How do you/would you cope with a High Cost of Living Area?

[oinkette]

I'm actually trying to move to a HCOLA because I'll make a ton more than I am right now.  Yes, I know the expenses will go up as well, but if you do it smart you can really do much better.  I do plan on living with a roommate, in fact I already have a friend who is willing to share her 2 bdrm for me paying the same rent as I paid on my mortgage in my LCOLA.  So there goes the biggest expense. 

The city I'm looking at (NYC) I won't need my car, so I'll sell mine ($!) and switch to public transportation and walking/biking (yay health!). So there goes the next biggest expense. There isn't much I can do as far as groceries, or at least any more than I'm doing now (farmers markets, cooking at home, cheap staples in bulk), but everything else more than makes up for it. 

Plus as someone above said, in densely populated areas there is so so much to do, a lot of which is free/discounted.

[Retired To Win]

I'm actually trying to move to a HCOLA because I'll make a ton more than I am right now.  Yes, I know the expenses will go up as well, but if you do it smart you can really do much better.  I do plan on living with a roommate, in fact I already have a friend who is willing to share her 2 bdrm for me paying the same rent as I paid on my mortgage in my LCOLA.  So there goes the biggest expense. 

The city I'm looking at (NYC) I won't need my car, so I'll sell mine ($!) and switch to public transportation and walking/biking (yay health!). So there goes the next biggest expense. There isn't much I can do as far as groceries, or at least any more than I'm doing now (farmers markets, cooking at home, cheap staples in bulk), but everything else more than makes up for it. 

Plus as someone above said, in densely populated areas there is so so much to do, a lot of which is free/discounted.

Well, see, you're doing this move to an HCOLA with your eyes open and with a spectacularly good plan of action which will allow you to (1) save much more than you could in an LCOLA and therefore (2) allow you to FIRE back to an LCOLA one hell of a lot faster.

The thing is, too many people just "fall" into an HCOLA, take on its spending levels instead of sidestepping them like you plan to, and end up getting themselves trapped into a low-or-no savings situation.

But good for you!

[brooklynguy]

The thing is, too many people just "fall" into an HCOLA, take on its spending levels instead of sidestepping them like you plan to, and end up getting themselves trapped into a low-or-no savings situation.

This applies equally to people in LCOLAs - the tendency for people to fall into the pattern of spending near, at, or above their means (wherever they live), is the entire raison d'etre for this website.  As others have said, and as oinkette's post illustrates, it is possible to live in a supposedly high cost area for equal to or less than it would cost to live in a supposedly low cost area (plus there are non-financial reasons that many people desire to do so as well).  You keep approaching the subject under the premise that living in a "HCOLA" necessarily involves sacrifice, which is a variation of the common misunderstanding that non-mustachians have about mustachianism (i.e., that living a frugal lifestyle requires compromises that detract from your life, when in fact these are choices that improve your life).

[NorCal]

I live in the SF area.  As any good mustachian knows, it's all about the savings rate, not total income or expenses.

In our case, HCOL allows an incredibly high income that more than offsets the expenses.  We're able to increase our net worth at a rate of ~$200K/yr, even with a pretty luxury spending lifestyle (by mustachian standards).  We could easily cut out expenses in half by moving elsewhere, but it would still delay our FI date due to the income drop. 

I see the combination of high-wage HCOL area as a shortcut to FI, as long as we move elsewhere in RE.  As an added benefit, this plan made it much easier to pay off my wife's student loans.

I realize our situation isn't typical (or even common), but it is a positive way to make HCOL work.

[Guesl982374]

In our case, HCOL allows an incredibly high income that more than offsets the expenses.  We're able to increase our net worth at a rate of ~$200K/yr, even with a pretty luxury spending lifestyle (by mustachian standards).  We could easily cut out expenses in half by moving elsewhere, but it would still delay our FI date due to the income drop. 

This. While I agree with most of the other posts which touch on the MMM basics (minimize expenses particularly housing, transportation, etc), the best way to make HCOL areas work is to focus on income. My wife and my savings are ~$100K/yr. and rising because we've have focused on increasing our incomes while maintaining/slightly reducing our expenses. To each their own though as every situation is unique.