Online Sources for Families Relocating in the United States

Relocation is starting with collecting the necessary information about the new town and the special local regulations, the average daily costs and the typical salary. Relocating either alone or with a family you will need information about the weather conditions, the local traffic, the school system, the resident parking system and the local big groceries, and much much more.

Some sources are listed below.

(1) Relocation – Official Sources

Families living in and outside of the United States will find important data in the IRS Guide to Relocation Expenses (see the online publication here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p521.pdf). The Guide was updated in 2006 and its subtitle is Moving Expenses. Details are listed here how you can deduct expenses moving to start of work, or working outside the United States and returning, what can you deduct as a retiree, what items of your moving bill are deductable, etc.

(2) Comparison of Living Costs and Salaries

Before relocating you may need a realistic comparison of living conditions in your current location and in the town you want to find a new home.

You can use two sources of information. The Salary Com website offers a comparison program that covers 370+ cities in the U.S. Use the online form, enter the name of your present location and another one and you can compare your cost of living at home and the typical salary at work in your present location and in the town you choose. (The results are visible in graphs and in text.) 

To use the Moving/Relocation Calculator click here: 

http://swz.salary.com/CostOfLivingWizard/layouthtmls/coll_metrodetail_23.html.

Families preparing to relocate will find good comparative data in the up-to-date official IRS Publication 1542. In this publication the Internal Revenue Service listed the data of daily accommodation and living costs per diem. These official data are for employers who pay a per diem allowance to employees for business travel away from home within the continental United States.  

The data are not especially for families ready to relocate but IRS updates the tables regularly, so comparing the data for your local town and the one you want to relocate gives you a realistic and useful picture. Study the document clicking on www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/p1542.pdf. The publication was updated in March 2007. Table 2 shows the mid-year changes to the high-low rates and the website contains the lately updated rates. (To reach the “What’s Hot” articles, go to www.irs.gov/formspubs; click on What’s Hot in forms and publications.)

For example, beginning March 30, 2007, the maximum per day rate changed for certain locations in the following states.

• California
• Georgia
• Idaho
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Ohio
• South Carolina
• Utah
• Wyoming

See the data in Table 4 of Publication 1524. 

(3) Overview: Cities in the United States

Already the smallest villages have their own web sites, however, it is a hard task to gather all the important data of the living conditions in a city. There is a great web site to look for information. Visit http://www.city-data.com and enter the town name. The first impression is important: you will enjoy the pictures (sometimes 100+) showing the best monuments, buildings, natural beauties of the town. Data are rendered into groups as follows:

• ratio of male/female population
• zip codes
• estimated household income
• ratio of races
• level of education and family status
• number of new house construction building permits
• average value of houses
• average climate (temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind speed, snowfall, sunshine, cloudy days) month by month
• biggest colleges/universities, high schools, primary/middle schools (public and private)
• libraries/museums
• traffic, air pollution, water supply  
• hotels, bank offices
• local government employment
• AM radio and TV stations,

and minor additional data.

For details you must visit the web sites of the local government, city, the telephone company, fuel and electricity suppliers, schools, sport clubs, and all the companies/clubs you are interested in. The Internet provides you a wide variety of sources. Some search results (as of September 1, 2007):

Atlanta, GA – 65,600,000
Boston, MA – 158,000,000
Bozeman, MO – 892,000
Las Vegas, NV – 12,700,000
Little Rock, AR – 3,500,000
New York, NY – 304,000,000
Saint Charles, IL – 5,790,000
Salt Lake City, UT – 27,800,000
San Diego, CA – 107,000,000
Socorro, NM – 1,510,000

visiting capitals and small towns randomly.

We hope the information provided on this page will help you in relocation.

Work on Success,

Derek G. Austin
http://www.pleasantfamilylife.com
http://www.jobhuntersaudioguides.com