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Day 3: Cost of Living Comparison

Lesson Overview
Time 50 minutes
Objectives Compare the cost of living for the chosen career in DFW vs. two other cities using CareerOneStop's comparison tool; calculate which city leaves the most leftover money
TEKS d(5)(A), d(5)(E)
Deliverable Completed Cost of Living Comparison worksheet (3 cities) with calculated leftover income
Materials Chromebooks, CareerOneStop Cost of Living Comparison tool, students' Day 2 budget, printed Cost of Living Comparison worksheet, calculator, projector

Warm-Up (5 min)

WARM-UP: Do you think it costs more to live in Dallas, New York City, or Los Angeles? Make a prediction, no Googling. Then estimate: How much more expensive do you think the most expensive city is?

Collect 3-4 predictions. Most students intuitively pick New York or LA. Bridge: today we will use real data to find out exactly how different the costs are, and we will see that higher salaries in expensive cities do not always mean more money in your pocket.

Activity 1: Teacher Modeling — CareerOneStop Comparison Tool (10 min)

Project the CareerOneStop Cost of Living Comparison tool on the screen. Model the workflow:

  1. Enter Career: Use the career you modeled on Day 2 (Electrician)
  2. Enter Home City: Dallas, TX
  3. Enter Comparison City 1: New York, NY
  4. Enter Comparison City 2: Rural Texas (e.g., Lubbock, TX) or a Midwest city (e.g., Kansas City, MO)

The tool returns a comparison showing how much more or less the same career earns, and how much more or less it costs to live, across the 3 cities. Walk students through interpreting the output:

  • Salary difference: New York Electrician may earn $15K more than Dallas
  • Housing difference: New York rent may be 2x Dallas rent
  • Overall index: The cost of living index shows the percentage difference (Dallas = 100, New York ≈ 150+)

Key insight to model aloud: A $15K salary bump in New York sounds great until you realize housing costs $20K more. You actually take a pay cut in real terms. This is why young workers are moving TO Dallas from expensive coastal cities.

Activity 2: Student Cost of Living Analysis (30 min)

Students run the same analysis for their own chosen career from Day 2. They compare:

  • City 1 (Home): Dallas, TX (or Irving, TX)
  • City 2: A high-cost city, pick one of New York NY, San Francisco CA, Los Angeles CA, Boston MA, Seattle WA
  • City 3: A low-cost city, pick one of Lubbock TX, Tulsa OK, Kansas City MO, Pittsburgh PA, Memphis TN

For each city, students record on the worksheet:

Field City 1 (Dallas) City 2 (High-cost) City 3 (Low-cost)
Same career, local salary $ $ $
Monthly net income $ $ $
Average rent (1BR) $ $ $
Grocery/food index
Transportation cost $ $ $
Total estimated monthly expenses $ $ $
Monthly leftover (net − expenses) $ $ $

Students then answer: Which city leaves you with the most money at the end of the month? Most students will find that Dallas or the low-cost city wins, the high-cost city often pays more but costs MORE more.

Facilitation Tip

Circulate and check that students are using the CareerOneStop tool correctly. Some will Google "rent in New York" and grab the first number, which may be Manhattan luxury rent. Push them back to the CareerOneStop tool which averages across the whole metro area.

DOK 4: Based on your cost of living comparison, if you were offered a job in your chosen career at $20,000 more per year in San Francisco vs. staying in Dallas, would you take it? Use your data to justify your decision.

Exit Ticket (5 min)

EXIT TICKET (Ranked Justification) · Printable PDF:

Rank the 3 cities from BEST leftover monthly income (1) to WORST (3) for my career.

  • Dallas (home): rank _. Leftover = $__
  • High-cost city: ___. Rank _. Leftover = $
  • Low-cost city: ___. Rank _. Leftover = $

For EACH rank, cite ONE specific number (salary in that city OR rent in that city) that backs the rank:

  • Rank 1 (best leftover): _____________

  • Rank 3 (worst leftover): _____________

Bottom line: A friend gets offered $20K MORE per year in the HIGH-cost city. Should they take it? Circle: YES / NO. In one sentence, WHY?

(d(5)(A), d(5)(E))

Differentiation

  • Support: Pre-select the comparison cities for students (no choice needed) and provide a simplified version of the CareerOneStop output with just rent and salary filled in. Students calculate leftover only.
  • Extension: Research why young professionals are moving to Dallas from expensive cities. Use news articles about migration patterns to support a short paragraph on DFW as a career destination.
  • ELL: CareerOneStop tool is graphical and accessible. Bilingual Cost of Living worksheet. Pre-teach: Cost of Living = Costo de vida, Rent = Alquiler, Index = Índice.