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Consider Relocating

Moving / Relocation Guides || Cost of Living and Demographics
Real Estate Links || School & Health Care Directories

You may also want to review our Local Information & Travel Guides.

Sometimes moving to a new area means you can find a better job more easily. These links will help you examine other places to live before you make the move.

Moving and Relocation Guides

Protect Your Move

...created by the Federal Motor Career Safety Administration (part of the US Dept. of Transportation), this site is here to help plan your move and select a moving company. You can review several articles including topics like planning a move, your rights, and understanding valuation and insurance options, or search the history of various moving companies as well as any complaints that may have been lodged against them.

How to Choose a Professional Mover, Mayflower Transit

Tips and pointers to help you avoid moving scams from one of the largest moving companies in the U.S.

DirectYourMove.com

...advice on packing, moving, and selecting a mover, plus a quick form to fill in to start generating quotes from movers.

Move.com

...tips on purchasing a house, figuring your mortgage payments, and other good guides. You might want to try the Moving Checklist Generator to create a custom "to-do list" with time line.

Moving.com

...all kinds of info to assist you with finding a new home and planning a move

MoversGuide from the US Postal Service

...file a change-of-address form right online, direct links to motor vehicle and voter registration info for all 50 states, IRS change-of-address forms, moving tips for you / the kids / the pets, how to get settled after the move, a post office locator, and some money-saving offers.

MovingScam.com

...while planning your move, check this site for horror stories of folks who were scammed by moving companies. Then, after reading them, look for information on how to find reputable movers, understanding estimates, and how to file complaints.

Wall Street Journal Real Estate

...another free winner from the Wall Street Journal. Search for a new home, plan your relocation production, review extensive information profiles for over 100 US cities, home design and home improvement info, and even info on lawn and garden care. They even have an interactive Best Places to Live database for you which starts with "Choose your ideal climate." Sorry, but "No hurricanes nor tornados" is not offered as a search option.

Relocation Central

..."a nationwide source for the latest relocation information organized by city and categories of interest from apartments to zoos." Pulls together a lot of information already found online but doesn't quite go the extra step to find listings not present on other sites. And no public libraries. Good thing we have the other list.

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Cost of Living & Demographics

EquiRaise

...a free calculator that determines average compensation increases (including wages and salaries and benefits) and cost-of-living adjustments based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There is one calculator for HR folks and one for individuals. No, you don't get to plug in your specific data, but this will give you average information for your area and industry. There are many ways to look at this data, so don't just go running to the boss with a demand for a raise, but this might add to your arsenal of reasons why you deserve a raise (along with specifics of all the very good work you do, your outstanding contributions to the company. how much more valuable you are than just your salary, etc., etc.).

Information Topics from the US Census Bureau

Population estimates, building start-ups, employment statistics, this site includes brief information on many topics which might affect your decision to move somewhere. I've linked you to the A - Z subject page so you can look around.

FedStats

...went through that stuff above and still didn't find what you want? The Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy maintains this site to provide easy access to the full range of statistics and information produced by these agencies for public use. Check the Fast Facts, browse the list A to Z, or try the keyword search.

Federal Reserve Board "Beige" Book

..connect from here to the Beige Book, local cost-of-living and other data for the 12 regions represented by the 12 Federal Reserve Banks. "This report is published eight times per year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key businessmen, economists, market experts, and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector." Several years of the book are archived online. The links are at the bottom of the page.

The Salary Calculator

... this tool allows you to compare the cost of living between two locations in the U.S. For persons moving from the US to another country or between countries outside the U.S., there is an International Salary Calculator. Please note that these only give an indication of cost of living and your buying power. They do not give you current pay rates in these locations!

Reed's Regional Salary Calculator for the U.K.

Similar to Homefair's popular product, but this one only compares regions within the United Kingdom.

U.S. Cost-of-Living Comparisons from DataMasters

...quick analysis for over 400 US locations.

Federation of Tax Administrators, State Tax Rates and Structure.

...links to many tax tables for individual income, corporate income, motor fuel, and other taxes levied by individual states. (If you are a serious beer drinker, I don't think you want to move to Hawaii.) Also links to state amnesty programs, for those of you who might not have been so compliant about filing.

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Real Estate Links

Apartments.com

...nationwide network of apartment listings, including floor plans. Choose your region, price range, number of beds and baths, and go.

ERA.com

...Search for a new home, make arrangements to sell your current home, and compare the price of homes in any region.

Realtor.com

...Select a state to find a new home or meet realtors in that region.

Re/Max International

... search for homes or realtors nationwide. In its mortgage information section, you can find data on interest rates and loan terms or use a special calculator to estimate how much your monthly payments would be.

RealtyDirectory.com

...a searchable list of real-estate professionals--as well as their phone numbers, e-mail address and websites, if applicable--who have paid to be listed in the directory.

Another tip originally seen in the National Business Employment Weekly: Whether you're planning to buy or rent, you may find the quickest results by going to a major search engine like as Google and searching on the name of the city you're moving to and the words "real-estate listings," "apartments" or "houses."

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School & Health Care Directories

Schools

Council of Chief State School Officers

...a nationwide nonprofit org for the public officials leading the departments responsible for elementary and secondary education in the US and its other jurisdictions. From this site you can connect to the websites for all of these agencies, check out information on education standards and assessment, and keep up with the latest news in the education field.

National Public School and School District Locator

...U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics is making available their Common Core of Data, a comprehensive, annual, national statistical database of information concerning all public elementary and secondary schools (approximately 87,000) and school districts (approximately 16,000). What does this mean to you? It means if you are searching for information on school districts, you now have access to "the correct name, address, telephone number, NCES ID number, urbanicity (rural, large city, etc.), and other student and teacher information for public schools or school districts as reported to NCES by state education officials in each state." I like the cross listing from school districts to individual schools in the district and back again. You also don't need the full name of a school (I tried just "Blair" to find "Montgomery Blair," a school near me), and the reports are pretty detailed. The School search lets you specify grade span (K-12, 4 - 6, etc.) and Number of students in the school. Don't you just love it when your tax dollars do something this well?

Search for Schools, Colleges, and Libraries

... another tool from NCES, this allows you to search for schools, colleges, and public libraries. Enter a location, select the kind of institution you seek, and go.

Schools Online, The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS)

...searchable or browsable information on almost 300 boarding schools in the U.S. and Canada. Includes application information.

Information on colleges and vocational training schools is also available.

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Health Care

AMA DoctorFinder

...The On-Line Doctor Finder from the American Medical Association. The database listings are not limited to AMA members and all information has been confirmed by the various accrediting and certification agencies.

American Dental Association

...information on the association, dental care tips, and great information on finding a dentist. You can search their online member directory, but even then they recommend you contact the state and local societies in your area for referrals. Yes, links are provided to the state and local societies.

We also have information on child & elder care providers.

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