You will make more money living in a wealthier area - and job opportunities are better as well. If you live in a depressed part of the country, consider moving to one that is less depressed.
One thing you see all the time in the Idiot Media is an interview with some poor slob in a place like Flint, Michigan, or Syracuse, New York, or some other God-forsaken Hellhole, whining about how there are no jobs and how everything sucks.
And again, as in any argument, always examine the premise of the argument, regardless of whether or not it is apparent.
In this instance, the underlying premise is that the person complaining has no other options but to stay in said same festering Hell-hole until the "jobs come back".
But after the first couple of decades, it should dawn on them that those "good payin' jobs" ain't a-coming back.
A better idea might be to move to where there are jobs. When I lived in Central New York, the economy was grim. Fast-forward 30 years and the economy in Central New York is, well, still grim. Do you remember the go-go 1990's when everyone made money and young millionaires bought Ferraris? Or the busting 2000's when housing went through the roof?
Well, the people in Central New York missed all that. They have been living a Soviet-like existence for decades now. And stifling taxes and big government (and organized crime) are the reasons why. Businesses left in the 1980's. People left in the 1990's. All that is left is Welfare recipients.
If you live in a place like that - where there are nothing but crappy, low-paying jobs, even for people with college degrees and job skills - you might want to think about MOVING to somewhere else.
As I noted in another posting, we toured Central North Carolina - real Klan country, to be sure. The mills closed down a decade ago, and folks sit on their front porches and fly their rebel flags and wait for the mill to re-open. They ain't terribly bright up there.
Meanwhile, about a two-hour drive North on I-95, Citibank has to put up a billboard, in the middle of a recession, advertising jobs. In the DC area, there are jobs galore. And if you have any talents or skills, you can find multiple job opportunities.
Ahh, but that is the caveat - talents or skills. If you have no high school diploma, and your only skill is working the finger-cutting machine for the last 20 years, well, you might find the going tougher. But even then, low-skill jobs abound, and they pay far higher than in the hinterlands (by virtue of the higher cost of living in urban areas).
Of course, if you decide to MOVE, don't do it the white trash way. What is that? That is what white trash does to find a job. They pack up and move to some other location and then try to find a job. Not very smart. But these are the sorts of folks who flocked to Florida in the 1980's and 1990's, and one reason Florida is so odious now - it is clogged full of unemployed and unemployable people.
A better alternative is to apply for jobs first in an area and see what is available. And once you get an offer, move.
I left Central New York in 1987 to work for the Patent Office. The salary opportunities were far higher than what I could have found in Central New York - where all the factories and businesses were closing. And the best thing is that in a large metropolitan area, there are multiple places to work and thus multiple opportunities. Once you are in a larger job market, you don't have to MOVE to find another job.
If I had stayed in Syracuse, I would have had limited job opportunities and limited job mobility. It would have been perhaps a comfortable stasis, but in the long run, probably not a very prosperous future for me.
Move to where the money is. Don't wait for it to come to you! When you are young, this is particularly good advice, as you are more easily mobile. And let's face it, it's fun to travel and see more of the planet than the 20 miles surrounding your home town.
And yet, you'd be surprised how many young people never get more than 100 miles from their home towns. Why is that?
And it is a shame, too. As when you are 20-30, you should be exploring the planet and seeing what it has to offer you. It is much harder to this that later in life. Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown is not the answer.
