Not really a theory, when it’s been proven true. Many retirees are moving to low CoL areas because their social security and or retirement funds can’t keep up. Lower income people will move if they are able to.
There are jobs that pop up in these areas, but on average the income is significantly less. For example Tennessee will pay new grad nurses $22 an hour. That’s one of the lowest wages for a bedside nurse. Not enough to live in the city where a hospital is located. I think it was Alabama that passed a state law that prohibited cities from raising the minimum wage for jobs in the city. Jobs in most of these areas pay poverty wages.
I used to live in Florida and when looking at the average the CoL is lower than my new state Oregon. Yet after moving and living here for a year I pay less on car and home insurance, property taxes, and no sales tax. Sure I might pay a tiny bit more in income tax but my salary is 30% higher for the same job. My wife’s is 45% higher for the same job.
Not to mention “average” means nothing when rural hick areas are lowering the entire state. Many parts of Florida have a higher cost than most other cities.
myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I live in one of the cities on that list. It is definitely a thing. People can move here and pay cash for homes, after selling their homes in an extremely high COL area.
But this city isn’t a red city by any means. It’s just another blue city in a red state. Which a lot of the ones on that list are.