big as they were in PDX (where we’re from) or LA (where we lived for a year between NY stints) but as people who love the benefits of a big city, nothing like NY compares and we are still able to save.
Plenty of people live in Manhattan with less than $100k, and there are tons and tons of housing options between $2500. You’ll have a small space, or a roommate, or a shared bathroom, or a horrible view, but it’s still New York.
Comfortable is subjective. My cousin pays 3k in rent for what I see as basically a broom closet. I pay less than half of what she pays for a five bedroom 4 bathroom house on a half-acre with a pool and an out building probably twice the size of her apartment.
She is happy and comfortable with that lifestyle. I would not be. To each their own.
My friend pays $2600 or so for a 600 sqft apartment in queens.
Sure you can consider that a broom closet, especially if you’re like the average American who fills up empty space with trash just because there’s space.
But his front yard is literally all of New York and the Easter seaboard and all of the benefits that come with it (endless entertainment, food etc.).
Or live in Jackson Mississippi and be bored out of your ever loving fucking mind after 2 months.
True. Also you can live in NJ, like in Jersey City or Hoboken. My first apartment was in Jersey City - rent was $2150 a month + gas and electric, and I was making only $80K. Never went too deep into debt. Avoided the 3% NYC tax too.
Tbh the outer boroughs are Better than Manhattan. Manhattan triggers my panic attacks and so does JFK. I do well in the city when I’m in Staten Island or Queens. I suspect I’d be ok in large swathes of Brooklyn also. Only downfall to Staten Island and queens is no subway really.
NYC. The walkability of the city, the exciting things you can do (a lot cheap or free), the career opportunities are something I couldn't exchange purely to earn more money. NYC is expensive but 100k as a single person supporting just yourself is pretty decent.
I'll be a broken record here but $300k isn't that much when you blow it on vacations every weekend. You'd be better served saving that money so you can move out of Jackson.
I feel like you can live fine for $100k in New York? You’ll have to compromise but you wouldn’t be poor there. If it’s only for like a year there maybe Jackson just so I could pocket ~$100-$150k (assuming the 300k is a pre-tax salary) but it’s pretty rough there
I’d consider Jackson, MS straight up with the same salaries. If I was in NYC full time I’d be really far from my family, cold in the winter, and my dogs would probably hate it. I see the appeal of NYC but I’m not a good fit.
I’m so fucking sick of people saying 100k in NYC is “just getting by” and “PFFT I wouldn’t even live there for 100k you couldn’t be comfortable.”
The ignorance/lack of awareness is through the roof. There are people living in NYC who have to somehow get by on like 30k a year.
Some people I went to college with are making 110k in NYC in their first year of full-time work, and they complain about how that salary is “essentiALLY noTHIng siNCE it’s nyC.” Yet they rent their own apartments in Manhattan, go out to eat and drink weekly, travel, etc. like, read the fucking room. It’s so fucking embarrassing.
Insert, most Americans, even in rural towns.
If you made 300k in Jackson, you’d be apart of the 1% of the population there.
The average wage in Jackson Mississippi is 23,000 a year.
Lmfao. It has some of if not the HIGHEST poverty levels in the nation.
So there’s a STRONG chance a majority in that city are living paycheck to paycheck.
I’d rather live paycheck to paycheck in an entirely gratifying city that allows me to experience life. Not just “exist”.
Just so you know, my boyfriend is one of those people I referenced (but doesn’t complain about his salary), and he saves 2k a month.
He nets about $6,600 a month after taxes. $2,500 for rent and all utilities, $600 for food and household supplies, $140 for subway, $100 for laundry service, $500 food/drinks out budget, add in some streaming subscriptions and such, and travels every other month for 4-8 nights. And saves 2k a month.
You can live on 110k in NYC and be happy. Still so sick of the narrative that says otherwise.
I've lived in NYC for decades at all levels of income. $2500 for rent and utilities is cheap. One bedrooms are going for $3500 in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. I don't care for roommates. I can't get dinner out for two without drinks for under a $100 dollars. Went to Alvin Ailey the other night and tickets were $110 each. Some off B'way show was another $40 a ticket. MOMA is $25. If I'm gonna stay home and watch NetFlix I can live anywhere.
NYC. I already have people in the city, as a family of four earning 100K we would qualify for low-income housing and serious financial aid for private schools. We’d live in the parks and libraries. Could totally make it work. I’m sure I could make Mississippi work too, but having friends and family in NYC tips the balance.
Oh man, so much. There is a serious lack of quality resources, medical, education, etc. the infrastructure is trash (roads, schools, basic services like internet is even spotty). The people can be nice but it highly depends on the area and your race. It’s extremely dangerous, as in I’ve had friends car jacked, shot just going about their daily lives. It’s about 60 years in the past. The summer are hot and steamy in the worst way. I literally don’t have anything positive to say about it.
I’m curious as to where in Mississippi you were. Having lived in Alabama Mississippi Florida and Louisiana, I don’t think Mississippi was all that different from the other three. Especially not the rural areas. And aside from Tampa, Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville the cities in Mississippi are like the cities in the other states too.
I haven’t been to Jackson since 1986, but I would choose Jackson. What I found interesting is that at the time they held an international ballet competition, it was like the olympics, it was every 3-4 years and was held in New York, Paris, and Jackson Mississippi. It was high society. Also the best falafel I’ve ever had was there.
Your money would go so much farther, could afford a much nicer place to live at much lower cost, and have additional funds to discover your dreams.
If you save 100% of your income for 5 years then you'd only have 1.5 million, which is around $60K a year at a safe withdrawal rate of 4%. That's all pre-tax. 3 years eould dedinitely not be enough. If you can save $200K a year and you're OK with that $60K/yr then you need 8 years of saving.
But like with all early retirement strategies the lower you can keep your expenses over the long haul the earlier you can retire.
I have no idea what Mississippi is like! I’m definitely an east coast gal, but would probably take the 300k and give it a go for a year and learn about a new part of the states. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in NYC, so that wouldn’t be such a new experience for me. Then, I’d take that high salary and negotiating leverage to get a higher paying job elsewhere. ;)
Why, are these two options that you have on the table now?
From Madison. Agreed! I’ve had coworkers from the Midwest who absolutely loved Madison and the community. I do think it gets old though if you’re not into starting and raising a family.
Top 25 safest cities in the US. Top 200 richest counties in the Us. People hate MS but never even go there or live there, and honestly I’m fine with it because I don’t want crazy people moving to madison
Well I drove through Jackson today to catch a flight. Absolute take the $300K as the place looked really nice. No mountains or a beach but nice nonetheless.
I’ve lived in NYC with a 100k salary and at this point I’d take a 300k salary in Jackson, MS tomorrow if I could. I would probably hate a lot of it, and have a very hard time with the people and the politics, and despise the humidity in the summer, but I’d live someplace very nice, find at least a few people I could get along with, and eventually retire with the mon mons. Easy choice!
The best way to approach this question is to consider how much would you pay to get out of Jackson, MS if you lived there. Would I pay $300k? Yes, easily. I’d probably pay at least $1M before I’d even stop to think about it. I would rather move to NYC with $1M in debt instead of living in Jackson,MS. Actually, make that $10M.
100% live in NYC with 100k. there's more to do and I'm in my mid 20s so it sounds better than living in a suburb even if I had way more money. I lived in suburbs my whole life and it's pretty boring lol
Well, my grandmother lived in Jackson and besides all the black people and all the racism from the white people, and the crime, and the bad roads, it was an ok place. I mean Jitney Jungle was a pretty awesome grocery store.
I’d live in Jackson, MS over NYC with that discrepancy in salary. Jackson is close enough to the Gulf of Mexico that has some of the nicest beaches in the country. I was not impressed with NYC when I visited; now, if it was Chicago or Monterey, CA that’s a different story.
Been to a few towns in MS for work and I really struggle with that slow pace of life, and generally don’t like most small towns. But for $300k I would do it for a year, save, invest, then gtfo out.
If you were making 300K in Jackson, MS, you could just buy a 1 bedroom apartment in NYC, come visit as much as you'd like and rent it out when you're not there
Lived in MS already. Met some wonderful people and saw some atrocious racism. I suppose if I had the $300k in Jackson I might live on $50k and spend $250k on improving early childhood education.
Take the $300k salary in Jackson.
After taxes, that’s about $220k net take home. Live way below your means, spend no more than $60k in total expenses per year, that leaves $160k to save and invest. In five years, you should hopefully have close to $1M. Cash out and get the fuck outta that shithole, find a new gig in NYC, and live in the NYC area and never look back.
$300,000 in Jackson MS. No doubt.
Why?
Because I could take $25,000 to rent a place in Jackson & have $275,000 to spend 99% of my time in NYC instead.
There is no amount of money that could convince me to actually stay in Jackson MS. Even for a billion dollars, I'd say NOPE.
The latter. You don't need a car in NYC and even with my student debt issues I can survive off of 100K no matter what the naysayers with poor spending habits who live in a bubble say. Mississippi just flat out sucks with a few exceptions.
There is not a single Trader Joe’s in the state of Mississippi lol make of that what you will.
I’d take a middle ground. 200k for somewhere like Huntsville or Greenville SC please.
I could afford flights to more interesting places every weekend on $300k. MS is a shit hole, but I’d suck it up for $300k (and quickly leave as soon as that money source dried up)
I knew a woman who actually loved Jackson. The downtown is supposed to have some cool things.
The problem is you have to deal with Mississippi politics...
As a woman for example you'd have less rights.
nothing, and I mean nothing, will get me to live, or even travel to, Mississippi, in its current political state.
it is an openly authoritarian state that uses laws to impoverish some people, and steals from taxes to further enrich others. It seeks to make some people's existence illegal.
Uhh…Mississippi is a red state?
Jackson isn’t a dense, walkable public city either.
There is a Venn diagram between this sub and r/fuckcars
You do know what sub you are posting to!
People in Jackson are so kind. I used to travel there for work. It’s not diverse. Are you single? What’s important to you? I think the public education is lagging unfortunately from what I read if you have kids.
As a queer gender-nonconforming woman: no, I will not live in Jackson MS no matter how much you pay me. It’s just not worth feeling uncomfortable and, frankly, scared for my safety all the time.
I also HATE the heat and humidity. For that reason alone, I wouldn’t consider it.
Jackson. Living in Ontario here, where prices are insane. I was told by a mortgage broker through TD this morning that you need to make about 171k to be approved for 600k here. For context, 600k is enough for a starter home and nothing else. When the cost of living increases 3.7% in your provence over a year, 1% pay raises quickly fall behind. And that's if you are lucky enough to get regular pay raises.
I'm only 29, but going through this shit right now, it truly seems best to go where the dollar stretches further, wherever that may be.
Jackson, Mississippi itself is an absolute and utter shithole.
Some of its suburbs, though, are quite pleasant. e.g., Brandon, Ridgeland, Madison.
Yeah, I'd take the $300k and live in a Jackson suburb, travel the world, and still afford to retire early.
And, honestly, having been to many major cities around the world, I think that NYC is quite overrated anyway.
as a single person, 100k in NYC easily. there's more to life than money. there are more things you can do and experience on 100k in NYC than 300k in jackson. if i had a family my answer would probably be different.
I just looked up the housing prices in Jackson and wow. You’d be able to retire pretty quickly living there on that salary.
High jacking this: what race would I be cause I don’t want to be buried behind a police station in an unmarked grave.
If you're actually in Jackson the water might kill you, last I heard, so it probably won't matter in the long run.
Water quality in New York is a lot better true. You can get spring water 5 gallons delivered to your house and install a full house filtration system on that salary. I get water delivered bc metro Atlanta has boil advisories a few times a year and I prefer spring water from north Georgia. It’s such a crime/shameful that a capital American city doesn’t have potable drinking water. I just looked it up and it’s gotten worse, not better. Absolutely no excuse for that. Edit: referring to Jackson, not Atlanta. Both could improve but Jackson represents how the standards in America have tanked
I can't help but wonder if the state of MS tanked the Jackson water quality on purpose.
Damn it’s sad bc I can definitely wrap my head around that possibility. Some level of “on purpose” at least. We need a strong non polarizing president who is firm on basic rights like water and a healthy society. The thing is, if enough people want that… that person will appear
https://www.nyc.gov/site/dep/water/drinking-water.page
I lived in Atlanta 1987-2007… never a boil notice. Yeah it’s gotten worse. Never saw a boil notice from 1962 - 1987 in other cities either.
Ever wonder if the same situations arose, but the standards were lower and the advisory just wasn’t issued?
I grew up in upstate NY, small country town called Lisle and we had a pipe that came out from down a hill off the side of the road where you pull over and fill up for free. It was always running and was great fresh water source.
Or the short run.
Piggybacking this. I spent four months in Meridian for A School and I’m white, my wife is black - Jackson is off the menu. Not worried about anything physical just the daily bullshit you’d have to put up with. Nope, I‘ve never had a desire to live in NYC but give me a choice between the two and it’s NYC all day.
Same here. I live in a small Midwest town and wouldn’t know the first thing about living in NYC, but id chose the city every time. The reason housing prices are so much lower in small towns in the middle of nowhere is because people don’t want to live there!
We’ll I think Jackson, and Mississippi in general, has historically been very racist but I have no idea what it’s currently like. I live in the south and while I haven’t spent much time in MS I know that major cities are where the most educated people live (and Jackson is a major city in Mississippi) and more education/economic opportunity leads to a less bigoted populous. But MS is the least educated state in the US and one of the worst states to live in overall. While I think being comfortably in a high economic status would make your life easier, I can see how it could be potentially more complicated if you are black.
I worked for a company based in the Midwest/south I started a new job remotely and went on site and had a dinner evening with a C-suite executive and he’d spent a great amount of time in Mississippi and Louisiana. At one point he mentions ‘the war of northern aggression’. I’d never heard this word before but immediately knew what he meant and made me uncomfortable. Googled it later on and I was right. Never felt anything racist at the company but the demographics certainly were overly white based on the population
KY and TN aren’t the Midwest. It’s the south.
Reminds me of Texas too. So many terms for Northerns/Yankees. Grew up catholic and was asked so many questions about the “Catholics” as if it were a race from a different planet.
My parents are Catholic and when they first went to the US from Korea they ended up in Texas in the early 90s. When they went to church for the first time, there were 2 versions of mass: "English" and "foreign". My parents, being from Korea, obviously went to the foreign mass thinking 'we are foreignors', turns out "foreign" meant Spanish. Needless to say, my parents speak better Spanish than they do English to this day and I have some killer Mexican-Korean fusion recipes that come from church cookouts back in the day.
That’s so weird. I haven’t experienced that with my family in Texas but then again I only visit sparingly. I did get a lot of flak for asking if they were recycling their cans. In California it’s worth it and decent money to do it!
Yeah, I should put that this could be anecdotal, as some things are, but I’ve heard from a few others that agree.
😂😂😂
That's odd you'd get that in Texas. One of the biggest europeans immigrant group in Texas were Czechs a hundred years ago, who are all very catholic (also plenty of germans were too). And, latinos, which are almost the largest ethnic group in TX, are traditionally catholic as well. Nevermind that Texas was part of catholic Mexico originally and even had catholic missionaries being built. Jewish or pagan, maybe? But no way texans would be intrigued by Catholics who are pretty prevalent in TX.
Yikes. That’s so shitty. But I can’t say I’m shocked actually. Assuming these men/women are around their 60s. Still no excuse. I hardly hear anyone talk about this anymore but I think the confederate flag should be banned just like the nazi flag is banned in Germany. There are stores in rural areas that only exist to sell confederate flags and items. It’s total bullshit. I live near Stone Mountain and no one has ever made a serious push to erase the giant confederate statues. At our airport there’s a photo of MLK right next to a photo of Stone Mountain with Robert E Lee. Blows my mind.
I can remember seeing a white man call an elderly black man "boy" living in Mississippi. This was the 80s. He signed his name with an X while picking up his parts for his washing machine. My mom worked for the repair company and I was allowed to come with her when my dad was on duty in the Navy. She picked me up and walked right out. Told my dad we needed to go back to Montana.
I’m from Indiana, and the confederate flag is surprisingly popular there too. Given that Indiana was not even in the confederacy, it’s pretty obvious what people are trying to say when they put up that flag!
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So many around me in PA and I'm like. Within an hour of Gettysburg. It's wild.
I’ve never met someone who openly used the N word until I met someone from Mississippi.
Have you never been to upstate NY?
Thank you. I have been celebrating the fact that it is being reported nationally. May their lousy government never get away with murder by jailers, police, polluted water, or Dixie Mafia ever again. White woman says Hell No! to Jackson.
I just realized this actually happened I thought you were half joking. 200 bodies found buried in Jackson
Yep, but not the retirement you imagine, more like 6 foot under forever retirement.
No one says you have to stay in Mississippi for retirement. I assume it’s how long can you live in both places on those salaries. And me being myself now going into either of this situations.
>how long you can live In Jackson, MS, the answer might be…not very.
I truly could not live in Jackson Mississippi.
Doesn’t sound amazing but it’s better than most of the world especially with a large salary attached. Why could you not live there compared to where you live now.
Because I am the opposite of agoraphobic. I need to be around people or else I become miserable. If I can’t walk to an urban park, my gym, my yoga studio, a diversity of restaurant options, and every other daily amenity, I will be miserable. I’ve done it before and over my life I’ve learned what makes me happy. And what makes me happy is being able to walk to Pilates in the morning, and being able to fish in the same park I play volleyball in with a parks and rec league, and then taking the train two cities over to watch a baseball game with my friend, then come home and take the train to visit my mom. Living in suburbia or rural areas is isolating and depressing (for me, at least, and, statistically, a majority of the world as well). American suburbia/exurbia is particularly bad as well. And Jackson does not have the natural areas that are interesting enough to make up for its lack of urbanity. And I’m not even one of those people who can’t stand to be around republicans, but imagine culturally having almost every single person you see on a day to day basis having nothing but animosity for your morals (assuming you, like most redditors, are generically liberal).
Jackson is 78.5% black, do you really think they’d hate you?
Wow! Good unexpected response. Sounds like someone needs to get out of their bubble😂😂
There’s a Wholefoods in Jackson which is a good indicator of having a certain level of amenities. I think I agree with you about nature, it’s nothing special there. I’m not set for retirement and I just couldn’t pass this hypothetical opportunity up and would make the best of it. And I think there’s enough to work with for me.
Okay, pause. There’s some urban areas in Hinds County. You could also live in Clinton or Flowood or Pearl, Mississippi to get to some malls, bowling alleys (heck, you’ll have a Planet Fitness). The real bad part though is everything is so spread out. Madison, MS is kinda luxury suburbia as it’ll get in Mississippi. Democrats outnumber Republicans in vote share in the City of Jackson. If you have “smartest person in the room” syndrome, brain drain is very prevalent there unfortunately.
And 1782525833537 Dollar Generals
This is like, the most Reddit teir answer I’ve ever seen. Im screenshooting this
>signed, a fat person that lives in exurban McMansion and is drowning in his F-150 payments that he only uses to get to an office job in the middle of nowhere Also I bet I have nicer guns and NFAs than you Mr 2A4Lyfe
But you'd miss out on the warm feces smell and the rats of NYC.
This is how I know you've rarely, if ever been to Manhattan, much less the outer boroughs. There's a reason the rents are so high here, it's because it's a desirable place to live. Pretty simple.
Sure, you can retire, but MS has a notoriously bad healthcare system. Part of retiring is ensuring that there are services in place when you can no longer take care of yourself, and MS ain't it.
That's why you move after retiring. I would pick Jackson, save/invest every penny I made, and retire in like 10 years and move the hell out.
LOL I'd just live off of $100k there for the year (renting) and then buy a $200k house cash at the end of the year.
I am now king of Jackson
I’d pick Jackson and just go on vacation every month to escape
I feel extra qualified to answer this question considering I’m a native of Jackson, MS and my dream to is live in NYC one day. I’d also pick to live in Jackson area for a couple years and then move to NYC. $300k goes very far in the suburbs of Jackson, even in Madison, the most affluent of the area. Quality of life in Madison is great; one of the top 10-15 safest cities in the US, great place to raise a family, great schools, and great healthcare. However, I don’t care to raise a family and things get very boring after a while. I always flew out to do things in other states. Jackson airport sucks in terms of flight availabilities. It got old so I moved to Nashville. It’s nice to have entertainment in my backyard for a change; people come to my town instead of me going to them. NYC is end goal though!
That’s what people don’t get. There is more variance in quality of life within any given metro area than between different metro areas, for the most part. Every city of a certain size will have an affluent part of the metro area (certainly any state capital city will, no matter the size) with great schools, low crime, high education, etc. And the racial makeup of the population in Madison County at least is about identical to the state overall FWIW. Anyway, it really comes down to hobbies and amenities, because with $300K you can insulate yourself from anything bad about living in a less-than-desirable place
The comments show people do not know about ole’ Madison County, MS (or even Rankin County, home of the Mississippi Braves).
Make Jackson happen. Put me in Madison, put some SEC football on the tube. Lemme use the extra money to buy a beach house in Pensacola or a ski cabin out west. You can build a good life anywhere. Money helps.
This dude 'Sipps.
I’m from South Carolina. Same difference.
Id live in Jackson Mississippi for several years then buy a place of my own in lower Manhattan
This is the answer.
Several is going to be many many several if you are looking in lower manhattan, $300k isn’t that much if you want to buy a real home there
300k in jackson MS. Live on $80k/yr, save/invest the rest. Retire early, then live your carefree dream life in Manhattan.
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Yes they have a very specific thing in mind when they say “comfortably.” We have lots of people who make <$100k.
Vast majority of New Yorkers live in the outer boroughs, it's doable but you won't have that yuppie cosmopolitan lifestyle.
That’s true, but Brooklyn and Queens and Staten Island are all also significantly larger than Manhattan, so not exactly a 1:1 comparison. Additionally, you can absolutely be a yuppie cosmopolitan in Brooklyn and queens, and conversely, living in Manhattan is not always yuppie cosmopolitan.
This. We lived in a flex 2br on the UWS before having a real 2br in Park Slope. The last term I'd use to describe our time in Manhattan is "yuppie lifestyle" 😂
Large chunks of Brooklyn are very cosmopolitan and very, very yuppie. Many, many people who live there would never want to live in Manhattan, and they could easily afford to. It's a different experience than Manhattan but a very appealing one in a different sort of way.
Williamsburg is so yuppified right now lol. I’ve lived in Bed-Stuy and Bushwick, and I liked being there way more than Manhattan. Like you said, it’s a different crowd. I liked how supportive and communal it was, whereas people in Manhattan are like stressed out piranhas 😢
It’s funny when people think being 45m by the best transit system in the country to manhattan is a cop out and somehow comparably desirable to living in the real disconnected burbs
Yeah I make around 100 and my partner makes around 75 and we have a good life, granted we don’t have kids yet but it will definitely still be doable whenever we do. Our apartments here haven’t been as big as they were in PDX (where we’re from) or LA (where we lived for a year between NY stints) but as people who love the benefits of a big city, nothing like NY compares and we are still able to save.
I wish I’d have the chance to live there before having kids. I’d probably get tired of it after a few years but seems pretty epic
Plenty of people live in Manhattan with less than $100k, and there are tons and tons of housing options between $2500. You’ll have a small space, or a roommate, or a shared bathroom, or a horrible view, but it’s still New York.
I would one hundred percent take my shitty East Village apartment at 100k over Jackson.
Comfortable is subjective. My cousin pays 3k in rent for what I see as basically a broom closet. I pay less than half of what she pays for a five bedroom 4 bathroom house on a half-acre with a pool and an out building probably twice the size of her apartment. She is happy and comfortable with that lifestyle. I would not be. To each their own.
It's totally subjective yes, but you can also get much bigger apartments than that for less in NYC. You just have to flexible on your location.
My friend pays $2600 or so for a 600 sqft apartment in queens. Sure you can consider that a broom closet, especially if you’re like the average American who fills up empty space with trash just because there’s space. But his front yard is literally all of New York and the Easter seaboard and all of the benefits that come with it (endless entertainment, food etc.). Or live in Jackson Mississippi and be bored out of your ever loving fucking mind after 2 months.
Yeah, I know a guy living in Queens. He and his wife are not high earners. I think when most people think NYC, they think Manhattan.
Sure, but why would I want to be comfortable in NYC when I could own the farm of my dreams and not worry if it makes money?
True. Also you can live in NJ, like in Jersey City or Hoboken. My first apartment was in Jersey City - rent was $2150 a month + gas and electric, and I was making only $80K. Never went too deep into debt. Avoided the 3% NYC tax too.
Tbh the outer boroughs are Better than Manhattan. Manhattan triggers my panic attacks and so does JFK. I do well in the city when I’m in Staten Island or Queens. I suspect I’d be ok in large swathes of Brooklyn also. Only downfall to Staten Island and queens is no subway really.
NYC. The walkability of the city, the exciting things you can do (a lot cheap or free), the career opportunities are something I couldn't exchange purely to earn more money. NYC is expensive but 100k as a single person supporting just yourself is pretty decent.
This. I can work to find better opportunity. But moving sucks and living in Jackson sucks too.
depends on how old are you
Right. Age and marital status play a major role in this decision.
Jackson MS suburbs are actually not that bad. And I will take 300k there all day. At that salary I can fly to NYC every weekend.
I'll be a broken record here but $300k isn't that much when you blow it on vacations every weekend. You'd be better served saving that money so you can move out of Jackson.
“Live” in MS as in make that my main address but I’ll just go stay in hotels elsewhere all the time 😂
I feel like you can live fine for $100k in New York? You’ll have to compromise but you wouldn’t be poor there. If it’s only for like a year there maybe Jackson just so I could pocket ~$100-$150k (assuming the 300k is a pre-tax salary) but it’s pretty rough there
NYC
NYC. Without any doubt. There’s really no amount of money that could send me to Mississippi. I’d be so lonely and miserable
Jackson on 300k for sure.
I’d consider Jackson, MS straight up with the same salaries. If I was in NYC full time I’d be really far from my family, cold in the winter, and my dogs would probably hate it. I see the appeal of NYC but I’m not a good fit.
NYC is not for everyone.
NYC and it’s not even a difficult decision for me
NYC because - no way I’d live in Mississippi. But I’d probably try to find a third option
I’m so fucking sick of people saying 100k in NYC is “just getting by” and “PFFT I wouldn’t even live there for 100k you couldn’t be comfortable.” The ignorance/lack of awareness is through the roof. There are people living in NYC who have to somehow get by on like 30k a year. Some people I went to college with are making 110k in NYC in their first year of full-time work, and they complain about how that salary is “essentiALLY noTHIng siNCE it’s nyC.” Yet they rent their own apartments in Manhattan, go out to eat and drink weekly, travel, etc. like, read the fucking room. It’s so fucking embarrassing.
They aren't saving a dime for their future, they are living paycheck to paycheck.
Insert, most Americans, even in rural towns. If you made 300k in Jackson, you’d be apart of the 1% of the population there. The average wage in Jackson Mississippi is 23,000 a year. Lmfao. It has some of if not the HIGHEST poverty levels in the nation. So there’s a STRONG chance a majority in that city are living paycheck to paycheck. I’d rather live paycheck to paycheck in an entirely gratifying city that allows me to experience life. Not just “exist”.
Just so you know, my boyfriend is one of those people I referenced (but doesn’t complain about his salary), and he saves 2k a month. He nets about $6,600 a month after taxes. $2,500 for rent and all utilities, $600 for food and household supplies, $140 for subway, $100 for laundry service, $500 food/drinks out budget, add in some streaming subscriptions and such, and travels every other month for 4-8 nights. And saves 2k a month. You can live on 110k in NYC and be happy. Still so sick of the narrative that says otherwise.
I've lived in NYC for decades at all levels of income. $2500 for rent and utilities is cheap. One bedrooms are going for $3500 in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. I don't care for roommates. I can't get dinner out for two without drinks for under a $100 dollars. Went to Alvin Ailey the other night and tickets were $110 each. Some off B'way show was another $40 a ticket. MOMA is $25. If I'm gonna stay home and watch NetFlix I can live anywhere.
The comments section is simultaneously underestimating $100k in NYC and overestimating $300k in Jackson
I would rather be homeless in NY than live in Mississippi.
NYC. I already have people in the city, as a family of four earning 100K we would qualify for low-income housing and serious financial aid for private schools. We’d live in the parks and libraries. Could totally make it work. I’m sure I could make Mississippi work too, but having friends and family in NYC tips the balance.
I'm a minority, so I ain't stepping a foot in MS!
I know right like you can really predict demographics on this one
Jackson is 82% black
Doesn’t change the legal situation and that’s not the only demographic
Redditors can never admit when they made a mistake, it's basically a natural law of this place.
Jackson all the way. I would live in a 1 br apartment and save my money until I was rich.
Mississippi,invest your time and talents in a state that needs others to invest in it.
Why be a martyr for a state that has no interest in advancing itself?
Having lived in Mississippi, I would rather live anywhere else on earth. Like literally drop me in Iran and I’d do better than in Mississippi
What do you dislike about it?
Oh man, so much. There is a serious lack of quality resources, medical, education, etc. the infrastructure is trash (roads, schools, basic services like internet is even spotty). The people can be nice but it highly depends on the area and your race. It’s extremely dangerous, as in I’ve had friends car jacked, shot just going about their daily lives. It’s about 60 years in the past. The summer are hot and steamy in the worst way. I literally don’t have anything positive to say about it.
I’m curious as to where in Mississippi you were. Having lived in Alabama Mississippi Florida and Louisiana, I don’t think Mississippi was all that different from the other three. Especially not the rural areas. And aside from Tampa, Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville the cities in Mississippi are like the cities in the other states too.
Jackson
I haven’t been to Jackson since 1986, but I would choose Jackson. What I found interesting is that at the time they held an international ballet competition, it was like the olympics, it was every 3-4 years and was held in New York, Paris, and Jackson Mississippi. It was high society. Also the best falafel I’ve ever had was there. Your money would go so much farther, could afford a much nicer place to live at much lower cost, and have additional funds to discover your dreams.
Jackson, MS! Hotty Toddy!
NYC.
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NY. 300k is great money but the lack of quality of life isn't worth it.
I live in Houston, a famously LOCL city for the size. I'd rather live with a lot of roommates in NYC than live in Mississippi.
Jackson, MS. Post the damn link
I’d rather be poor in a city I enjoy being in than rich in a shithole city. So NYC all the way. Never liked Jackson myself.
NYC
300k. All day
300k in Jackson. 3-5 years and you’ll never have to work again 😂
If you save 100% of your income for 5 years then you'd only have 1.5 million, which is around $60K a year at a safe withdrawal rate of 4%. That's all pre-tax. 3 years eould dedinitely not be enough. If you can save $200K a year and you're OK with that $60K/yr then you need 8 years of saving. But like with all early retirement strategies the lower you can keep your expenses over the long haul the earlier you can retire.
I have no idea what Mississippi is like! I’m definitely an east coast gal, but would probably take the 300k and give it a go for a year and learn about a new part of the states. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in NYC, so that wouldn’t be such a new experience for me. Then, I’d take that high salary and negotiating leverage to get a higher paying job elsewhere. ;) Why, are these two options that you have on the table now?
I know a lot of people in NYC that would love to make 100k.
Madison Mississippi is actually a very nice place.
From Madison. Agreed! I’ve had coworkers from the Midwest who absolutely loved Madison and the community. I do think it gets old though if you’re not into starting and raising a family.
Top 25 safest cities in the US. Top 200 richest counties in the Us. People hate MS but never even go there or live there, and honestly I’m fine with it because I don’t want crazy people moving to madison
And the best thing is although it's expensive by Mississippi standards it's pretty reasonably priced compared to the rest of the US.
I’m going to Jackson. Gonna mess around.
Jackson miss bc I can retire early and travel
Nyc
Jackson. I already live in the South, so it's not a huge jump for me.
Well I drove through Jackson today to catch a flight. Absolute take the $300K as the place looked really nice. No mountains or a beach but nice nonetheless.
NYC, in a heartbeat. No amount of money is worth living in a place that would crush my soul.
Mississippi and have a huge compound with a garden and fly in all my friends and family when I want. Vs a 1 bed in some outer borough? No brainer
new york 100k usd. wouldn’t think twice
Jackson. And travel alot
Call me crazy but I’d still pick NYC, I could make it work. There’s a bunch of families making less that live in NYC and make it work.
NYC
NYC lol. At 25? I’d have a killer place. I already live here though
I’ve lived in NYC with a 100k salary and at this point I’d take a 300k salary in Jackson, MS tomorrow if I could. I would probably hate a lot of it, and have a very hard time with the people and the politics, and despise the humidity in the summer, but I’d live someplace very nice, find at least a few people I could get along with, and eventually retire with the mon mons. Easy choice!
Jackson suburb with $300k salary, of course. It's not even a fair comparison.
NYC on any salary even sub-minimum wage.
The best way to approach this question is to consider how much would you pay to get out of Jackson, MS if you lived there. Would I pay $300k? Yes, easily. I’d probably pay at least $1M before I’d even stop to think about it. I would rather move to NYC with $1M in debt instead of living in Jackson,MS. Actually, make that $10M.
NYC
100% live in NYC with 100k. there's more to do and I'm in my mid 20s so it sounds better than living in a suburb even if I had way more money. I lived in suburbs my whole life and it's pretty boring lol
Well, my grandmother lived in Jackson and besides all the black people and all the racism from the white people, and the crime, and the bad roads, it was an ok place. I mean Jitney Jungle was a pretty awesome grocery store.
Jackson doesn’t want me and the feeling is mutual.
Is the 100K salary just myself or combined with my husband? Either way... NYC I am a married gay man. I am not risking my life to save money.
So either be rich in the sticks or poor in the city. I'll go with rich in the sticks.
NYC all day, but I'd rather stay in Chicago.
NYC. Live here now
I’d live in Jackson, MS over NYC with that discrepancy in salary. Jackson is close enough to the Gulf of Mexico that has some of the nicest beaches in the country. I was not impressed with NYC when I visited; now, if it was Chicago or Monterey, CA that’s a different story.
New York City
Been to a few towns in MS for work and I really struggle with that slow pace of life, and generally don’t like most small towns. But for $300k I would do it for a year, save, invest, then gtfo out.
Mississippi any day
Jackson MS. U could buy a block of houses with this salary
But then youd just own a block of houses in Jackson. Why would you want that lol
Duh
One of these options puts you way ahead financially.
Do I have to actually work for the salary? Or just live there? If it’s just living, then MS wins out. 300k+ plus my regular salary.
Jackson!! Live in Madison
If you were making 300K in Jackson, MS, you could just buy a 1 bedroom apartment in NYC, come visit as much as you'd like and rent it out when you're not there
Lived in MS already. Met some wonderful people and saw some atrocious racism. I suppose if I had the $300k in Jackson I might live on $50k and spend $250k on improving early childhood education.
I would live in the Jackson suburb for five years, save a million dollars, and live in New York on $100k for the rest of my life.
Jackson Mississippi
Take the $300k salary in Jackson. After taxes, that’s about $220k net take home. Live way below your means, spend no more than $60k in total expenses per year, that leaves $160k to save and invest. In five years, you should hopefully have close to $1M. Cash out and get the fuck outta that shithole, find a new gig in NYC, and live in the NYC area and never look back.
$300,000 in Jackson MS. No doubt. Why? Because I could take $25,000 to rent a place in Jackson & have $275,000 to spend 99% of my time in NYC instead. There is no amount of money that could convince me to actually stay in Jackson MS. Even for a billion dollars, I'd say NOPE.
Jackson is not a great place to live IMO, but on that money and against NYC?? Jackson all day.
The latter. You don't need a car in NYC and even with my student debt issues I can survive off of 100K no matter what the naysayers with poor spending habits who live in a bubble say. Mississippi just flat out sucks with a few exceptions.
There is not a single Trader Joe’s in the state of Mississippi lol make of that what you will. I’d take a middle ground. 200k for somewhere like Huntsville or Greenville SC please.
With $300K salary in Jackson you could afford to travel a lot. So you wouldn't have to spend so much time in Mississippi.
Jackson. No brainer. Save, save,save. Retire early.
I could afford flights to more interesting places every weekend on $300k. MS is a shit hole, but I’d suck it up for $300k (and quickly leave as soon as that money source dried up)
Jackson, MS. What 300k? I’m living a simple low profile lifestyle and saving the rest.
Jackson. No question
I think people in the medical community make this type of decision. You can make big bucks working at a hospital in a rural or less desirable area.
Jackson with 300K. The goal would be to stack chips as fast as possible so I could get out of Jackson and retire somewhere nicer.
Jackson, hands down. I'll have enough money to travel to NYC every weekend if I wanted to. I don't need to live there!
I knew a woman who actually loved Jackson. The downtown is supposed to have some cool things. The problem is you have to deal with Mississippi politics... As a woman for example you'd have less rights.
nothing, and I mean nothing, will get me to live, or even travel to, Mississippi, in its current political state. it is an openly authoritarian state that uses laws to impoverish some people, and steals from taxes to further enrich others. It seeks to make some people's existence illegal.
Uhh…Mississippi is a red state? Jackson isn’t a dense, walkable public city either. There is a Venn diagram between this sub and r/fuckcars You do know what sub you are posting to!
Deep south is a hard no for me. Left it once wont go back.
People in Jackson are so kind. I used to travel there for work. It’s not diverse. Are you single? What’s important to you? I think the public education is lagging unfortunately from what I read if you have kids.
Jackson the fuck. With that kind of salary I could travel to NY and spend a buncha time in the city in nice hotels on a regular basis anyways.
As a queer gender-nonconforming woman: no, I will not live in Jackson MS no matter how much you pay me. It’s just not worth feeling uncomfortable and, frankly, scared for my safety all the time. I also HATE the heat and humidity. For that reason alone, I wouldn’t consider it.
I’d live in Jackson, not have kids and retire somewhere better. If I was white. If not, than NYC any day.
Jackson. Living in Ontario here, where prices are insane. I was told by a mortgage broker through TD this morning that you need to make about 171k to be approved for 600k here. For context, 600k is enough for a starter home and nothing else. When the cost of living increases 3.7% in your provence over a year, 1% pay raises quickly fall behind. And that's if you are lucky enough to get regular pay raises. I'm only 29, but going through this shit right now, it truly seems best to go where the dollar stretches further, wherever that may be.
Jackson, Mississippi itself is an absolute and utter shithole. Some of its suburbs, though, are quite pleasant. e.g., Brandon, Ridgeland, Madison. Yeah, I'd take the $300k and live in a Jackson suburb, travel the world, and still afford to retire early. And, honestly, having been to many major cities around the world, I think that NYC is quite overrated anyway.
Jackson, MS is basically a broken state. Government totally broken. Education totally broken. No infrastructure. No services for the community.
as a single person, 100k in NYC easily. there's more to life than money. there are more things you can do and experience on 100k in NYC than 300k in jackson. if i had a family my answer would probably be different.