This 2007 email demonstrates our very low burn rate (as a couple) and how it shaped my perceptions.

— original 2007 email:

Hi LS,

Thanks for your suggestion. My own experience is the opposite. Big cities are cheaper for us.

Many friends told me rent are vastly different among locations, but other costs are uniform throughout US. But I think everything is cheaper in big cities. (“Everything” because big cities are home to the poorest people who can only afford the cheapest. Poor Chinese, poor Hispanic poor local white people.) Consider

• no car insurance, no car tax, no car repair, no parking, no fines, no gas. Subway is below $100/person
• cheaper rent, iFF we choose room-sharing, something unavailable in the suburbs.
• cheaper cooking
• cheaper fruits/veggie if u find a Chinatown
• cheaper household shopping
• … nothing, i can think of nothing, more expensive than in suburb

Biggest cost is rent. We lived for months in NY suburb (East Orange) and in urban Boston. The lowest rent was found right beside NY subway stations, albeit often in small and old houses.

Other than food, everyday shopping is cheaper when u find some discount stores — lower than Walmart prices. They are found in big cities and in some but not all suburbs.

— Now a response to LS’s reply

I like your “changeable” analysis. For now I’m a short term planner.

I also agree with the “familiarity premium” distortion we are all susceptible to.

I’m not trying to be 100% rational, which would perhaps entail the obligation of “due diligence” to consider CA, San Francisco, FL (better weather for her).. too many choices. Right now I enjoy the simplicity of my choices — between urban NY and Boston.

My thinking is deliberately short-term. We are planning to go back to SG in X years. No home-buyer. No green card. Living Cost consideration is something I try to put aside and make way for key considerations like medical cost, java track record, big company track record, availability of promising jobs, …

In my matrix analysis, living cost is not a consideration at all.

In Feb, Mar and Apr, my up-to-then experience convinced me we needed a car. Our recent experience dispelled everything we heard about the necessity of cars. In NY, I met The first American I know who didn’t own a car. Now living and working in Boston, i meet more people without a car. I’m actually rational on this.

Sorry no comments on the “2-3 times” cost comparison with SG. Such comparisons require due diligence to be worthwhile. What I can say now — our transport is cheaper, our food is cheaper. Excluding housing, price level is perhaps 1.5-2 times SG level, converted to USD. I’m rational on this.

Considering housing, medical, travel … We both obviously feel a lot poorer now than in SG, even though our household income is roughly unchanged, converted to USD.