Having said the last rites over my military paraphernalia just 38 years ago, my sole connection with staying abreast of those who serve today is via a military website.  I rarely read beyond an update on a new weapons system, my specialty back in the old days.  Today I noticed a new basic allowance for housing table.  It used to be a very simple table.  Now it has blossomed into a highly particularized table that reflects the cost of living differences across the country and around the world.  That is boring stuff to say the least.  But those of us with a keen eye for minutiae can still often spot something of value in dreary numbers.

Out of curiosity I went to the high end of the charts to see how much we subsidize a four-star general to help him or her defray housing expenses.  My eyes opened wide when the value of $4,680 monthly jumped up to help them pay for such needs in San Francisco.  Apart from the fact that we no longer have any military there except for a few recruiters, that number still startled me.  That would amount to $56,160 tax-free dollars annually to help those at the top.  Recruiters generally come from the enlisted ranks where pay and allowances are but a fraction of those at the top. 

Coincidentally, a headline on another website announced this bit of enlightening news:  The median cost of a 2-bedroom rental unit in San Francisco just reached $5,000 per month.  Holy canon balls!   If our top brass cannot afford to live in San Francisco at a level consistent with their lofty titles, what chance does a lowly recruiter have in finding suitable housing there?  $5,000 per month is 50 percent higher than his or her total income.   With the most expensive county in the country (Marin County) to the north, and top-wage-paying Silicon valley to the south, recruiters in San Francisco would be hard-pressed to find affordable housing any where within 100 miles of their offices. 

OK. So much for my brothers and sisters in uniform.  They surely are cunning and clever enough to be able to navigate their way around this issue.  But it has implications for all the rest of us.  Namely, let’s suppose you have a job offer somewhere in San Francisco.  How much of a pay differential might you need in order to be able to move there and survive?  Let’s broaden our problem to everyone in the U.S. from any location to any other.  Is that a solvable issue?

The answer is a qualified yes.  The cost-of-living differential between any two major cities in the U.S. is available at this CNN website:   http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living.  The State Department lists 20 websites plus books and articles that provide additional granularity of details broken down here:  http://www.state.gov/m/fsi/tc/79700.htm.  You need to know details about the costs of your specific needs across a variety of issues that are not known except by a lot of research.

This kind of information is essential for a mobile society.  Although prospective employers will provide some information about cost-of-living differences, “caveat emptor” still applies to job hunters and to location changers.  You will have to do a lot more detailed work than your new employer.  In the final analysis his or her task is still to hire you at the lowest wage or salary that he can.  You, in contrast, are tasked by your family’s needs and by your wits to do a much better job at calculating these costs than your new boss will do.  Such knowledge is also power in salary negotiations.  Always enter into such negotiations with a lot more facts on your side than he has on his.