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[Not a TMM member]

Well, yeah $15 hr is shit.
When I was a flat rate tech at 14 hr in Durango I was unhappy unless I could generate at least 3 hours rate per hour of work.
I spent a lot of time unhappy with my job there.
Some days I would hour out at minimum others I'd average 50 an hour.
My average at the end of a particular year was $11 and rent was high but I still made it.
The only reason I left was divorce.
Can't stay in a town that wants you dead, her family was powerful there and I about killed her new BF.

As a property manager I would make 80k a year here. As a Mobile mechanic $45 hr. and if I owned a shop I'd wouldn't even open the service drive for less than $55hr.
But that is here. The market can bear me. 

Your whole case or rather sort of a lack thereof forced me to do a bit of research on Wyoming. Despite your continuous naysaying I like what I see.
Maybe I'll get a spread up there, where did you say you live?
Laramie?
Hmm.......maybe we'll be neighbors.

[Duncan]

What's the name of the town in San Miguel County just norht of Durango were that anti-drug war sheriff lives?

I hear the cost of living there is out of this world.

What are housing costs like in Durango?

I live in Carpenter, Wyoming which 30 miles east of Cheyenne. Property is at $1,000 a acre and you most buy at least a 40 acre lot. You still have to provide your own well, septic, electricity and heat hookup which is generally propane. This is if don't want to live in Cheyenne or any of the small towns on the east side of the county.

Alot of homes for sale in Pine Bluffs due the increase in gas prices and the town has a shortage of mechanics. The closer you get to Cheyenne the higher the house prices. If you build you have to deal with the Cheyenne building inspector and the guy is a prick.

Laramie is a bad choice due to the UW which is the cuase of high housing prices and it gets real cold in the winter.

[Not a TMM member]

About the Sheriff, I dunno.
I lived there in the early to mid nineties and housing was still extremely varied depending on where you went.
I had acreage in Hesperus that was about $17k an acre. But it had water rights and the La Plata River passed right through it.
The houses depend on where and in what condition.
My ex bought her condo for 35k and sold it four years later for 75k.
Our last house was 135k I hear she got 225k for it 9 years ago.
The last I heard the prices were outrageous in Durango and the larger towns but more than 30 miles from either Cortez or Durango you are getting much less for homes and acreage.
Places like Aztec,Farminton and Shiprock in NM are psychotic but Silverton, Ouray and Telluride are boutique towns and only the uber wealthy can buy there now.
Last time I was in Telluride in 94 a studio condo was going for 300k and I'm not talking a big warehouse type place.  Just a room with a water closet and a poor excuse for a kitchen.

I know the home prices in Gunnison are falling off as they are in places like Rifle and Grand Junction.
They will never be low like they were in the eighties until we have another deep recession like twice what we are seeing now or an outright depression.
 
From what I understand you are looking at 500k for a 2000sq ft. house in Durango.
Closer to 1mil in Farmington! Farmington!  Farmington is a pit.
+- 60k an acre nearby.
 

[gardenguy]

And WY is still looking for workers becuase no one wants to move here.

I know I wont after reading about how hard it is to garden there heck it's a desert. Also I agree with you I would be better off making poverty wages in AR if I wanted to keep working for someone, atleast in AR I can grow all my own food and a surplus. I just wish their were more libertarians and anarchists in AR An old ww2 veteran man stood up in the church I attend in AR 4 milkes down the road and said a vote for bush was a vote for God I heard a bunch of amens, I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide I wondered if they could see thru me.

[Sunny]

Still, $20 an hour in WY is better than $7.00 an hour in Idaho.  Housing's the same percentage of income--leastways the places I've been looking at, it is.  Even after taking off a bit of federal income tax you come out ahead. 
Gardenguy, high desert gardening's not easy, but it's quite doable.  It just takes a bit more creativity and patience.  But if you want to grow everything you eat, stay further south.  It's the loooooong winters up here that'll get you.
Heck, for $15 an hour, we'd stay right here.  But no one's hiring in our field for wages that high here.

Duncan, I think your numbers are a little bit off for SSI/Medicare taxes.  Self-employed is 15.2%, working for employer should be half that, 7.6%, not 10%.

Sunny

[TANSTAAFL]

I don't really understadn the whole point of this whole thread----it seems somone is pissed ff about living here---why not jsut leave if you don't like it?

I've been here over a year now up in the northern part of the state----in a tiny community that seems to be bursting at the seems with opportunity.

Of course we ahve problems and our semi-famous sherrif is not the hero many think he is---however we DO enjoy a remarkable amount of freedom here----common sense being the rule of the day. I wouldnt go back to texas for a million$ a year. No way in hell.

Our business is growing exponentially and unsuprisingly we are finding qualified people willing to work for good money. It is pretty damn easy to do business here, taxes are comparatively low and regulation very limited----in our area no one who builds has electrical or plumbers licenses---and most work for cash (which is considered the norm here).

As long as Claire & Co wish to let you post here go ahead, but the rants and attempts to dissuade people are a waste of time---might I suggest gainful employment? It is almsot always a sure cure for the kind of frustration you seem to have.

[oldmouse]

I used to be a rough necking NE Mont went to rock springs and made good change
my wife hated it ( the town not the cash ) but if I had my choice I'd still be there

[Wyomiles]

Hay oldmouse I spent 25 years in Green River and Rock Springs. Did the mines and the fertilizer plant.

[oldmouse]

green river has  a good biker bar had a ball and stayed at the RV park for a month i love that townGOOD PEOPLE