Fresno Living Expenses - Report 7/30/19

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cmorse222
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Fresno Living Expenses - Report 7/30/19

Post by cmorse222 » Tue Jul 30, 2019 5:03 pm

Fresno, California

Median income: $44,853
Income needed if you’re a homeowner: $79,757
Income needed if you’re a renter: $79,061
Fresno is one of the cities where the income needed to live comfortably falls under $80,000 a year for both renters and owners. And, with just $700 a year separating the two, there might be significantly less reason to agonize over the decision than in other places. Still, with median incomes falling under $45,000 a year, renters and owners alike are about $35,000 short of what they need to live comfortably.

Scott Whitney
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Re: Fresno Living Expenses - Report 7/30/19

Post by Scott Whitney » Wed Sep 11, 2019 6:08 pm

Yea, but the dirty air, polluted water and high crime make up for the economic catastrophe.
Fresno isn't a place............... it's an affliction from which only few seem to escape.

MoDa65
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Re: Fresno Living Expenses - Report 7/30/19

Post by MoDa65 » Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:42 am

pssh fake news, you are lost in fresno of the 90s.

Fresno is the 5th biggest city in CA.
3 SJ
4 SF
5 Fresno

However the metropolitan area is small. Fresno is the anchor city of central CA. It's a big city that really only has clovis to help it. I guess if you want to count boring Madera. So because of that, All the bad stuff will become microscopic. But if you look at the big picture a lot of the negative stuff that has stuck with fresno through the years is arguable. The biggest one is Crime. Fresno had that stigma since the 90s and through the 2010s crime has greatly improved. As it stands today, Fresno when it comes to violent crime is safer than SF, LA, Oakland, Long beach, Sacramento (cities that are on the top 10 biggest cities in CA) https://www.gddlaw.com/2016/05/12/ci...nia-dangerous/

If we want to look strictly at homicides For comparison:

Fresno COUNTY (fresno, clovis, etc): 32
City of Oakland alone: 66
Alameda COUNTY (includes oakland): 85
Contra Costa COUNTY: 38
San Francisco: 42

Sources:
https://abc30.com/homicides-down-by-...ounty/4978297/
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/...omicides-2018/
Then there is the constant air quality issues. Hey lets go with lung.org
https://www.lung.org/local-content/c...t-polluted.pdf

Most of CA has bad air quality, and in some categories fresno is not even the worse and desireable cities like LA and the Bay are up there as well. I don't know if you have kids but Clovis unified regularly praised and always highly ranked year after year. Clovis unified is ranked up there with many desireable cities' school districts in LA and the bay area where homes would be triple to quadruple the price to be in those neighborhoods that are in the school district borders. niche.com has Clovis unified ranked #60 out of about 500 in the entire state. Schooldigger.com has it ranked #146 out of #856 in the state. Sometimes the rankings are unfair because it ranks all school districts even those with 10 or less schools which skews the ranking.

Yet even with Clovis unified having 50 schools all of them are ranked pretty good that it keeps the overall ranking high--which is very impressive. Unfortunately with the main road to fresno being on the 99, it never looks like much driving through. It surely doesnt look like the 5th biggest city in CA. The 99 is like the edge of the cities and really makes for bad impressions as most of the stuff on the edge are industrial not kept up areas. So because of the size of fresno you do have a variety of different neighborhoods that vary in demographics, income, etc. I mean it can take 20-30 minutes to get from north fresno to downtown depending where you live in those parts. So with those many parts, the community and culture change just as any other big city that is diverse. If you are coming from another big city youll find most of the usual big name stores, box stores, restaurants, etc. There are malls, fancy places, affordable places, nice neighborhoods, ghettos etc.

If you like the outdoors Fresno is a nice spot to be. As i believe it is the closest major city to several of the national parks in the sierras (yosemite, kings, sequoia, etc). It also does snow in Fresno (fresno county), in the winter you can go to shaver lake just to play in the snow or go up further to china peak at the ski resort. I believe there is also one towards yosemite. All about an hour to 1.5 hrs. A lot of lakes and outdoor scenery to explore. Very contrasting as west of fresno is all flat AG land, then east is the sierras. Big name concerts and acts like comedians? They usually make stops in Fresno. If fresno was irrelevant big celebs wouldnt be making fresno a stop for their tours. One of the lifestyle things I noticed with Fresno is this.... although its a big city and has most of the stuff and a lot of stuff to do, there are times you just want "a change of scenery", there is really no other city close by that can offer something different that fresno doesnt have.

Compared to LA or the Bay area where you can just drive a few minutes to the next city. This is where lack of a bigger metropolitan area that have more thriving cities hurt fresno. Fresno really only has clovis. Madera is also next door but nothing there. You can go to Tulare for outlet stores but thats like 40 minutes, a long with visalia which is another big city in the valley. But for the most part they dont have anything cool that fresno/clovis doesnt already offer. Compare that if you live in say San Jose, CA. Generally San Jose is boring, but because its part of a big metropolitan area of the bay area, you drive down 101, gilroy is there for the nicer outlets, or go 101 north and you go to santa clara with great america, levis stadium, sunnyvalve , mountain view, etc all have nice walkable old town clovis like areas. And of course SF about 45-1hr from SJ. While in Fresno there is no other city worth visiting a hour away. If anything all those small and medium cities go HERE to make up for the lack of most things in their small cities and towns. Get what I'm saying?

Even sacramento area. Sacramento is smaller than fresno population wise, but metro area is bigger and they have 3-4 clovis like cities (roseville, rocklin, folsom, etc). Same with LA, they have so much to do because all the other close by cities. This truly is what I would say is the real legit negative of fresno/clovis. It stands on its own. On that note, with that limitation known, if you are starting a family, you wont miss it that much because mindset is different with a family, its great to raise a family here because of the cost of living. You can put your kids in some of the highest ranking schools and live in movie like perfect neighborhoods with cookie cutter homes that you thought only existed on TV or for the super rich. But if you are a younger person, no kids, you might exhaust your options. What many people do here is go to LA. It is a 3 hour drive and so is SF. SJ is 2 hours.

If you manage to find a good paying job here, you can live comfortably and have way more expendable income to be able to enjoy yourselves more in LA or the Bay, then those who actually live in those cities because they pay such high cost of living they have no extra money to enjoy themselves in cities that are full of entertainment and things to do. So as for the wages, I can tell you the best parts of fresno and clovis ive seen data for--talking about many parts of north fresno, most parts of clovis except tarpey village and surrounding--where those cookie cutter newer or custom homes with manicured lawns etc, median income is in the $100-150K~. Which brings up the question of what jobs are paying that much. In the bay area, making $100K is the norm and considered low income https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bay-are...sco-san-mateo/

So yes its true, jobs here pay less for those not educated no skill type jobs. Even some other skilled jobs that require college educations. But if you find the job that pays $50-60K you are making a good start. And if you marry someone who makes similar, you will know you can live in a nice neighborhood in a nice home. But the low paying jobs pay a lot less than the bay area where $15 starting pay is common. I mean the city was so excited when amazon landed here paying $13 an hour like that was a good living wage. If you come here as a skilled worker with a college degree and manage to find the job in yourfield and a field that generally pays well no matter what city you work in, youll be good. the problem is that is also what lacks here is a variety of high paying jobs. Which is why we lose a lot of our educated and they move out once they finish at fresno state or any of the other higher education options. You just got served bruh

Scott Whitney
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Re: Fresno Living Expenses - Report 7/30/19

Post by Scott Whitney » Sat Sep 14, 2019 6:20 pm

Interesting post. Obviously well thought out and researched.
Our family moved to Fresno in 1965 when I was a teenager and I lived there for 2 decades before moving away. Fresno has always had an identity crisis. People who live there brag about it. (and with some justification) People who visit Fresno would bad mouth the town. Fresnans were always offended and would endeavor to prove their town was a great place.
But I've always wondered..........if you constantly have to brag......... perhaps the foundation of the argument is flawed.

Your post reminds me of what I always used to witness - Fresnans going to great lengths in an attempt to change the minds of others who thought Fresno wasn't much to brag about. Back in the 60's and 70's Fresno was a boom town. Great restaurants and a hub for hot rods and race cars. The last time I was in Fresno was a melancholy experience......... remembering some of the great things about Fresno that sadly have faded away as the town became a mini-metropolis of strip malls and cookie cutter housing tracts. A town without a soul.

Things we used to do in Fresno that don't seem possible today:
See the Milky Way.
Drink pure tap water.
See the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Breath reasonably clean air.
Walk the neighborhood after dark.
Park a car at the mall without it being stolen.
Enjoy economic security.
etc, etc.

I suspect the reason Fresno is the 5th largest city in California has less to do with it being an attractive place to live and more do to with many people not having the education, work experience or financial resources to flee.

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