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I [22M] am considering moving to Puerto Rico from the mainland US (currently live in Rock Hill, SC) for lower Cost of Living and year-round warm weather, although I'm not 100% sure yet as I'm getting conflicting information. Cost of living almost anywhere in the US makes it almost impossible to live on your own (that, combined with me being Autistic). From what I know, Puerto Rico has a much lower cost of living than the Mainland US, although I'm hearing in some places that rent prices aren't too much lower than the mainland post-pandemic but It's hard to get information on it because much of the country forgets Puerto Rico is still part of the US. I don't mind having to learn Spanish.
But anyway, to help me think about it, I came up with a pros/cons list:
PROS:
* Lower Cost of Living (maybe)
* Tropical Weather (especially as someone who thinks even subtropical winters are too cold). And unlike Miami doesn't have the remote chance of winter storms coming from up north.
* Caribbean/Latin American culture and vibe. I get to actually live in the Caribbean while still living in America.
* San Juan is a fun city. Also the real oldest city in the US, predating St. Augustine by several decades
* The Beach
* Having Mountains, unlike Florida
* Less Federal Taxes (although I actually don't mind them)
* Puerto Rico (along with DC) are among the territories that are the most integrated with the rest of the US are are the most likely to become states
* Unlike Hawaii you're not too far from the US virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic
* Road signs are in kilometers instead of miles
CONS (although some of them still apply to my state so...):
* Losing my right to vote for congress and president
* Corruption
* Federal Neglect
* Much of the country forgetting that Puerto Rico is part of America, causing both a lot of businesses not shipping things/treating residents of the territory differently than mainlanders, and a stigma among many that I'm moving abroad
* Culture shock that comes with the unique culture of Puerto Rico
* Anything within San Juan city limits is still very expensive
* Puerto Rican Spanish is among the harder dialects to understand for non-native speakers
* Hurricanes
* Much of the population is socially conservative
* Statehood being a controversial issue, both within and outside the island
* Going against migration trends, as more Puerto Ricans move to the Mainland US than the other way Around
* Some people will see Mainlanders moving to Puerto Rico as Imperialist
* Having the lowest English Proficiency in the US. A lot more people in the mainly Spanish-Speaking parts of the Mainland US are bilingual than in Puerto Rico.
* It's logistically harder to move to an Island, especially affordably
* While not as Isolated as Hawaii, It's still a good ways away from Miami, the closest part of the mainland US.
Will you be needing a job if you move to PR? The job market isn't the best and it's even worse if you aren't fully bilingual. Food for thought.
What's your personality like? For example, are you able to roll with the punches and are able to allow annoyances to roll off your back? Are you able to easily adjust to life in a new location? More food for thought.
Will you be needing a job if you move to PR? The job market isn't the best and it's even worse if you aren't fully bilingual. Food for thought.
What's your personality like? For example, are you able to roll with the punches and are able to allow annoyances to roll off your back? Are you able to easily adjust to life in a new location? More food for thought.
How affordable is rent on full time entry-level jobs, like washing dishes at a restaurant? Again, I'm okay learning Spanish, and the way I learn the best is by actually practicing, based on experience, although I might be pressured to do customer service jobs for my English skills in some tourist areas but idk
How affordable is rent on full time entry-level jobs, like washing dishes at a restaurant? Again, I'm okay learning Spanish, and the way I learn the best is by actually practicing, based on experience, although I might be pressured to do customer service jobs for my English skills in some tourist areas but idk
I came across this website that provides some info:
Not everything in PR is going to be less expensive than the US mainland. Sure, it will be possible to find a place to rent for a reasonable price but other things are likely to be equal or more expensive. If you buy a used car, for example. Many grocery items too, almost anything that is shipped to PR.
is it cheaper than sunny parts of the US? almost certainly cheaper than Fla/much of texas/CA. learn some spanish, try to be respectful (ie, maybe not go around telling people it's a negative they're more traditional culturally). locally produced goods in PR are competitive, imports from spain are also competitive, things like cars and electricity are more expensive (especially relative to florida). if you have capital, maybe think about restoring one of the many abandoned properties. if you need employment, that may be your first hurdle depending on what you are looking for (tourism industry has been booming).
I've made this kind of move, although not to Puerto Rico. Spend a year perfecting your Spanish. Work in a restaurant, hang out in Spanish chat rooms, tell your Spanish speaking friends not to use English around you, etc. You can never be too proficient in a foreign language. For example, if someone (ie the police) knock on your door, they're not going to ask if you speak Spanish. If there's another COVID type of situation, I wouldn't want to be struggling with the local language.
Um, nope. It's not a lower cost of living place, it's higher. The lack of federal income tax means nothing; the tax tables for Hacienda are higher than [California + Federal] for people earning above 62.5K (33%), unless you're an act 60 carpet bagger. For people below that income threshold it's a wash, yet still higher than any of the states that lack state income tax, ask me how I know.
Housing ditto. Apartment rentals in proverbial Barrio Obrero might be 500 bucks, but you won't last a week in Barrio Obrero. For anything else in the metro, you're looking at US mid-tier metro/suburban rent rates.
Wages in the island are the lowest in the entire nation, by almost half of the poorest state (MS), on a median basis. Not just for unskilled labor either. Skilled trades like nursing, the compensation is insulting (my wife is an RN, and currently would take more than a 50% paycut).
Utility rates are significantly higher (legacy disinvestment, island still operates petroleum furnaces for electricity ffs). Water is significantly more expensive than in the mainland. Sales tax is the highest in the US, makes TN's sales tax look like charity, and the latter has no income tax mind you.
Any way you cut it, living in PR is closer in cost burden to Hawaii than it is to living in proverbial suburban sunbelt tract home hell anywhere usa. Even more so when you normalize for prevailing wage, which is in USD so it's apples to apples. The sunshine tax makes non-Miami-Dade Florida look like a bargain. You've been given incorrect cost figures I'm afraid.
Sure, you can hole up in some barrio in Jayuya and technically live cheaply. But that's the same as moving to Appalachian W. VA sans job or support network and boasting low housing costs. It's completely devoid of context, and a useless metric writ large. BL, there's a reason the diaspora of almost 3/4 million people (yours truly included) for the last 2 decades has headed in the opposite direction as the crow flies. Not trying to be a wet blanket, but you aren't discovering a lower cost alternative to mainland living by doing a relocation to PR. Just trying to save you the lesson and avoid the usual post-facto grudge against my formative home. Knowledge is power, if it were truly cheaper and economically solvent as a middle class income earner, I'd certainly would have never moved.
Um, nope. It's not a lower cost of living place, it's higher. The lack of federal income tax means nothing; the tax tables for Hacienda are higher than [California + Federal] for people earning above 62.5K (33%), unless you're an act 60 carpet bagger. For people below that income threshold it's a wash, yet still higher than any of the states that lack state income tax, ask me how I know.
Housing ditto. Apartment rentals in proverbial Barrio Obrero might be 500 bucks, but you won't last a week in Barrio Obrero. For anything else in the metro, you're looking at US mid-tier metro/suburban rent rates.
Wages in the island are the lowest in the entire nation, by almost half of the poorest state (MS), on a median basis. Not just for unskilled labor either. Skilled trades like nursing, the compensation is insulting (my wife is an RN, and currently would take more than a 50% paycut).
Utility rates are significantly higher (legacy disinvestment, island still operates petroleum furnaces for electricity ffs). Water is significantly more expensive than in the mainland. Sales tax is the highest in the US, makes TN's sales tax look like charity, and the latter has no income tax mind you.
Any way you cut it, living in PR is closer in cost burden to Hawaii than it is to living in proverbial suburban sunbelt tract home hell anywhere usa. Even more so when you normalize for prevailing wage, which is in USD so it's apples to apples. The sunshine tax makes non-Miami-Dade Florida look like a bargain. You've been given incorrect cost figures I'm afraid.
Sure, you can hole up in some barrio in Jayuya and technically live cheaply. But that's the same as moving to Appalachian W. VA sans job or support network and boasting low housing costs. It's completely devoid of context, and a useless metric writ large. BL, there's a reason the diaspora of almost 3/4 million people (yours truly included) for the last 2 decades has headed in the opposite direction as the crow flies. Not trying to be a wet blanket, but you aren't discovering a lower cost alternative to mainland living by doing a relocation to PR. Just trying to save you the lesson and avoid the usual post-facto grudge against my formative home. Knowledge is power, if it were truly cheaper and economically solvent as a middle class income earner, I'd certainly would have never moved.
caveat emptor. Good luck to ya.
Yeah, that's what's making it hard to decide, I'm getting inconsistent information about COL
Um, nope. It's not a lower cost of living place, it's higher. The lack of federal income tax means nothing; the tax tables for Hacienda are higher than [California + Federal] for people earning above 62.5K (33%), unless you're an act 60 carpet bagger. For people below that income threshold it's a wash, yet still higher than any of the states that lack state income tax, ask me how I know.
Housing ditto. Apartment rentals in proverbial Barrio Obrero might be 500 bucks, but you won't last a week in Barrio Obrero. For anything else in the metro, you're looking at US mid-tier metro/suburban rent rates.
Wages in the island are the lowest in the entire nation, by almost half of the poorest state (MS), on a median basis. Not just for unskilled labor either. Skilled trades like nursing, the compensation is insulting (my wife is an RN, and currently would take more than a 50% paycut).
Utility rates are significantly higher (legacy disinvestment, island still operates petroleum furnaces for electricity ffs). Water is significantly more expensive than in the mainland. Sales tax is the highest in the US, makes TN's sales tax look like charity, and the latter has no income tax mind you.
Any way you cut it, living in PR is closer in cost burden to Hawaii than it is to living in proverbial suburban sunbelt tract home hell anywhere usa. Even more so when you normalize for prevailing wage, which is in USD so it's apples to apples. The sunshine tax makes non-Miami-Dade Florida look like a bargain. You've been given incorrect cost figures I'm afraid.
Sure, you can hole up in some barrio in Jayuya and technically live cheaply. But that's the same as moving to Appalachian W. VA sans job or support network and boasting low housing costs. It's completely devoid of context, and a useless metric writ large. BL, there's a reason the diaspora of almost 3/4 million people (yours truly included) for the last 2 decades has headed in the opposite direction as the crow flies. Not trying to be a wet blanket, but you aren't discovering a lower cost alternative to mainland living by doing a relocation to PR. Just trying to save you the lesson and avoid the usual post-facto grudge against my formative home. Knowledge is power, if it were truly cheaper and economically solvent as a middle class income earner, I'd certainly would have never moved.
caveat emptor. Good luck to ya.
Good post. You confirmed in a lot more detail what I was trying to point out in a general sense in my previous post. PR is not the preferred choice for a "cheap place to live".
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