Affordable Frum cities

GLUE

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 8:56 pm

Based on some other threads, what cities in the US are affordable for a Frum family?

I am not talking about housing prices I mean the whole package
Housing
Tuition
Health care
Transportation-I am putting this down because I have been reading on a few non-jewish sites that many people move to a city with cheaper housing but, don't realize that there transportation budget will go up a lot.
Food

How much are salaries in this city, many times places are cheep because salaries are low and even with cheaper goods you still can't make it. The average salary in that town should be able to cover everything-maybe not tuition on one salary but if two people are both working you can get everything covered.

Anyplace?

GLUE

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 9:53 pm

Can you break it down?

What is the average salary?
How much is:
Housing
Tuition
Health care
Transportation
Food?

Is it only affordable if you lived in it for years? For example, I am paying less in housing on a house twice as big as my sister-in-law place. Because she just brought and I brought years ago. My little guy and her big boy are in the same grade but because I am aging out of the system and she is just starting my tuition is less.
If I moved to these places now would they still be affordable?

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 10:07 pm

amother Linen wrote:

A lot of places with vouchers aren’t affordable for people to move to because of income requirements. And I’m many states with vouchers, the schools raise tuition so in essence they’re getting double tuition.

I am happy to speak with anyone interested in the Ohio voucher program.
Where my kids go to school, vouchers have been around for almost 20 years and any tuition increases that have happened in that time frame have been due to regular need to increase tuition as cost of living increases, nothing to do with vouchers.
Income requirements to qualify for vouchers in Ohio are very forgiving.

amother

Linen

Thu, Mar 28 2024, 11:11 pm

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

Only if you started school when your oldest started. If you move there and have kids already in school you might not qualify. To get the full amount in Ohio for a family of four, you have to be making less than $135,000 a year. Yes, you might get something, but not the full amount and then you’d still be responsible to pay for tuition.

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, Mar 29 2024, 7:25 am

amother Linen wrote:

This isn't accurate. The income is over $140,000 for 2024 and it goes up every year, and the criteria is more nuanced than you wrote. There are people who qualify without income. The law changed over 10 years ago to allow older children who were already in school to move in and get vouchers. And responsibility for tuition is a second component, one may be responsible for the balance even with the voucher. I don't want to derail this thread but wanted to correct the misconceptions.

mha3484

Fri, Mar 29 2024, 11:35 am

I feel like I need to say, the voucher states who also often coincide with the lower cost of living areas and are usually red states like Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Arizona are often great for very typical children with no extra needs. I live n what I call a more medium expensive state and my kids get way more services then my friends in the smaller cheaper communities.

I asked a friend why she moved from one of the states above where she had a cheap big house, no tuition and her response was you get what you pay for. When no one pays tuition she felt the quality of education really lacked.

amother

Orchid

Fri, Mar 29 2024, 12:21 pm

GLUE wrote:

Regarding Cleveland-
Housing- yes it is way less expensive than other cities. However, houses are much smaller and older. It is not typical to find a house at $300,000 with master bathroom for example. You do get a yard and a driveway. There aren't any apartments that are well within the frum areas. There is 1 apartment complex that is close to 2 area but it is somewhat separate and mostly young couples live there. And also finding a house can be a big challenge in general- there is not much on the market.

Tuition- Unless you qualify for the vouchers that are for people who make less than whatever % of the poverty line, you will be paying a large chunk of tuition. Full tuition for elementary is around $10-12,000. Vouchers covers about $5,700 if I remember correctly. It can still be quite expensive.

Healthcare- cleveland has 2 amazing hospital Healthcare systems. Both are great. No complaints here.

Transportation- I would say 99% of people here have 2 cars. It's a necessity in my opinion. I managed with 1 when I first got married but it was a real challenge. There is not a normal, helpful public transportation system here. That said- traffic is a joke here. Traffic means cars on the road. It's a very easy place to drive around.

Food- I am not 100% certain about this but specialized kosher food products are somewhat more expensive. I think most people here do their main shopping at a standard grocery store and buy their meat, milk, cheese at a frum store or Costco. It's a different way of shopping but I think it keeps the costs down.

Salaries- Salaries are lower here. No question about that. But it's sort of part of the culture here to be thrifty and it's socially acceptable to a certain extent. (Depending on your circles)

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, Mar 29 2024, 2:32 pm

amother Orchid wrote:

Elementary vouchers are 6166