I know people living north of the Mexican border probably go south of the border to make their purchases or seek cheaper medical service. Are there cities within the US that are like this? Cities that are relatively close to each other, yet have a huge variance in cost of living, such that it justifies people making the journey to make purchases or obtain services at a lower price.
For example, I know NYC is a really expensive place. Wouldn't it make more sense for people living in NYC make the drive down to say Philadelphia for a dental appointment instead?
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Oh yeah. I live out on the country and things are pretty cheap but when I travel to Knoxville Tennessee which is a much bigger city, you can literally watch the price of things go up by dollars as soon as you get into the city.
San Antonio is much cheaper than Austin despite only being an hour’s drive away
BALTIMORE AND DC.
It’s not as close as when I had that US-Mexico border situation, but it’s a known thing in Austin that a lot of stuff is cheaper in San Antonio, which is like two hours away.
If you have insurance, it wouldn’t make sense to drive hours to a different doctor or dentist. The co-pay would either be the same or the doctor far away would be out of your network.
Baltimore isn’t cheap, but it’s substantially cheaper than Washington DC. When I lived there and worked in DC, the commuter train was packed and there’s always a backup on the BW Parkway.
Yes, here in Oregon you have Corvallis and Albany. 10 miles apart, one is an expensive college town, one is not. Also 10 miles further out you have Lebanon, even cheaper.
I used to live close to the border of another state. Gas was 20-40 cents cheaper per gallon across the border so I never filled up locally unless I had to.
Another neighboring state doesn’t have sales tax and I knew people growing up that would do their major shopping there instead.
ETA- while most medical services are about the same in the US, you will see people travel for certain OOP procedures like cosmetic surgery. I wouldn’t say it’s cheaper though from one city to another, mostly people are traveling for a certain “look”. Miami plastic surgeons have a different style than LA, DC, or NYC. On the flip side, cosmetic dentistry costs can vary, though typically locally. Prices for implants are typically cheaper in lower income parts of town. Moreover, veterinary services and procedures can be drastically cheaper in rural areas.
IF WE COUNT INTERNATIONALLY I WOULD SAY BUFFALO AND TORONTO AS WELL
I’ve seen this happen with airports. I lived in south Florida and flying out of Fort Lauderdale (~50 minutes away) was significantly cheaper for flights than Palm Beach International (local).
Cost of living in the US is mostly linked to housing. Costs for staples and services are pretty similar. For housing, sometimes it’s not neighboring cities, it can be differing school districts and High School Pyramids in the same area. Where I live, houses on the other side of the highway are tiered to a different high school that is much lower rated, homes there are 15%-20% less and were built at the exact same time as many of the homes in my neighborhood.
COL differences between cities in the US overwhelmingly relate to housing costs. I’d be shocked if a dentist in Philly were so much cheaper than NYC as to justify the travel costs.
The primary opportunity if you live on a border would be to take advantage of tax differences. For example, gas is cheaper in NJ than PA and NY. OR has no sales tax, so it might be worth it to drive from southern WA. But the net savings decrease the further you are from the border.
The NYC and Philly example wouldn’t work because the cost of services like dental are about the same. The only places where costs substantially differ is housing and salaries, which are limited. There are plenty of people who commute from Philly to NYC on hybrid schedules for work though
Average Cost of Living in Washington, D.C.: $92,037 per year
Average Cost of Living in Baltimore: $78,00 per year
The Average cost of a house in DC is 168% higher than in Baltimore
There is around 38-40 miles (61-64 km) between city centers. Quite a few people buy in/around Baltimore and commute daily into D.C. for the reasons you lay out OP.
San Francisco and Oakland
Idk if it counts but I know people who live in Milwaukee will work in Chicago though I’m not sure the cost of living is any cheaper but wages in IL are higher. Plus Milwaukee is an hour away from Chicago on train.
Big difference between Greenwich, CT and Rye, NY
Providence and Boston. Providence prices have increased exponentially with more hybrid work because more people are commuting but Providence doesn’t pay near Boston wages. I’ve even met people who will live in Providence area and commute to NY once a month or so for the cheaper cost of living. That being said, it is decimating costs for people who do actually have to live and work here (teachers, service workers, retail, nurses, etc.).
Albuquerque and Santa Fe
Most people in Ohio buy their cannabis in Michigan, 75% cheaper.
Philly is like 2 hours away. Quite a hassle for a dental appointment lol. Honestly most of the satellite cities by NYC are pretty expensive as well (exs Hoboken, White Plains, Jersey City, Stamford). Even parts of downtown Newark. Though all obviously not nearly as bad as Manhattan or parts of Brooklyn.
Philadelphians drive across the Delaware River to buy booze in New Jersey.
Not much difference in price between my city and the one next to it but it is across a state boundary and they have a lower tax rate so I do most of my shopping there. My state could make so much more money if they lowered the tax rate because people from the neighboring states would come here.
The only thing that comes to my mind is gas. It’s maybe not worth it to ever drive out of your way for cheap gas, but it makes me feel good to plan my trip where I know I’m getting the cheapest fuel.
Gas taxes in the northeast are generally pretty low with the exception of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Within New England I think gas is generally about 10¢ cheaper in Massachusetts than Connecticut, and more than that in Rhode Island. I generally try to fill up in Massachusetts or New Hampshire.
I went to college in Pennsylvania, and would always fill up in Port Jervis, New York, before crossing the border. It would be enough to get me to school, make a few supply runs during the semester, and back to New York again for more of that sweet sweet cheap gasoline.
Within Massachusetts, in my area Southbridge and Fitchburg are both notorious for having cheap gas. If you’re driving through either of those towns I would definitely recommend filling up!
“Cost of living” = housing. What people do is live in the cheaper place and commute to work in the more expensive place.
Philly is literally nicknamed the 6th borough.
Some of the suburb enclaves where I live can be very different.
I’m in North Dallas and my neighborhood has homes for about $400k, but if we drive about 30 minutes north the homes are in the millions.
Medical and dental care in the US is universally pretty expensive. Most Americans do have some form of health insurance, and so the amount we pay is high, but is pretty much the same no matter what doctor we go to. And a lot of people have health insurance that only covers them in their own state or local area )Other than in emergencies). So some people, if they left their state for medical care, would pay more because their insurance wouldn’t cover it. Medical tourism within the US isn’t really a thing. The reason people travel abroad is because there isn’t really much cheap medical care in the US unless you are very poor and qualify for charity care, which is hard to access.
But yes, there are people who live close to a state line who will do things like go shopping in the next state over if that state has lower sales taxes. That’s less about cost-of-living, and more about state tax policy.
The US is really big. I know people say this all the time in the sub, but it’s incredibly hard for people who don’t live here to grasp. That means that most metro areas are also big. If you live in NYC, the distance you would have to travel to get to someplace where goods are substantially cheaper isn’t really worth the trip. (Plus, most people in NYC specifically don’t have cars.)
I knew a lot of people who would commute to Chicago, IL from East Chicago, IN. The difference isn’t massive, but big enough.
Different area than where everyone else is saying… but I’ve always lived in the Chicago or Milwaukee area. I live dead in between them now. Milwaukee cost of living is way cheaper.. so I usually head that way but there are things it’s easier to go to Chicago for!
Chicago and Milwaukee are pretty close, and some people drive from Chicago just across the Wisconsin or Indiana borders for cheaper things.
I don’t think you’ll see people going from NYC to Philly for dental work, but you would see people crossing the river from New York to (insert city in northern New Jersey) to shop due to lower taxes and oft cheaper prices, or waiting to fuel up after they cross the bridge, and of course, way cheaper rent.
OP, Philadelphia and NYC are a two hour drive from each other, or a baseline 1.5 hour train ride. They are not “close” to each other except in the sense that people will make a day trip for entertainment purposes from one city to the other. Four hours round-trip for a dentist is something most people would consider insane, unless they were seeing a specialist.
Gas prices can go up quite a bit right on the border of Arizona and California.
New York and Newark
Detroit suburbs. In 10 minutes you can go from driving past giant mansions on the waterfront to entire blocks of abandoned or burnt out houses you could buy up for cheap.
Bay Area or LA vs. San Joaquin Valley; this is speaking to housing only
Our of state – Vancouver and Portland. One has no income tax, the other has no sales tax.
In-state – Richland and Pasco. You can buy half the house for twice the price.
Tacoma and Seattle.
Spokane Wa/ Coure D’Alene Id
Washington min wage is $16.66
Idaho min wage is $7.25
You do the math.
Not cities, but states: here in Massachusetts people often drive up to New Hampshire to buy big purchases because they don’t have sales tax. Technically (legally) you are supposed to declare these purchases on your taxes and pay tax to Massachusetts when you file, but almost no one does this unless it is a car or something that needs to be registered.
A 2000 square foot house in the SF Bay Area is about $3M in Silicon Valley, $2M in a decent North Bay neighborhood, $1M in the inland cities and maybe $700K in Sacramento
People in New England states go to NH to buy tax free.
Austin and San Antonio
There’s no state income tax in Washington and no sales tax in Oregon. So you could live/work in Vancouver, WA (right near the state border) and drive across the border to nearby Portland, OR to do your shopping.