Choosing where to live can be a challenge. There are a few things to consider before planning a move, like how much it costs to buy a new home, best cities to consider, and overall living costs. Using a cost of living calculator to understand living costs in 2022 can help, but exploring the cost of living in top cities first could save you some time. Let’s take a look.

Moving Trends in 2022

Before you plan your move and explore living costs, it might interest you to know what cities Americans are currently scoping out. Post-pandemic, quite a few moving trends have changed. There has been an influx of movement out of larger cities, in favor of mid-size cities that might offer more affordable living costs.

But what cities did people move to? Across the internet, you’ll find that the below cities were consistently ranked as the best places to live in 2022.

This list doesn’t include all of the cities that people are considering, but it’s a start for choosing where to live. And it’s smart to explore living costs in those areas.

Cost of Living in Top US Cities in 2022

Before you use a cost of living calculator, it helps to know which cities might be worth considering—especially if you’re planning a move. Here are some of the top cities that people move to and how they compare cost-wise. This list is based on an index relative to New York City.

Choosing Where to Live

So what next, when it comes to choosing where to live? There are other things to consider, of course, besides the cost of living. What kind of weather do you prefer? Are you trying to stay close to family? Is it important to you to have a newer home or one that you can customize? Or maybe, it’s your first time buying a home, in which case you might want to know more about how to afford your first mortgage and make a down payment.

The good thing about areas like South Carolina, Texas, or Tennessee is that it might be easier to afford a new construction home. When you choose a new construction home, you’ll have the opportunity to look through and choose from different floor plans. This can include options for the number of bedrooms or bathrooms, the amount of garage space, and even the number of floors that you’d like in your new home.

Home customization can also include more specific personalization, like the type of floors or countertops you’d like or the style of landscaping in your front yard. Top new home builders also offer things like a 10-year structural warranty so you can have some peace of mind that your investment will last and grow with you.

Other Factors to Consider in Choosing Where to Live

Beside the more obvious things, like personal preferences, there are a few other smart things to consider when choosing where to live. These things can impact your ability to thrive in a new city, grow your investments, and expand on your way of life.

From a financial perspective, when choosing a new place to live consider things like net migration (like some of the cities we listed above), job growth, unemployment rate, salary growth, small business growth, and tech GDP growth. You’ll also want to explore the appreciation of home values—after all if you invest in a home you want to make sure whenever possible that your home will grow in value.

From a more enhanced life perspective, consider things like amenities, culture, recreation, crime rates, and quality of schools. And while it might not seem important to you right now, it could be worth it to consider walkability. Living in a place that allows you to walk to a few local things like a coffee shop or grocery store can significantly increase your access to exercise and better overall wellness.

Choosing where to live can be a challenge, but exploring living costs is a smart way to approach your search. Once you’ve settled on a few good places, you can use a cost of living calculator to determine what costs of living in that city will be in 2022 compared to where you currently live. This can help you decide how much you’ll want to save before you move and how much you’ll want to earn in a new city. And once you find the perfect spot, use this mortgage calculator to decide how much home you can afford.

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Published 04.21.22