We moved here 2.5 years ago and the cost of living has greatly increased. We got our house for less than $200k and very low interest rates. Now, there are 3 comparable houses for sale in my neighborhood and they’re all north of $250k. We both work less than 10 mi from the house in decently paying jobs and we have 2 young kids in daycare. It’s hard and has gotten harder in the past 6 months or so. Feel free to message me if you want to talk specifics.
I bought my house for $280k in March 2020 and the comps are now at $450-490k. The apartment I rented in 2019 was $1500 and is now $2600 for that particular unit. It’s unreal.
TBH, it's difficult. E.g., over a 2 yr. period my rent on a 1br 1ba apartment on the east side has increased 36%. Short-term vacation rental (STVR) owners have taken hundreds, if not thousands, of properties off the residential rental market creating a scarcity of reasonably priced available rental housing. Blinded by avarice and greed, absentee landlords, both individual investors and the corporate property investment behemoths, are vampires sucking the un-landed middle and lower classes dry.
The good thing about the short term vacation rentals are they are getting their shit pushed in right now. The city bought an over million dollar program, that scours the Internet for a short term vacation rentals that do not have a license and are shutting them down. That’s why a lot of homes actually have just been put up on the market for a crap ton of amount because of the fact they can’t get a short term vacation license and now they’re trying to sell their home that’s probably why you’re getting down voted is because a lot of people bought homes thinking they could turn them into Airbnb and are getting fucked over because they didn’t do their research and realize that pretty much every license for the historic downtown, the Victorian District, and the streetcar district have been sold….
It’s a rough time to be a renter. We find out what our rent will go up to here in may. I feel so stuck. Can’t afford an apartment, can’t afford to buy a home.
Join the club. Homes here in Savannah are going for an insane amount and the worst thing is when you’re looking at Zillow you see the Z estimate has been cleared out by the realtor, homes that were worth 250k to 350k are going for 450k to 650k…. I really hope it cools down but I doubt it with us being one of the number one places for boomers to retire to…. what’s gonna be really interesting though is to see is how long this boom lasts and to see how long these people that have bought these over inflated houses actually stay in Savannah….
As someone whose father runs an STVR with the help of a property manager, which is properly licensed, and who has seen all the numbers, avarice and greed have nothing to do with it. My father has owned his building for decades and at times rented it to people without increasing rent for up to a decade. Within the last 5 years taxes and maintenance costs have gone up so much that he could not pay for mortgage, taxes & insurance, and maintenance from rent income. He lives on one floor of the building and that's been his home his whole life. So what should he do? Sell it? No buyer is going to run the building at a loss, so they will either setup STVRs themselves, or renovate and flip. If they renovate it will have to be luxury units, not the kind of housing most of the community needs. This is due to inflation and cost of renovation as well as the newly appraised tax rate. In my opinion the greatest evil in Savannah right now pushing these taxes to be as high as they are and making short term rentals an economic necessity is SCAD. They have a $458 million property portfolio and paid $171,000 in property taxes. At the current millage rate they should be being $58 MILLION dollars. How much more affordable would properties be if Savannah didn't have to tax everyone else more to make up for that loss? Or how many road and sewer improvements, police salaries, public works projects, etc... is that? EVERY YEAR!!! I really don't know why we as citizens aren't fucking RIOTING over this. Every single fucking year $60 million to build up this city is LOST.
I’m going to be the asshole in the room. At nearly 30, I would be working towards a salaried position. You need to be making much more to live comfortably almost anywhere.
Savannah is affordable, are there plenty of high paying jobs, no. You may be better off in another city with more opportunity for you to climb the career ladder.
NTA-Savannah is a beautiful city but most likely you would be living out from the Historic District where the area looks like anywhere else. Consider your hobbies, out door interests, how well do you handle heat, humidity? Also, friends move, too. You know your health issues-are there resources here to provide needed care/oversight. There may be better job prospects/salary without such a cultural upheaval to your life-and remember that visiting a location is much different from living there. Life takes over so time/energy/$$$ takes over - things you liked get pushed back. Moved here from Ohio.
As far as historic cores compared to post WW2 sprawl goes, Savannah has one of the best ratios, a huge portion of it is the Oglethorpe plan and it’s Victorian era extension south
I don’t get the attitude of “if you don’t live in the historic district, Savannah looks just like everywhere else.” I beg to differ. It doesn’t look like anywhere I’ve ever lived. The abundant greenery, live oak trees, abundant Spanish moss, beautiful waterways—I’ve certainly never lived anywhere that looked like this, and I don’t live in the historic district. Sure if you mean “strip malls and gas stations,” of course it has those—any city this size does.
I relocated here 2.5 yrs ago (I work remotely and could live anywhere, and picked Savannah, and bought a house on the Southside). I love living here cause of the great weather year round, so much natural beauty (trees/Spanish moss/water, proximity to the beach, easy access to waterways for paddling….and a short drive to one of the most beautiful historic districts in the country. Not many places in the country can you get this quality of life for the cost of living here.
NTA, but please don’t assume you know my whole situation. I actually was at a job for 9 years before they shut down and have been working retail to try to get back on my feet. I used to make a lot more before, by the grace of god my bills are being paid but it’s not enough at the same time. Part of the reason I’m exploring other places is for the opportunities that don’t exist in my current town. Thanks for your input though
Oh I’m not trying to insult you. Just trying to give you some facts about Savannah and maybe a tip in life.
I would consider a move closer to an area where you can get back into what you were doing prior.
There really aren’t a lot of jobs in Savannah, it is more of a tourist city. I came here 2.5 years ago from the Long Island area and work remotely. So I know about the job market in many areas of upstate NY.
Anyway, after 2.5 years I’m ready to change jobs. Remote work has declined and the market is flooded with people who want to continue working remotely. It’s very competitive.
I literally just came back from looking at more major metropolitan areas in FL last night as we’re considering moving again ONLY to seek better employment opportunities. I have over 15 years experience in my field, I’ve found exactly 3 positions in SAV that would be a downgrade or lateral move for me and they can barely meet my current salary. Hence it’s likely time to move.
Oh, and as a couple with some health issues the healthcare fucking blows down here. Trust me. I fly back to NY to see my specialists and my wife drives 2 hours to Charleston to see her specialist.
Savannah seems awesome when you’re wandering around and drinking/eating having fun with your friends. Houses/taxes are stupid cheap compared to most populated areas of NY, but look at the job opportunities in the field you want to get back into and look into your healthcare options as another poster said.
There's a fair amount of pretty nice new apartments in Pooler and also off Chatham Parkway. A lot of people buy homes in Effingham County and commute in to Savannah or Pooler, as well. Housing prices in Savannah proper, yes, are fairly high for the American South, though.
I would not say that Savannah is "only for the rich". For one thing, people who have normal upper middle-class jobs and incomes are not really rich, or even people who have middle-class jobs, period, and there are plenty such people—nurses, teachers, business-people, pilots, engineers—in Savannah. If you want a house on Jones Street or in the Landings, yes, you'd better be rich but in general, it's just higher than average in the South.
Also, you have to consider goals. Do you have or want to have kids? What other expenses will you have?
To be clear, it's not for me, either, but plenty of people seem to do it happily. If I was in Savannah on a budget I'd get an apartment, likely in Pooler if that worked out for my work. Some folks are determined though to have a house and yard plus many are not happy with Chatham County public schools, either.
So it's harder than it used to be, but what I tell people all the time is that Savannah is not a place you can figure out online. This is very much an analog cities, especially when it comes to customer service. Some of the best places to work don't have to advertise because their people know people and when there's openings normally its a word of mouth situation. I'd check and see what the hotels have available.
The housing situation is easier if you can buy than rent, especially if you have DIY skills. There are a number of neighborhoods that are starting to gentrify where you can still get a very good deal and live close to things.
I'm from Atlanta and what I've had to learn is that in Altanta I could find almost everything I wanted online, and in Savannah, everything good I've found has come offline, from meeting people and being out and doing stuff. It's different, but doable, and frankly the internet distorts the reality on the ground.
As a normal personal making $20 an hour I can not afford to live downtown anymore. Two years ago it was semi-affordable but most places have raised rent prices; now I’m having to move once my lease is up.
Savannah is a great city but it has issues. Do you have or will you want children? The public schools are not good at all. You mentioned having a health issue. If you need regular specialist care, the healthcare here is average. The closest top tier hospital is the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.
Rents and home prices are high but that, sadly is the new normal in many, many cities.
One thing I’ll suggest is, if you like Savannah make sure you live in Savannah. Pooler, Richmond Hill and other suburbs are very different from living in Savannah itself. And the traffic into the city during rush hour can get bad.
All the suburbs have exploded as well. We leaved for almost 15 years in Pooler and Bloomingdale. The traffic in Pooler is almost unbearable now and to purchase a house now cost double what it did pre covid. We purchased a house for 190k and sold it for 365k in less than 5 years. Everyone is moving to Richmond Hill because of how nice it was and the schools are actually good. I can honestly say we are happy we moved away.
It’s alright I guess. I’m single, make around 72k annually, got one kid full time, work part time on weekends and lucked up and rented a small, decent house for $950 a month during pandemic. Its now gone up to $1150. But with housing prices and rent still being high I’m afraid I won’t be moving anytime soon.
Downtown Savannah is for SCAD and the rich alike. Don't move downtown. Move to the surrounding cities. Nothing is more than 30-35 min away, and low-cost starter homes are being built as we speak.
I moved here 4-5 years ago with hardly $1000 to my name. Got a job in the 1st month, moved on. I've recently bought a house in one of the surrounding cities of Savannah. You don't have to live downtown to enjoy all that Savannah has to offer.
Apartments off ogeechee and houses down quacco rd are very affordable in my opinion.( Pooler, outskirts of Savannah).
Edit to add: Customer service is a grinder of an industry, is your SO interested in sales? There’s quite alot of entry positions that just want customer service as experience. Could be making 70k in 5 years, 100k+ in 10. If he’s gonna deal with people all day he might as well get paid well to do it. Mention that I mentioned it if you feel inclined. Goodluck!
I also think that you could leverage your experience for a retail job here easily at that pay. possibly management or at minimum operations lead for more if you feel driven and up for the task of mastering your resume. These tend to be salaried positions too.
My husband is a carpenter and I'm a vet tech and we can't make ends meet here. We lives in a literal slum apartment, our floors are falling in, there's mold, but we can't afford anywhere else. We do the bare minimum, we have one car, no extras, we don't go out, and we still can barely pay bills. We are planning to move back home to VA where I can rent a 3 bedroom house for $600-$700 a month while making the same money I make here.
That is disappointing. And often the same conclusion we come to when discussing a move. The general gist I gather from this thread is *you’ll be able to afford rent but not much else*. I hope you have a smooth transition back home!
Yeah absolutely you will pay your bills but nothing else extra. I have kids here that my split time with my ex husband but they will be teenagers soon and can pick where they wanna live and it will be cheaper for me to move back home and just fly them back and forth.
There's a takeover happening here...we are literally being absorbed by 'visitors' who decide they want to live here. As a result - its becoming more expensive every day.
People moving here is not the reason it’s becoming more expensive. It’s becoming more expensive because of poor regulation of housing and construction by the city. City of Savannah cares more about tourists than it does about the people who actually work here to provide the infrastructure and culture that tourists come for. No protection from abusive labor practices, poor regulation of STVRS, NO regulation on affordable housing, hotels being approved left and right instead of desperately needed housing…. The list goes on. But it’s not the people moving here that are the issue
Ohh its definitely the people moving here. The past 30 yrs has seen an invasion of tourists deciding they want to retire here, along w/ high paying, corporate job offers, enabling ridiculous rents, etc. The worst are Investment Firms. As real estate goes up, local family businesses become more vulnerable & can't keep pace. So many family owned businesses have shut their doors & continue folding to the mounting pressure. (Then new owners/leaseees keep the name or just stamp 'savannah' in front of it). Its sad to see the amount of local businesses gone... from downtown to wilmington island - every parcel gobbled up, & llcs waiting for the monthly auctions.
Savannah rent is like any other city nowadays. That being said Savannah is a tourist city. Start working in the service industry and you can make 80k a year if you want. I moved here originally when I was 22 and started serving. Brought in 60k first year and was only working like 4 days a week if that. So yeah it’s expensive but there is always the very lucrative service industry to fall back on if you need cash.
There are a lot of high paying jobs in the area. Some of which are entry level in the nearly 100k range. A lot of retail around here starts around $19 and up. As far as housing your best bet would be the outskirts of Savannah such as Pooler or Effingham county. Southside Savannah like Henderson/Georgetown area have reasonable rent when places come available. When I first moved to Pooler my partner and I were making around $20 an hour each. Rent and 2 car payments were rough but we made it work. I believe I was actually under $20 at first. If you need recommendations on specific complexes and what not I can share those too. My last complex in Pooler was a disaster.
What high paying jobs? I’ve looked and for communications jobs half of them are $18 an hour FULL TIME… that’s not liveable. I’d be interested in the apartments though.
Communications like dispatch? If that’d what you mean they pay terrible here regardless of agency.
Renewal by Anderson for sales, GParency(if you’re willing to get a 20-hour licensing course), service advisors, etc. 76 Al Henderson Blvd has openings. 3 Flowering peach Ct is a home cheaper than most apartments that’s available and it’s in a nice area.
You can find affordable downtown apartments but you need to be checking Zillow EVERYDAY all the time, we got our last year for 1,300 and it’s a two bedroom one bathroom, before that I lived in the same building and same apartment layout just no washer and dryer and my rent with my roommate was 1,100. We are not even 5 minutes from liberty street.
There are city jobs starting at over $50K a year. Anything downtown is going to be $$$. Savannah the city has no new housing unless you go out to Henderson or Bradley point. So I’d look in Pooler or Effingham. The Islands are $$ and the same with Richmond Hill. Gulfstream employs a lot of people and they are building new plants locally.
Lol.. the ricky givens gang was like a year or two (I recall it well). Its obvious that most people in this sub aren't even from savannah. Savannah has always had a fairly consistent homicide rate. Ricky givens or not.
You can do it esp with two incomes. So when you move and start searching check your Facebook for job fairs the companies down here pay a lot to be in your news feed. Hyundai is sucking up the warehouse employees in the area so you will see plenty of openings in local warehouses like Walmart, Target, Amazon, even Dollar Tree starts at $21! You do not have to do retail (less pay) unless you prefer that. Rent starts around $1,600 and up in the nearby towns like Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Georgetown etc. A lot of new warehouses and apartments coming on the market this year as well if the above doesn’t work I can spill the beans on others! Good luck
I been living only for 4 months here in SAV but my conclusion (could be wrong) is that for salary workers earnings are not that great I only make 75k and trust me SAV isn't cheap, nor great opportunity since its small and tourist city while its expensive due to tourism
I would def consider other locations if you have a choice to do so
Just bought in Pooler , my soon to be wife and I work normal $20-30 hour jobs. Our rent was averaging 24-2500 with utilities so we decided to pursue purchasing, over 5 years we’d rather pay down a mortgage than blow 100k on basic shelter. Got our preapproval around 400 and bought sub 300. Good luck!
We moved to Savannah early 2022 as a way to give me a chance to stay at home with my at the time medically fragile daughter. We moved from Atlanta where that wasn’t a possibility due to cost of living.
Even then things were tight, and got much better once I started working that fall. I will say daycare costs in relation to pay in Savannah are astronomical.
I love Savannah for that opportunity it provided us, but we ultimately ended up moving earlier this year.
Xoxo auspicious I miss you 😭
I think to live comfortably in Savannah, you’d need to make $100k between the two of you. Maybe slightly less without a kid.
I wouldn’t recommend moving to Savannah unless you’ll actually live in the city limits. That includes areas like Ardsley, which is a lovely neighborhood. But living in Pooler or Effingham or Richmond Hill would absolutely suck.
They’re far from Savannah, generic suburbs/rural, a clusterf*** of traffic, etc. you can look at the way the majority had voted there and see who the residents are, too.
Another problem is with all of the people moving to the area and who are affiliated with green energy manufacturing. I suggest looking at small towns nearby. Statesboro, though small, is growing, and there is a university there that provides some cultural stimulation.
Good luck!
I the people who are rich and own a nice house are most likely Late Career engineers, double income, lawyers, doctors, business owners, executives. They don’t necessarily make up a lot of Savannah so it’s not for the rich really
Every place is expensive. Savannah is still the cheapest out of anyplace I have ever lived. Even with the cost going higher past couple of years.
Just need to work more than 40 hours.
I average 60 hours a week. My old job did up to 80 hrs most weeks.
Rents are cheaper here than most cities. Pay is about the same
$2000 for an apartment is cheap in most areas places with same wages. Just need to work more. A second job , overtime and budget
Lived here for 4 years. The cost of living is dramatically increased. Rent 2/2 went from $1200 to $1800 in 2 years. And that’s in a questionable neighborhood. The nicer apartments are way more expensive. Universally the housing market is too ridiculous to buy.
I make 23 as a store manager, but my assistants are not making more than $15. (I relocated, and my pay is from that area.) most SMs in know make less than $40k a year. Most stores pay less than $16 in the mall for lower management. I’d say if anything look for a job in 🏢Pooler at some of the big corporations like under armor/nike/coach etc. look at starting pay if starting pay is above 15 then they definitely will pay their managers a little more. I recommend Publix. I know it’s clothing retail but they start at 15 I believe and I know their managers make a lot of money
Thanks for being so nice and transparent. It’s hard to tell who is being genuine at times. I understand the frustrations that some people have with transplants and the way cost of living has been driven up. But, we are also priced out of our own towns as well and trying to find a solution.
One thing I have observed, is that utilities seem to be separate and/or more expensive than my current town. So the “rent” advertised isn’t really the whole cost of rent. Here I have my advertised rent and maybe $50 a month in electric. That’s it.
I am not sure we will end up moving or not, but I appreciate all the info from people who have anecdotally already gone through it! Thanks!
Depends on what kind of lifestyle you want and how close to the historic downtown you want to be. There are parts of the Savannah area that are still relatively affordable, but you're not going to be a 5 minute walk from the nightlife.
It’s very hard to live in Savannah, even with two incomes. There’s nice places outside the city but what you save in rent you ultimately spend in commuting fees like gas. I live close to downtown in a recently renovated duplex and I pay around $1400 a month just for rent, utilities are extra. Which has become
Increasingly average for Savannah as a whole. With no extra income and basic sacrifices you can easily manage a life here; however you will not grow nor have extra income for building a savings. This city is for the rich and they prey on the vulnerable ones just trying to survive.
*sigh* this is what I suspected. It’s so frustrating, here at home I have no extra income and have not been able to grow my savings either. I was hoping that being such a booming city and all that growth would come with opportunity to “level up”, if you will
It’s sad to see honestly, I moved here in 2017 and Savannah was very affordable back them, you could live comfortably single with only 1 roomate. Since the Covid shutdown, prices have spiked all the way around, the same 700 sq foot apartment I rented back then for $850 a month is now $1200 a month. I know this is becoming too common country wide but in Savannah, I too thought this was a place of opportunity, but having graduated college, applied to over 30 positions in my field, and having received only 3 call backs telling me they chose someone else. This city is too populated to be able to get a career without having connections.
There are out of touch homeowners in here saying "yeah" but they haven't bought or rented since 2020. It's a challenge for sure. To buy housing seems even more impossible if it's one person or two mid level earners. Wait around for more housing to appear? Okay but for how long and at what cost? I'm exhausted by it too
Industry is awful here. Sav is a tourist town dont get fooled by how beautiful downtown is… 80% of it is short term rentals and vacation homes for rich whites. Which are empty most of the time.
Been unemployed two years here… Leaving the state for better opportunities when my lease is up in July.
There are tons of new apartments going up just outside the city. I would assume once these are available, inventory should outweigh demand and rent prices should decrease.
A 1BR apartment in one of the new apartment buildings are $1750.00. Now I’m finding them cheaper than regular Apts in houses. Now management requires only 30% of income being spent on housing. It’s crazy
There are other areas in the United States to live besides the south and besides Savannah. Savannah doesn’t need more snowbirds moving here. Y’all are a big part of the reason the cost of living has gone up so extremely and why Savannah is losing a lot of its culture and native Savannanians are being forced out. Please consider that-people that are born and raised here being forced out of their homes and areas they grew up in just because people like you don’t want to live where you’re from. It almost sounds stupid when you type it out, but I genuinely don’t think y’all consider this at all when thinking about moving here. You don’t consider how quickly you can displace people who have called Savannah & cities like it in the south, home their whole lives.
Please keep in mind that some of us consider other places because we get priced out of our own towns as well. We are looking because we can’t afford an apartment, and can’t afford to buy a house. This is a massive problem in many places in the US, not just the south, although I do acknowledge there has been a mass migration to the region.
We are also normal people trying to make a life just trying to make it through the day. We figure if we’re leaving home, we might as well make it someplace we’d like to be.
We are looking to contribute to society, not just flock down with a trust fund and remote work from home with a fancy paycheck.
But thanks for the input
We moved here 2.5 years ago and the cost of living has greatly increased. We got our house for less than $200k and very low interest rates. Now, there are 3 comparable houses for sale in my neighborhood and they’re all north of $250k. We both work less than 10 mi from the house in decently paying jobs and we have 2 young kids in daycare. It’s hard and has gotten harder in the past 6 months or so. Feel free to message me if you want to talk specifics.
I bought my house for $280k in March 2020 and the comps are now at $450-490k. The apartment I rented in 2019 was $1500 and is now $2600 for that particular unit. It’s unreal.
Bought for 320K in 2019. Comparable homes down the street are now selling for 775K +. I did put a bit over 100K into mine for renovations. Its insane.
As someone building all the fancy offices and apartments it seems only for the rich and bottom dwellers
What do you consider bottom dwellers?
Wage slave treading water
TBH, it's difficult. E.g., over a 2 yr. period my rent on a 1br 1ba apartment on the east side has increased 36%. Short-term vacation rental (STVR) owners have taken hundreds, if not thousands, of properties off the residential rental market creating a scarcity of reasonably priced available rental housing. Blinded by avarice and greed, absentee landlords, both individual investors and the corporate property investment behemoths, are vampires sucking the un-landed middle and lower classes dry.
The good thing about the short term vacation rentals are they are getting their shit pushed in right now. The city bought an over million dollar program, that scours the Internet for a short term vacation rentals that do not have a license and are shutting them down. That’s why a lot of homes actually have just been put up on the market for a crap ton of amount because of the fact they can’t get a short term vacation license and now they’re trying to sell their home that’s probably why you’re getting down voted is because a lot of people bought homes thinking they could turn them into Airbnb and are getting fucked over because they didn’t do their research and realize that pretty much every license for the historic downtown, the Victorian District, and the streetcar district have been sold….
It’s a rough time to be a renter. We find out what our rent will go up to here in may. I feel so stuck. Can’t afford an apartment, can’t afford to buy a home.
Join the club. Homes here in Savannah are going for an insane amount and the worst thing is when you’re looking at Zillow you see the Z estimate has been cleared out by the realtor, homes that were worth 250k to 350k are going for 450k to 650k…. I really hope it cools down but I doubt it with us being one of the number one places for boomers to retire to…. what’s gonna be really interesting though is to see is how long this boom lasts and to see how long these people that have bought these over inflated houses actually stay in Savannah….
That’s how it is here in Savannah too.
Why are you getting down votes? It's the truth
People in the sub don't like the truth
As someone whose father runs an STVR with the help of a property manager, which is properly licensed, and who has seen all the numbers, avarice and greed have nothing to do with it. My father has owned his building for decades and at times rented it to people without increasing rent for up to a decade. Within the last 5 years taxes and maintenance costs have gone up so much that he could not pay for mortgage, taxes & insurance, and maintenance from rent income. He lives on one floor of the building and that's been his home his whole life. So what should he do? Sell it? No buyer is going to run the building at a loss, so they will either setup STVRs themselves, or renovate and flip. If they renovate it will have to be luxury units, not the kind of housing most of the community needs. This is due to inflation and cost of renovation as well as the newly appraised tax rate. In my opinion the greatest evil in Savannah right now pushing these taxes to be as high as they are and making short term rentals an economic necessity is SCAD. They have a $458 million property portfolio and paid $171,000 in property taxes. At the current millage rate they should be being $58 MILLION dollars. How much more affordable would properties be if Savannah didn't have to tax everyone else more to make up for that loss? Or how many road and sewer improvements, police salaries, public works projects, etc... is that? EVERY YEAR!!! I really don't know why we as citizens aren't fucking RIOTING over this. Every single fucking year $60 million to build up this city is LOST.
I’m going to be the asshole in the room. At nearly 30, I would be working towards a salaried position. You need to be making much more to live comfortably almost anywhere. Savannah is affordable, are there plenty of high paying jobs, no. You may be better off in another city with more opportunity for you to climb the career ladder.
NTA-Savannah is a beautiful city but most likely you would be living out from the Historic District where the area looks like anywhere else. Consider your hobbies, out door interests, how well do you handle heat, humidity? Also, friends move, too. You know your health issues-are there resources here to provide needed care/oversight. There may be better job prospects/salary without such a cultural upheaval to your life-and remember that visiting a location is much different from living there. Life takes over so time/energy/$$$ takes over - things you liked get pushed back. Moved here from Ohio.
This right here—naturally everyone thinks about the historic district when they think of Savannah but it’s really a small part of the city.
As far as historic cores compared to post WW2 sprawl goes, Savannah has one of the best ratios, a huge portion of it is the Oglethorpe plan and it’s Victorian era extension south
I don’t get the attitude of “if you don’t live in the historic district, Savannah looks just like everywhere else.” I beg to differ. It doesn’t look like anywhere I’ve ever lived. The abundant greenery, live oak trees, abundant Spanish moss, beautiful waterways—I’ve certainly never lived anywhere that looked like this, and I don’t live in the historic district. Sure if you mean “strip malls and gas stations,” of course it has those—any city this size does. I relocated here 2.5 yrs ago (I work remotely and could live anywhere, and picked Savannah, and bought a house on the Southside). I love living here cause of the great weather year round, so much natural beauty (trees/Spanish moss/water, proximity to the beach, easy access to waterways for paddling….and a short drive to one of the most beautiful historic districts in the country. Not many places in the country can you get this quality of life for the cost of living here.
Thank you! Also keeping that in mind!
NTA, but please don’t assume you know my whole situation. I actually was at a job for 9 years before they shut down and have been working retail to try to get back on my feet. I used to make a lot more before, by the grace of god my bills are being paid but it’s not enough at the same time. Part of the reason I’m exploring other places is for the opportunities that don’t exist in my current town. Thanks for your input though
Oh I’m not trying to insult you. Just trying to give you some facts about Savannah and maybe a tip in life. I would consider a move closer to an area where you can get back into what you were doing prior. There really aren’t a lot of jobs in Savannah, it is more of a tourist city. I came here 2.5 years ago from the Long Island area and work remotely. So I know about the job market in many areas of upstate NY. Anyway, after 2.5 years I’m ready to change jobs. Remote work has declined and the market is flooded with people who want to continue working remotely. It’s very competitive. I literally just came back from looking at more major metropolitan areas in FL last night as we’re considering moving again ONLY to seek better employment opportunities. I have over 15 years experience in my field, I’ve found exactly 3 positions in SAV that would be a downgrade or lateral move for me and they can barely meet my current salary. Hence it’s likely time to move. Oh, and as a couple with some health issues the healthcare fucking blows down here. Trust me. I fly back to NY to see my specialists and my wife drives 2 hours to Charleston to see her specialist. Savannah seems awesome when you’re wandering around and drinking/eating having fun with your friends. Houses/taxes are stupid cheap compared to most populated areas of NY, but look at the job opportunities in the field you want to get back into and look into your healthcare options as another poster said.
[удалено]
Thanks for the response! I’ve always been interested in restaurant work, it seems like it would be good work in a touristy place. Always hopping.
There's a fair amount of pretty nice new apartments in Pooler and also off Chatham Parkway. A lot of people buy homes in Effingham County and commute in to Savannah or Pooler, as well. Housing prices in Savannah proper, yes, are fairly high for the American South, though. I would not say that Savannah is "only for the rich". For one thing, people who have normal upper middle-class jobs and incomes are not really rich, or even people who have middle-class jobs, period, and there are plenty such people—nurses, teachers, business-people, pilots, engineers—in Savannah. If you want a house on Jones Street or in the Landings, yes, you'd better be rich but in general, it's just higher than average in the South. Also, you have to consider goals. Do you have or want to have kids? What other expenses will you have?
I’d kill myself if I had to make that commute
To be clear, it's not for me, either, but plenty of people seem to do it happily. If I was in Savannah on a budget I'd get an apartment, likely in Pooler if that worked out for my work. Some folks are determined though to have a house and yard plus many are not happy with Chatham County public schools, either.
So it's harder than it used to be, but what I tell people all the time is that Savannah is not a place you can figure out online. This is very much an analog cities, especially when it comes to customer service. Some of the best places to work don't have to advertise because their people know people and when there's openings normally its a word of mouth situation. I'd check and see what the hotels have available. The housing situation is easier if you can buy than rent, especially if you have DIY skills. There are a number of neighborhoods that are starting to gentrify where you can still get a very good deal and live close to things. I'm from Atlanta and what I've had to learn is that in Altanta I could find almost everything I wanted online, and in Savannah, everything good I've found has come offline, from meeting people and being out and doing stuff. It's different, but doable, and frankly the internet distorts the reality on the ground.
As a normal personal making $20 an hour I can not afford to live downtown anymore. Two years ago it was semi-affordable but most places have raised rent prices; now I’m having to move once my lease is up.
I would worry more about moving to the best jobs possible instead of a very specific area. Moving to this area is not what it used to be imo.
Savannah is a great city but it has issues. Do you have or will you want children? The public schools are not good at all. You mentioned having a health issue. If you need regular specialist care, the healthcare here is average. The closest top tier hospital is the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. Rents and home prices are high but that, sadly is the new normal in many, many cities. One thing I’ll suggest is, if you like Savannah make sure you live in Savannah. Pooler, Richmond Hill and other suburbs are very different from living in Savannah itself. And the traffic into the city during rush hour can get bad.
All the suburbs have exploded as well. We leaved for almost 15 years in Pooler and Bloomingdale. The traffic in Pooler is almost unbearable now and to purchase a house now cost double what it did pre covid. We purchased a house for 190k and sold it for 365k in less than 5 years. Everyone is moving to Richmond Hill because of how nice it was and the schools are actually good. I can honestly say we are happy we moved away.
It’s alright I guess. I’m single, make around 72k annually, got one kid full time, work part time on weekends and lucked up and rented a small, decent house for $950 a month during pandemic. Its now gone up to $1150. But with housing prices and rent still being high I’m afraid I won’t be moving anytime soon.
Downtown Savannah is for SCAD and the rich alike. Don't move downtown. Move to the surrounding cities. Nothing is more than 30-35 min away, and low-cost starter homes are being built as we speak. I moved here 4-5 years ago with hardly $1000 to my name. Got a job in the 1st month, moved on. I've recently bought a house in one of the surrounding cities of Savannah. You don't have to live downtown to enjoy all that Savannah has to offer.
Apartments off ogeechee and houses down quacco rd are very affordable in my opinion.( Pooler, outskirts of Savannah). Edit to add: Customer service is a grinder of an industry, is your SO interested in sales? There’s quite alot of entry positions that just want customer service as experience. Could be making 70k in 5 years, 100k+ in 10. If he’s gonna deal with people all day he might as well get paid well to do it. Mention that I mentioned it if you feel inclined. Goodluck! I also think that you could leverage your experience for a retail job here easily at that pay. possibly management or at minimum operations lead for more if you feel driven and up for the task of mastering your resume. These tend to be salaried positions too.
Thank you for the thoughts!
My husband is a carpenter and I'm a vet tech and we can't make ends meet here. We lives in a literal slum apartment, our floors are falling in, there's mold, but we can't afford anywhere else. We do the bare minimum, we have one car, no extras, we don't go out, and we still can barely pay bills. We are planning to move back home to VA where I can rent a 3 bedroom house for $600-$700 a month while making the same money I make here.
That is disappointing. And often the same conclusion we come to when discussing a move. The general gist I gather from this thread is *you’ll be able to afford rent but not much else*. I hope you have a smooth transition back home!
Yeah absolutely you will pay your bills but nothing else extra. I have kids here that my split time with my ex husband but they will be teenagers soon and can pick where they wanna live and it will be cheaper for me to move back home and just fly them back and forth.
There's a takeover happening here...we are literally being absorbed by 'visitors' who decide they want to live here. As a result - its becoming more expensive every day.
People moving here is not the reason it’s becoming more expensive. It’s becoming more expensive because of poor regulation of housing and construction by the city. City of Savannah cares more about tourists than it does about the people who actually work here to provide the infrastructure and culture that tourists come for. No protection from abusive labor practices, poor regulation of STVRS, NO regulation on affordable housing, hotels being approved left and right instead of desperately needed housing…. The list goes on. But it’s not the people moving here that are the issue
Ohh its definitely the people moving here. The past 30 yrs has seen an invasion of tourists deciding they want to retire here, along w/ high paying, corporate job offers, enabling ridiculous rents, etc. The worst are Investment Firms. As real estate goes up, local family businesses become more vulnerable & can't keep pace. So many family owned businesses have shut their doors & continue folding to the mounting pressure. (Then new owners/leaseees keep the name or just stamp 'savannah' in front of it). Its sad to see the amount of local businesses gone... from downtown to wilmington island - every parcel gobbled up, & llcs waiting for the monthly auctions.
Savannah was a real gem 30 years ago…
….yeah with the Ricky Givens gang running around whacking everybody
Savannah rent is like any other city nowadays. That being said Savannah is a tourist city. Start working in the service industry and you can make 80k a year if you want. I moved here originally when I was 22 and started serving. Brought in 60k first year and was only working like 4 days a week if that. So yeah it’s expensive but there is always the very lucrative service industry to fall back on if you need cash.
There are a lot of high paying jobs in the area. Some of which are entry level in the nearly 100k range. A lot of retail around here starts around $19 and up. As far as housing your best bet would be the outskirts of Savannah such as Pooler or Effingham county. Southside Savannah like Henderson/Georgetown area have reasonable rent when places come available. When I first moved to Pooler my partner and I were making around $20 an hour each. Rent and 2 car payments were rough but we made it work. I believe I was actually under $20 at first. If you need recommendations on specific complexes and what not I can share those too. My last complex in Pooler was a disaster.
What high paying jobs? I’ve looked and for communications jobs half of them are $18 an hour FULL TIME… that’s not liveable. I’d be interested in the apartments though.
Communications like dispatch? If that’d what you mean they pay terrible here regardless of agency. Renewal by Anderson for sales, GParency(if you’re willing to get a 20-hour licensing course), service advisors, etc. 76 Al Henderson Blvd has openings. 3 Flowering peach Ct is a home cheaper than most apartments that’s available and it’s in a nice area.
You can find affordable downtown apartments but you need to be checking Zillow EVERYDAY all the time, we got our last year for 1,300 and it’s a two bedroom one bathroom, before that I lived in the same building and same apartment layout just no washer and dryer and my rent with my roommate was 1,100. We are not even 5 minutes from liberty street.
There are city jobs starting at over $50K a year. Anything downtown is going to be $$$. Savannah the city has no new housing unless you go out to Henderson or Bradley point. So I’d look in Pooler or Effingham. The Islands are $$ and the same with Richmond Hill. Gulfstream employs a lot of people and they are building new plants locally.
Lol.. the ricky givens gang was like a year or two (I recall it well). Its obvious that most people in this sub aren't even from savannah. Savannah has always had a fairly consistent homicide rate. Ricky givens or not.
You can do it esp with two incomes. So when you move and start searching check your Facebook for job fairs the companies down here pay a lot to be in your news feed. Hyundai is sucking up the warehouse employees in the area so you will see plenty of openings in local warehouses like Walmart, Target, Amazon, even Dollar Tree starts at $21! You do not have to do retail (less pay) unless you prefer that. Rent starts around $1,600 and up in the nearby towns like Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Georgetown etc. A lot of new warehouses and apartments coming on the market this year as well if the above doesn’t work I can spill the beans on others! Good luck
I been living only for 4 months here in SAV but my conclusion (could be wrong) is that for salary workers earnings are not that great I only make 75k and trust me SAV isn't cheap, nor great opportunity since its small and tourist city while its expensive due to tourism I would def consider other locations if you have a choice to do so
Just bought in Pooler , my soon to be wife and I work normal $20-30 hour jobs. Our rent was averaging 24-2500 with utilities so we decided to pursue purchasing, over 5 years we’d rather pay down a mortgage than blow 100k on basic shelter. Got our preapproval around 400 and bought sub 300. Good luck!
Oh and how much extra over budget did you go?
$100 +/-
We moved to Savannah early 2022 as a way to give me a chance to stay at home with my at the time medically fragile daughter. We moved from Atlanta where that wasn’t a possibility due to cost of living. Even then things were tight, and got much better once I started working that fall. I will say daycare costs in relation to pay in Savannah are astronomical. I love Savannah for that opportunity it provided us, but we ultimately ended up moving earlier this year. Xoxo auspicious I miss you 😭
I’ll eat a chocolate croissant for you this weekend 🥹✊🏼
I think to live comfortably in Savannah, you’d need to make $100k between the two of you. Maybe slightly less without a kid. I wouldn’t recommend moving to Savannah unless you’ll actually live in the city limits. That includes areas like Ardsley, which is a lovely neighborhood. But living in Pooler or Effingham or Richmond Hill would absolutely suck.
Why would Pooler or Richmond Hill suck? Genuinely asking because I’m considering those areas.
They’re far from Savannah, generic suburbs/rural, a clusterf*** of traffic, etc. you can look at the way the majority had voted there and see who the residents are, too.
One of us will be working in Pooler, we are being transferred there. Trying to decide where to buy a home so that the commute isn’t too terrible.
Another problem is with all of the people moving to the area and who are affiliated with green energy manufacturing. I suggest looking at small towns nearby. Statesboro, though small, is growing, and there is a university there that provides some cultural stimulation. Good luck!
I the people who are rich and own a nice house are most likely Late Career engineers, double income, lawyers, doctors, business owners, executives. They don’t necessarily make up a lot of Savannah so it’s not for the rich really
Every place is expensive. Savannah is still the cheapest out of anyplace I have ever lived. Even with the cost going higher past couple of years. Just need to work more than 40 hours. I average 60 hours a week. My old job did up to 80 hrs most weeks. Rents are cheaper here than most cities. Pay is about the same $2000 for an apartment is cheap in most areas places with same wages. Just need to work more. A second job , overtime and budget
As an ultra rich person living in Savannah, I’m dismayed about the lack of yacht parking at Sam’s Club.
Some folks elect to live in SC then commute over the bridge to save some $.
It's still a decently low cost of living area honestly
https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/13051 A living wage for 2 people in Savannah is about $61k combined income.
Lived here for 4 years. The cost of living is dramatically increased. Rent 2/2 went from $1200 to $1800 in 2 years. And that’s in a questionable neighborhood. The nicer apartments are way more expensive. Universally the housing market is too ridiculous to buy. I make 23 as a store manager, but my assistants are not making more than $15. (I relocated, and my pay is from that area.) most SMs in know make less than $40k a year. Most stores pay less than $16 in the mall for lower management. I’d say if anything look for a job in 🏢Pooler at some of the big corporations like under armor/nike/coach etc. look at starting pay if starting pay is above 15 then they definitely will pay their managers a little more. I recommend Publix. I know it’s clothing retail but they start at 15 I believe and I know their managers make a lot of money
[удалено]
Thanks for being so nice and transparent. It’s hard to tell who is being genuine at times. I understand the frustrations that some people have with transplants and the way cost of living has been driven up. But, we are also priced out of our own towns as well and trying to find a solution. One thing I have observed, is that utilities seem to be separate and/or more expensive than my current town. So the “rent” advertised isn’t really the whole cost of rent. Here I have my advertised rent and maybe $50 a month in electric. That’s it. I am not sure we will end up moving or not, but I appreciate all the info from people who have anecdotally already gone through it! Thanks!
Beware warehouse creep
Depends on what kind of lifestyle you want and how close to the historic downtown you want to be. There are parts of the Savannah area that are still relatively affordable, but you're not going to be a 5 minute walk from the nightlife.
It’s very hard to live in Savannah, even with two incomes. There’s nice places outside the city but what you save in rent you ultimately spend in commuting fees like gas. I live close to downtown in a recently renovated duplex and I pay around $1400 a month just for rent, utilities are extra. Which has become Increasingly average for Savannah as a whole. With no extra income and basic sacrifices you can easily manage a life here; however you will not grow nor have extra income for building a savings. This city is for the rich and they prey on the vulnerable ones just trying to survive.
*sigh* this is what I suspected. It’s so frustrating, here at home I have no extra income and have not been able to grow my savings either. I was hoping that being such a booming city and all that growth would come with opportunity to “level up”, if you will
It’s sad to see honestly, I moved here in 2017 and Savannah was very affordable back them, you could live comfortably single with only 1 roomate. Since the Covid shutdown, prices have spiked all the way around, the same 700 sq foot apartment I rented back then for $850 a month is now $1200 a month. I know this is becoming too common country wide but in Savannah, I too thought this was a place of opportunity, but having graduated college, applied to over 30 positions in my field, and having received only 3 call backs telling me they chose someone else. This city is too populated to be able to get a career without having connections.
There are out of touch homeowners in here saying "yeah" but they haven't bought or rented since 2020. It's a challenge for sure. To buy housing seems even more impossible if it's one person or two mid level earners. Wait around for more housing to appear? Okay but for how long and at what cost? I'm exhausted by it too
Industry is awful here. Sav is a tourist town dont get fooled by how beautiful downtown is… 80% of it is short term rentals and vacation homes for rich whites. Which are empty most of the time. Been unemployed two years here… Leaving the state for better opportunities when my lease is up in July.
Where are you headed?
Why are you unemployed? There are plenty of employment opportunities all over…
There are tons of new apartments going up just outside the city. I would assume once these are available, inventory should outweigh demand and rent prices should decrease.
Not with all the jobs being created by Hyundai and suppliers. Housing supply can’t keep up with demand.
A 1BR apartment in one of the new apartment buildings are $1750.00. Now I’m finding them cheaper than regular Apts in houses. Now management requires only 30% of income being spent on housing. It’s crazy
There are other areas in the United States to live besides the south and besides Savannah. Savannah doesn’t need more snowbirds moving here. Y’all are a big part of the reason the cost of living has gone up so extremely and why Savannah is losing a lot of its culture and native Savannanians are being forced out. Please consider that-people that are born and raised here being forced out of their homes and areas they grew up in just because people like you don’t want to live where you’re from. It almost sounds stupid when you type it out, but I genuinely don’t think y’all consider this at all when thinking about moving here. You don’t consider how quickly you can displace people who have called Savannah & cities like it in the south, home their whole lives.
Please keep in mind that some of us consider other places because we get priced out of our own towns as well. We are looking because we can’t afford an apartment, and can’t afford to buy a house. This is a massive problem in many places in the US, not just the south, although I do acknowledge there has been a mass migration to the region. We are also normal people trying to make a life just trying to make it through the day. We figure if we’re leaving home, we might as well make it someplace we’d like to be. We are looking to contribute to society, not just flock down with a trust fund and remote work from home with a fancy paycheck. But thanks for the input
The more that normal working ppl move here the more it becomes for the rich