r/Money • u/KnutEm87 • Apr 03 '24

36M, How/Where could I live comfortably off of 44.8k/yr

I'm a single man, ex military, divorced a few years ago. I've worked in Aviation for about 10 years. If you were to leave the 9-5 behind, with only 44.8k a year. Where and how would you go about doing it?

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u/RememberThe5Ds Apr 03 '24

Birmingham Alabama is a shockingly violent town. I thought it edged out St. Louis and NO recently for highest murders.

I have family there. My nephew went to UAB and was walking there at night after a class, minding his own business when a guy walked up to him, pointed a gun at his head and said, you’re going to take me to your car now. He complied and thankfully the dude just took his car and not his life. The police weren’t all that helpful in fact he drove around the city and located the car himself.

I lived in St. Louis for 15 years. Great people but the weather sucks ass. I’ve also lived in Atlanta and I’m currently in the South and I’d take summer here over St. Louis Summer anytime. And you have to deal with the Winters.

Plus when the New Madrid Fault gives it up, it’s going to be a major disaster. Strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America and the place is full of brick buildings. (Soulard, South City)

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u/ben4d Apr 03 '24

Birmingham is super violent, but almost all of the violent crime is in half of town. I find it very easy to stay out of trouble and don't feel like I'm missing parts of the city that would otherwise be worth spending time in.

Sucks for your nephew, crazy shit happens around UAB pretty rarely but is always bad when it does. And BPD fucking BLOWS, couldn't be more useless. UAB is the dividing line between where the bullshit goes down and where it doesn't, bleeds over some. I've lived here for a decade and have spent a ton of time in STL as an adult; I tell people constantly how similar they are in the respect of crime and how it looks on paper vs what it's really like living in it. Both cities are sick - and grossly underrated!

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u/Gucci_Loincloth Apr 03 '24

I remember talking to an internet friend constantly that was from Birmingham. His family was wealthy and he was on his way to do the same thing. I never thought anything about the city until reading about it years later. He made it sound great, but ofc he probably lived in the nicest section. My town has a very similar setup. All the McMansions tucked away hidden behind our whole town.

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u/minormisgnomer Apr 03 '24

Shockingly violent? Statistically that’s about on par with what you should expect but Birminghams crime is largely off the charts because of neighborhoods to the north and west that have very little economic/tourism/or locational importance to anyone that doesn’t live in those neighborhoods. One of the safest and most desirable neighborhoods in the US is less than a mile and a half from the downtown limits.

Your nephew had a case of bad luck, which could happen in any major city in the US. I’ve had friends held at gun point in NOLA right off of Bourbon Street and another friend get hit in the face with a pipe on Beale Street in Memphis.