Cost of Living

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In general, it is very cheap to live in Troy. The cost of housing is the lowest in the region.

There are a large number of highly competitive grociers in the area. Everything is fairly close to each other, lowering overall transportation costs. This part of the country does have a fairly long heating season, which can be expensive, but no more or less than neighboring areas. On the plus side, Troy is home to thousands of college students who keep the service industry alive and the prices competitive.

Housing

People from the big cities will think their are one or two zeroes missing from quoted prices for buying and renting properties in Troy. In general, you can find decent apartments for $150 to $450 per room not including utilities. Studios and one bedroom apartments cost the most.

You can find decent single and multi-family homes for $50,000 to $175,000. Multi-family homes tend to be cheaper inner city properties, where single family homes tend to be more expensive suburban properties. Many families live virtually for free by buying a multi-family house and renting out the additional units.

Transportation

CDTA Buses cost approximately $1.00 per trip, a little more for longer trips and a little less for senior citizens and children. At least one of the colleges uses CDTA as its bus service, thus the students ride for free.

Most Taxi rides cost only a few dollars. However, the inter-city trips can get expensive ($10 - $20).

NY State has some of the lowest gasoline tax structures, outside of NY City, thus gas is less expensive here than in nearby states. There are two inter-state highways crossing in the area, within which there are no tolls. A few miles out of town both have toll booths.

Food

Due to the large number of competing grociery stores and super markets, along with farmer markets and convenience stores, food prices remain competitive. In addition, the big stores frequently offer 2-4-1 deals on a wide range of products (e.g. meat, vegtables, bread, etc.) and the occasional 10% to 20% off coupons on your entire purchase up to varying limits (e.g. $20, $50, etc.).

Entertainment

The cost of a movie ticket at any of the regions 7 ~ 10 movie theaters is $7.50 and rising. The region is dominated by a single theater company... However, there are two independent theaters -- one of which is an art film house -- and several colleges have their own movie venues. One movie theater shows 10 movies daily for $2.99 -- these are usually second run films. There are also a few drive-in movie places that charge by the car load.

There are a number of concert venues, including an arena, field house, music halls and several bars. Admission to shows ranges widely depending on the act and the venue and the seating -- anywhere from $3.00 to $50.00.

Other Goods and Services

The region is becoming increasingly dominated by the malls with respect to shopping for clothes, furnishings, etc. There are approximately 7 large scale indoor malls in the region, 2 large scale outdoor malls, and dozens of road-side stripmalls. Each of the downtown business districts are adapting but aren't ever going to be quite the same. Most are becoming urban office parks with a concentration of eateries and convenience stores.

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