As I.T. professionals move through their careers they’re typically presented opportunities for advancement that involve relocation. One of the keys to making a successful decision in this situation is to understand the real world cost of living so as to insure an increase in your standard of living.

In today’s market place with free music over peer to peer and freeware most people somehow believe they’re going to be able to simply Google “Cost of Living Index” and get reliable, accurate and specific cost comparisons between wherever they live and wherever they may want to move. However, let me remind you of Reality Law #1. Other than free music over Limewire (not that I use this ;-) “Nothing worth having comes for free”. Amazingly the number of times I’m told by otherwise highly intelligent and well read I.T. professional that they’ve visited some sight and have been assured that the cost of living is X% more or less is incredible.

As Recruiters we’re advising professionals and placing them across 48 of our 50 states. We have to have accurate data! We use ERI's Relocation Assessor which is put out by the Economic Research Institute. The software isn’t cheap at $899 annually but it’s accurate and calculated/updated quarterly. Obviously I’m not suggesting buying this product. What I am saying is that Fortune 500 companies buy this (or other similar products) to calculate salaries for their own far flung employees. Why? Because it’s accurate! So make sure you work with a Recruiter that uses this or a similar tool (or get the stats from the HR Dept) before you compare “apples to oranges.” Your wallet, your spouse and your kid’s college fund will all be glad you did.