on $100k a year, leaving Lubbock
changea dispatch from
grand rapids
MI
42.96°N
85.67°W
Grand Rapids has won Beer City USA multiple times, hosts ArtPrize (one of the world's largest open art competitions every fall), and built itself on furniture (Steelcase, Herman Miller). The Frederik Meijer Sculpture Park is a sleeper world-class attraction. Downtown is walkable, the surrounding farmland is gorgeous in autumn, and Lake Michigan beaches are 30 minutes west. Quietly excellent.
the verdict
more each month than Lubbock ran you
Grand Rapids costs meaningfully more. Whether it earns that back in the day-to-day is the actual question.
a quick ledger.
$1,620/mo
17% more expensive than Lubbock(vs $1,384/mo)
4.25%
$354/mo more in state tax than Lubbock
vs 0% in Lubbock
$6,359/mo
$590 less than Lubbock
gross of federal tax. a comparison, not a paycheck.
$353k
67% more expensive than Lubbock
vs $211k in Lubbock
1.2M
vs 360k in Lubbock
field notes, weather & such.
151
pleasant days a year, in grand rapids.
Lubbock actually gets more: 186 pleasant days a year. The trade is winter: 50 days below 20°, vs 7 in Lubbock.
A month here packs 8.6× the events of Lubbock.
56/100
1020% higher than Lubbock
vs 5/100 in Lubbock
Closest outdoor draw: White Pine Trail State Park, 5.4 mi.
97/100
41% higher than Lubbock
vs 69/100 in Lubbock
20
186% more than Lubbock
vs 7 nonstops in Lubbock
in the same ballpark as grand rapids:
