FinanciallYou

In part I of this three part series we found that moving from Vancouver, BC to Corvallis OR hasn’t saved that much money despite moving to the supposedly “low tax” USA.  I have $166.11 less a year having moved here.

In Part II, I will tackle the big ticket costs of housing, car insurance and medical insurance.

First up, housing. Corvallis is a lot more expensive than I had expected.  Before we arrived I did some research and the city website indicated that the average one bedroom apartment was $500/mon, which is a lot cheaper than Vancouver, BC one of the most expensive cities in the world.   Therefore, I thought our total cost of housing would be around $700/mon tops.

Well, was I wrong. Corvallis has rental vacancy rate of under 1% .  The explosive  growth of Oregon State University and lack of corresponding growth in the rental units means that it is actually really hard to find a place to live.  Don’t get me wrong, you can get places cheap.  We saw a ‘bachelor’ unit that was in the basement with uneven walls, no windows and a shower that was in a concrete hallway all for just $400/mon.  There was a small two bedroom for $600/mon but it smelled of mold which was a problem with many of the units I saw.  For a week from my operation centre at the Days Inn through the worst rain storm of the last decade I must have seen every unit available in January and February. We even went to Albany(gasp!).

We eventually settled on a brand new one bedroom unit at this new condo complex which had been converted to an apartment complex.  On top of the rent, renters in Corvallis are expected to pay for everything else… sewage, water and garbage, electricity and even liability insurance.  The breakdown is below.

In Vancouver, we lived in subsidized student housing that included everything .. electricity, wifi, and even cable.   So instead of using our rent, I asked around and I think $1100/mon should get you a one bedroom in reasonable conditions.  Of course renters are required to pay electricity and WIFI.  The breakdown is below:

So after housing costs, it’s only slightly ($47) cheaper to live in the US.

Next I looked at car insurance.  In British Columbia we have government mandated car insurance through an agency called ICBC.  Their insurance is not cheap.  I qualify for the highest possible discount and annually it costs approximately $1300/year.  In the US my insurance is $606 for the year. So after car insurance I have $1958.86/mon in Canada and $2063.70/mon in the US.  So the US is still cheaper to live in by about $104 a month or around $1258 a year.

But we haven’t talked about health insurance yet.  In Canada we have national health insurance, although in BC we do have pay a premium.  The premium rate depends on the number of members of your family and your income level.  We pay $109 per month in premiums.  This covers all primary and hospital care.  We also pay supplementary health care for dental coverage, prescriptions, massage etc, but I’m going to ignore that and concentrate on primary care. In the US  we have to contend with a private system.  If you have a good employer, your health care is mostly paid for as it is for my husband.  However, if you do not have your own employment coverage or are not covered by your spouse then you have to pay for yourself.  If I get the same coverage as my spouse, our cost will be $306/mon with an annual deductible of $200.  A deductible is the amount you have to pay up front each year and only once you exceed that does your coverage start to pay portions of your care.   I also received independent quotes for healthcare and they ranged from $150 – $250/mon and have deductible $1000 – $2500.  Given that I probably will only go to the doctor twice a year at a cost of $150 per visit I’m likely not to need to take advantage of my plan that much beyond the deductible. So let’s say I take my husband’s work coverage:

Living in US has all of sudden became more expensive.  I understand now why people would choose to not get insurance. Even if I take the cheapest premium option which leaves me with a deductible of $2500 per year ( which means unless I have a real emergency, I’m paying for my own health care costs) :

So US still works out cheaper to live by $294 a year. Next we’ll see if the lack of sales taxes in Oregon makes up for one of the highest state income taxes.