Another cost of living chart

[NW-Bound]

It's not just about COL, it also includes income. Most places in WI are lower income.

Yes, I just thought of that too. The average worker does not make the same in all cities.

That still does not help the California average worker, as his wage while higher than other places is not 3x or 4x the wage elsewhere to make up for the superhigh housing cost.

 

[aja8888]

Ever been to Kenosha? I have...no jobs left unless you run a bar. __________________
Yes I am from there and go back all the time to visit friends and family. they all have decent jobs.

I worked for the "Brass" and it's gone...along with American Motors. My best friend at the time opened a bar on one of the only street corners that didn't have one already. I assume he is still there. He was the CFO of the Brass Co when it shut down. My favorite spot in Kenosha was the Holiday Inn on the lake. We had poker games there in the rooms on the weekends. The town hookers used to go get us refreshments while we played poker.

The nicest thing about Kenosha is it is not in Illinois.

I haven't been there in years, but every time I hear the word Kenosha, memories of good times had back then pop in my head. I hope for the sake of the remaining residents that it has a stable employment base after all those folks have gone through.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Average weekly wage in Kenosha is 885 versus Reno which is 949. Not much difference considering that housing, food, gas etc all more expensive in Reno.

 

[meierlde]

So the bottom right side of WI has a bright pink circle when in fact you can buy a decent house in Kenosha, WI for 100k. Yet all of NV is a light grey and in Reno the average house now is 360k with the overall cost of living higher then Kenosha. I am not putting a lot of faith in this calculator.

Coloring the entire state of NV is partly a lack of data for most of the area of the state. For example Ely should be cheap since the copper mines shutdown (town of 3k) or Eureka along us 50 somewhat west of there. Even towns along I 80 should be cheap. (I just checked Ely and there are houses less than 100k there on Zillow). Now of course that means small town living and not a lot of nighttime options.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

We had poker games there in the rooms on the weekends. The town hookers used to go get us refreshments while we played poker.

Wow, thats some card game

 

[Teacher Terry]

AJA: yes they had to switch to other jobs once the heavy industry dried up. They have really done a nice job of making the harbor area beautiful with walking paths on the lake, etc. The land between I94 and town is no longer empty. Some people drive to Racine or Milwaukee for work but that is not very far. Some people also commute on the train to IL or drive.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Coloring the entire state of NV is partly a lack of data for most of the area of the state. For example Ely should be cheap since the copper mines shutdown (town of 3k) or Eureka along us 50 somewhat west of there. Even towns along I 80 should be cheap. (I just checked Ely and there are houses less than 100k there on Zillow). Now of course that means small town living and not a lot of nighttime options.

Some towns out there really boom when mining is going well. Then you can't find a house to buy in Elko which is bigger then Ely but close to it. People working in the mines make a ton of $. But then when things dry up real estate prices crash.

 

[aja8888]

AJA: yes they had to switch to other jobs once the heavy industry dried up. They have really done a nice job of making the harbor area beautiful with walking paths on the lake, etc. The land between I94 and town is no longer empty. Some people drive to Racine or Milwaukee for work but that is not very far. Some people also commute on the train to IL or drive.

TT, I am glad to hear the town pulled through as I was there during the really bad times when industry was in the tank and crime was bad. I was lucky as I ended up going back to Connecticut and took a really good engineering job.

I actually did pass through Kenosha over 20 years ago on a business trip and visited my old friend's bar and he was doing well and happy. I wonder where he is now, but he would be over 70 and probably retired.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Even though we were from there we left in 1993 because once I finished grad school for the 2nd time I could not get a professional job. The first time I just thought I chose the wrong major. My husband at the time was a tool and dye maker so could get a good job anywhere. My friends that have stayed all have kids that stayed and all have decent professional jobs.

 

[Teacher Terry]

When did you think crime was bad?

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Even though we were from there we left in 1993 because once I finished grad school for the 2nd time I could not get a professional job. The first time I just thought I chose the wrong major. My husband at the time was a tool and dye maker so could get a good job anywhere. My friends that have stayed all have kids that stayed and all have decent professional jobs.

Wow. I remember guys around here that were tool and dye makers in the 70's and 80's they were never out of work, and were paid like royalty.

 

[Teacher Terry]

My ex had a master's degree in math and made more as a tool and dye maker. He worked many weekends where they would pay him to read a book and wait for the line to break down. M-F he had to actually work of course. Sat was time and a half and Sun as double time. It paid cash for my 3 college degrees.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

My ex had a master's degree in math and made more as a tool and dye maker. He worked many weekends where they would pay him to read a book and wait for the line to break down. M-F he had to actually work of course. Sat was time and a half and Sun as double time. It paid cash for my 3 college degrees.

Yeah, thats how I remember that line of work. It was golden.

 

[aja8888]

When did you think crime was bad?

Late 1970's when I was there but it is probably improved now that organized crime has found greener pastures.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Late 1970's when I was there but it is probably improved now that organized crime has found greener pastures.

The heyday of lawlessness here was 1994.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I was there at the same time and never thought crime was bad but hey grew up there so maybe just used to it)

 

[aja8888]

I was there at the same time and never thought crime was bad but hey grew up there so maybe just used to it)

I flip-flopped a lot between Detroit and Kenosha where we had a manufacturing plant much smaller than the Kenosha works. I was in charge of plant engineering at the time and had responsibility for Detroit also.

Crime in Detroit at that time (mid - late 1970s) was all about the drug trade with daily executions. I believe that Detroit won the prize for the city with the most murders in the U.S. (but many were not found as they were in the river).

Kenosha had softer crime at the time; gambling, numbers rackets, prostitution, assaults, etc.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Kenosha had softer crime at the time; gambling, numbers rackets, prostitution, assaults, etc.

Some people would even consider the first 3 not to even be criminal. Back in the bad old days ,the boss would throw you out of the station house if you brought in a gambling arrest. You were needed to stop the robberies , assaults and such.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I think my Dad said at one point the MOtors had 20k employees and people came from all over for the jobs. Kenosha only had about 60k population then. Many people commuted from other towns to work there. When my Dad retired 43 years ago his pension and SS was 24k which was a fortune. he did have over 30 years in. Then when he died my Mom got a reduced pension. They also got Cadillac health insurance until they were all dead. My Aunt is still getting it. My Mom was told that a certain group of retirees kept their premier insurance every time the company was sold because it was a promise to the older retirees. The other retirees saw their coverage change with every sale.

 

[aja8888]

Some people would even consider the first 3 not to even be criminal. Back in the bad old days ,the boss would throw you out of the station house if you brought in a gambling arrest. You were needed to stop the robberies , assaults and such.

That's why I said "soft" crime.

We had a guy in the plant named "Frenchie" who was supposed to a janitor. He would go all around the machines and pick up bets from the operators. Then he would leave the plant (without punching out) and head into town to place the bets. Then in the afternoon, the process was repeated with the second shift. I never saw him clean anything in the years I was there.

 

[Teacher Terry]

The first 3 things are legal in NV)

 

[aja8888]

The first 3 things are legal in NV)

I know, I spent some time in Tonapah and the surrounding area.

 

[timo2]

So I typed in my area and data in the custom fields, and the data drills down to specific census tracks

 

[Teacher Terry]

Timo: I tried to do that but it never gave me any information.

 

[timo2]

Timo: I tried to do that but it never gave me any information.

I had that issue initially also. I went ahead and clicked on the New York example. Once that loaded I used the edit function to change the parameters.