My wife & I are retirees from Utah, we moved to Oregon after much research. The no sales tax was a boost. If you are over 62 you can get a break on your property tax. Everything is based upon the upper income residents. If I was making $250,000 per I would be in the 9.9% tax base. We make better than middle income with our SS & Pension. As a test the year after I moved here I kept track of our spending groceries, gas anything that was subject to sales tax. We saved $1,300 our first year because of purchases to set up our home. We weren't taxed on our SS which was the bulk of our income 60-40%.
We bought a manufactured home in a senior park. Because of the age of our dbl wide we paid $6 in property tax $5.82 if I paid it early. We average $12,000 in taxable items so based upon a 7% tax we save an additional $840 annually. That same year I went ahead & figured my tax liability for both states, as if we had still been living there. I would have paid $200 more in Utah tax, they tax a portion of our SS. We were paying $1,400 in property tax, in Oregon it would have been $2,100. In Utah we were paying in the neighborhood of $400+ monthly for utilities including electrical & nat gas, in Oregon we never paid more than $200 for the same. During the Utah summers we were paying high electric bills to cool our home, in the winter it was snow shoveling, paying high heating bills. Add that to our fees for our autos, $150 each (2) in Oregon we paid a total of $40 each. Then factor in the tax on $12,000 taxable purchases another $840. In Oregon your cars are not subject to inspections, another gotcha, in Utah it was easily $25 per year.
I have more disposable income living in Oregon, mild winters, mild summers, beautiful autumns, wet springs but here a little rain doesn't seem to stop life, whereas the bitter cold in Utah keeps you home bound, & you don't have to shovel the rain. Each case is different, you have to look at your particular situation & decide. It was a good choice for us. I haven't looked back or felt I'm missing something. When I lived in Utah I used to vacation in places that I'm now living. Ocean 50 miles away green mountains all around, no barren Rocky mountains here. Friendly people no religious bias. No mosquitoes. You couldn't pry me or my wife out of here if you wanted too.
