"I was wondering about moving to WVa in 3-7 years after I FIRE. The houses are cheaper, yet we'd be only a few hours to DC. Lack of culture is a downside, yet we could venture into DC for day trips. On the good side, nature would be close in the form of the mountains, the river, and the C&O canal. Housing prices run the gamut. I tried looking up income tax rates for the state, and they have several tiers. It looks to me like they have one rate for your first $10K and then another rate for your next $XXK and so on. Do you know of a reliable source where I could compare MD real estate tax rates to WVa real estate tax rates? Do you have experience with West Virginia and have opinions on living there?"
I moved to WV from the DC area in '05 and have been doing the clown car commute ever since then. When I discovered MMM a couple of years ago, I thought I can do that and will be FIRE at the end of this year when I'm going to retire full time to WV. I much prefer WV over (IMHO) the rude, snobbery, elitism of the DC area. We live in rural, southern WV in Fayette County. Unless you're heavily into the great outdoors, I wouldn't recommend it, but would very highly recommend Lewisburg if you're looking for a small town or Charleston if you're looking for a small city. Both have plenty of culture, natural beauty, things to do, and friendly people to keep you occupied. I've never considered WV to lack culture. Quite frankly, I found it difficult to fork over $100+ per ticket to go to the Arena Stage in DC whereas you can buy a whole season of tickets at the theaters in Charleston or Lewisburg for approx. the same price, and the performances are just as good. A decent house in the exclusive South Hills neighborhood in Charleston (25314) will run you about $200K, but prices vary dramatically depending on what you want. You can find homes for under $100K to over $1 million in South Hills. The schools in that neighborhood are top notch, but other areas of WV are seriously lacking in the education department. I find all taxes in general to be fairly high in WV, but that's all relative. I'm originally from FL where there's no income tax, personal property taxes on autos, food tax, etc., but I'm sure someone from the DC area would think the taxes are low. We pay $1200 for our $85K rental house in South Hills, but I think it would be less if it was owner occupied. They're lower in Fayette County. Regarding medical care, if you're in Charleston or Morgantown, you'll have no shortage of good doctors, but if you're rural, you'll have to drive further. Regarding politics, people are generally socially conservative, but it's a very blue dog democrat state. If you look at our politicians, you'll see that republicans are very rarely elected to any office. Finally, I would just add that I love WV and am happy to be here. If you choose to live a financially conservative, Mustachian lifestyle, your money should go far. Let me know if you have any further questions, and if you'd like to come visit the area, we'd be happy to put you up for the night.