You can have most of the amenities of coastal urban life in places like Chicago; which even has its own coast and doesn't have the outrageous COL that places like San Francisco, LA, or NYC have. Sure you're not going to make the same crazy salaries, but you're also not spending 5k for a 1br apartment in the Mission
My peer group just out of college in consulting paid $1000 - $1600 for nice places. Low end of the range would be shared with 2-3 others and maybe 40 min outside the loop. High-end would be for a 1BR 15-20 min out. You could also live in West Loop (think lofts) in brand new places for even less
I imagine that heating and electric adds a couple hundred though? (in CA I pay about $20/month for gas/electric, but remember paying hundreds when I lived back east).
I'm rarely home and have a small studio apartment. I don't have AC (most homes I know don't have it in Oakland), and there's almost no point in running fans when I'm gone.
That's my point. I could leave my house for a month, shut off everything that uses electricity and gas, and still have to pay more than twice what you pay just in connection charges. Do utilities in California just not charge flat rates for connections?
