Leaving NY

[adkkev]

One thing to also consider is your retirement pension. In NYS you have probably one of the best and most secure pension funds in the country. Plus it won’t be taxed in NYS (still taxed for federal income tax). It’s probably a long way off in the future for you guys but you still consider it.

 

[sonnyjane]

One thing to also consider is your retirement pension. In NYS you have probably one of the best and most secure pension funds in the country. Plus it won’t be taxed in NYS (still taxed for federal income tax). It’s probably a long way off in the future for you guys but you still consider it.

Good point. I think moving to a place with more affordable housing could make up for any pension shortcomings, but look into it. My mom is retiring in May after 44 years of teaching across 3 states. Now that I’m helping her get all her finances/pensions in order, I can see that they’re all handled a bit differently!

 

[mrs. magoo]

Interestingly enough, the Williamsville school board just voted to put the superintendent on administrative leave. He tried to spin the story that the reason they weren't prepared to open school yet was due to over 100 teachers resigning. Many were retirements, only a small portion were teachers resigning. Also, he went above the board and just made to call to delay the opening, without running it by the board first. He's gone. What a time for any district to have this kind of stuff going on. And Williamsville is one of the best districts in the area, too.

Wow, my husband played basketball against him when they were in high school. I teach in the Rochester City School District and our superintendent just up and left during the spring closure. He actually took another job and basically did not return to the city. We also had a 60 million budget gap. So I am well versed in Supers just up and leaving.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Another thing to think of is Union support. Not all schools/districts/states have teachers unions. I wouldn't teach without one.

 

[lovin'fl]

We are from MD. Moved to NC when youngest graduated HS in 2017. We lived near Chapel Hill and Durham. But our DS-23 lives in Raleigh and many of DH's coworkers, there, lived in Raleigh area. It is good for teachers...great schools. Lots of transplants.

This year we moved to PA to be nearer to elderly parents and DDs. Our 2 DDs are in college in PA. One is graduating this Dec and will be a teacher. She is looking at teaching in MD. Since she knows many folks in MD...many family also taught/teach in MD. They pay well. But we moved away because cost of living was super high and high taxes and crowded busy area. So I wish she would look elsewhere. But will be nice to have her close by.

But I recommend looking into Wake Forest/Raleigh NC. Really nice area. Good schools. Lots to do.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Teaching salaries in other states IMO only matter if the general COL is not in proportion to that. I remember when the USDA was leaving the D.C. area and coming to my area there was such a stink about the employees getting a pay cut. But COL is much different than in D.C. in my area. From an employee standpoint no one wants a pay but it's not always a bad thing. You'd want a pay raise if you were moving from a lower COL place to a higher COL place stands to reason that even if most of us would want additional cash that you wouldn't need the additional income to actually live (meaning to pay for housing, and basic needs).

 

[Hikergirl]

I can't wait until dh retires so we can move out of NY, but if you are more interested in getting out of NYC rather than the state you should check out upstate. And I mean the real upstate- Columbia County and north. Or western NY.

 

[BrianL]

You just can't beat the Southeast for low cost of living. If you can stand the heat, come on down!

 

[Tinijocaro]

I can't wait until dh retires so we can move out of NY, but if you are more interested in getting out of NYC rather than the state you should check out upstate. And I mean the real upstate- Columbia County and north. Or western NY.

Us WNYers don't consider ourselves upstate. We are WNYers.

 

[Hikergirl]

Us WNYers don't consider ourselves upstate. We are WNYers.

I know, that is why I said "or"

 

[tzolkin]

One consideration I would have about some other areas of NY are the rates at which people are leaving the state. The town we moved from had a 22% population decrease from 2010 to 2018. And 37% since 1990. I don't even think teaching jobs were secure because they were trying to merge with other districts while we were still there. If you do need/want to move, it's quite difficult selling a house where the population has dropped so drastically that there aren't any people looking to buy.

We moved from Long Island to NC almost 18 years ago and have never looked back. We live outside of Winston-Salem, in a more rural area (we own a horse farm and I'm a professional trainer). But there are so many wonderful communities in NC...around the Triangle Cary, Apex, Raleigh...or the Triad (Winston-Salem, Clemmons, Kernersville) or the Charlotte area.

We also live in a rural area near Winston-Salem, NC. We picked this area by doing research online and then making a trip to drive around and check out the places we had on our list. I would highly recommend that to the OP. Some places may sound great (especially with school ratings), but when we saw them in person the traffic or the feel of the area was a very quick "no" for us (Charlotte suburbs).

Us WNYers don't consider ourselves upstate. We are WNYers.

Yes, people from NYC tend to refer to the entire state as "Upstate NY". I always thought it was funny when my NYC family would refer to an area as "upstate NY" (less than an hour out of the city) and my Central NY family would refer to the same place as "downstate".

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

Harrisburg is pretty close to NYC so I would consider that if you want to be able to see family easier. A beautiful area, we live in NYC suburb and travel into that area often for the day or the weekend into Amish country or Hershey with the beautiful rolling hills, very pretty and peaceful. But NC is nice too, little nicer weather and not sure what area but we just love the beaches there.

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

We're in the Green Bay, WI area. My dh is a high school teacher and many of our friends teach as well. One of our friends in our neighbor group taught at the same school as my dh. Last year, her husband got transferred to the Chapel Hill are of North Carolina. They moved and she was actually going to just stay home with her kids, but the teaching opportunities she was offered there were too good to pass up. They live in a very nice neighborhood and love their new neighbors (not as much as us of course.....)

 

[China Expat]

As a person who moved from California to Beijng, China at age 55 to help lead the opening of a new school, I say, do it! Make the jump! I was away for 5 yrs and loooooved being abroad. I am back in CA and will be relocating to Boston for a few years to help open another new school. Life is short.

 

[AnnaS]

One of my cousins moved to Cummings, GA about two years ago. He actually kept his job and his wife and three kids moved and stayed out there. He traveled back and forth. Fast forward about a year later, they moved back. They loved their home and the town/area but they have "no family" there. They still have their home and treated as a second home for now.

My friend and her family recently sold her home and moved in with her mom until she and her husband retire in a few years. In the meantime, they just purchased a home in DE. They will go back and forth once a month or so for two/three nights each trip.

My daughter recently married and moved to DE too - her husband is from DE. It's close enough where we don't need to take a flight - only two hours away. Wish we were closer though. There are quiet a few people she has met originally from Long Island and Brooklyn.

DE, PA might be an area to consider - far enough from NY yet close enough to family - visit on weekends, for the day.

Good luck.

 

[cobright]

I would look beyond the surface things like teacher salaries.

Look at the benefit packages, and cost of living in the areas you are considering. Salaries may be lower, but you might not be paying state income tax (or a much lower rate), or property taxes may be much less.

I wouldn't categorize average teacher salaries as a surface characteristic. It is a deeply telling number with regards to the value a region places on public education. But yes, it should always be in the context of the area's cost of living.

North Carolina, for instance, has a cost of living index of about 95% of the national average. Yet they pay their teachers 87% of the national average. Compared to, say, Michigan; which pays on average a little more than the national average but has a significantly lower cola than NC.

Honestly, there are worse places than NC. There's Mississippi. I have lived in NY (upstate and NYC) and loved both experiences. I have spent time in NC and will not, willingly, do so again. So, I'm likely biased in that regard.

 

[georgina]

Well housing is very affordable in the Pittsburgh area, but teaching jobs, at least in the suburban districts, are very hard to land unless you know someone, and pay is decent. No idea about the city district. Covid may cause more teacher retirements and therefore openings. Many newly graduated teachers from around here go to the Carolinas to get a job.

 

[DeeBee3]

My concern with staying in NY is that I feel like outside of NYC, it is so extremely difficult to secure a job, especially in the suburban districts.

But beware the Buffalo winters!!!!! I have family there and I also live in NY. Not for me. Also, part of the paycuts in other states has to do with the incredibly low cost of living. Everything costs more in NY - utilities, taxes, food, etc...

 

[mrodgers]

PA eats away at you with high taxes and high food costs and oppressed wages.

It was frustrating in the days of grocery discussions to hear how down south everyone can use coupons that aren't for Pillsbury dough and when I saw people state they don't buy something until they see it for what I remember 1987 prices. I remember people saying they don't buy ground beef unless it's under $2/pound and I'm ecstatic when I see it under $4. Chicken breast, I wish I could see under $2/lb when everyone else won't buy it unless it's on sale for the 1992 price of $0.99/lb.

I was in Ohio not long ago. I stopped for gas and felt like I needed to run away before I got caught. The pump read $1.89/gallon! I was paying $2.69/gallon in PA at that time. I truly felt like I was stealing it.

Just was discussing fuel with a coworker as we both ride motorcycles. I would love to put only ethanol free gas in my motorcycle, would definitely love to have ethanol free available for the lawn equipment. He said during his 7000 mile trip on the motorcycle last year, he noticed everywhere but here seemed to have 91 octane ethanol free available in the middle of the price spectrum. Here, every station is different with their $0.50 higher top tier gas whether you get 91, 92, 93, 94, and 95 octane, none of it available with Ethanol except for a place here or there within a 100 mile radius and the ethanol free stuff is even higher priced yet compared to other states where 91 E-free is simply part of the middle grade price range.

We do have cheap eggs though.

 

[mjkacmom]

PA eats away at you with high taxes and high food costs and oppressed wages.

It was frustrating in the days of grocery discussions to hear how down south everyone can use coupons that aren't for Pillsbury dough and when I saw people state they don't buy something until they see it for what I remember 1987 prices. I remember people saying they don't buy ground beef unless it's under $2/pound and I'm ecstatic when I see it under $4. Chicken breast, I wish I could see under $2/lb when everyone else won't buy it unless it's on sale for the 1992 price of $0.99/lb.

I was in Ohio not long ago. I stopped for gas and felt like I needed to run away before I got caught. The pump read $1.89/gallon! I was paying $2.69/gallon in PA at that time. I truly felt like I was stealing it.

Just was discussing fuel with a coworker as we both ride motorcycles. I would love to put only ethanol free gas in my motorcycle, would definitely love to have ethanol free available for the lawn equipment. He said during his 7000 mile trip on the motorcycle last year, he noticed everywhere but here seemed to have 91 octane ethanol free available in the middle of the price spectrum. Here, every station is different with their $0.50 higher top tier gas whether you get 91, 92, 93, 94, and 95 octane, none of it available with Ethanol except for a place here or there within a 100 mile radius and the ethanol free stuff is even higher priced yet compared to other states where 91 E-free is simply part of the middle grade price range.

We do have cheap eggs though.

Here in NJ $1.99 is the cheapest for chicken breasts (family pack) and $3.99 is 80% ground beef. Our eggs are cheap.