Can you afford to live in Carson City?

For Shawnda and Pat Drudge, moving to Carson City allowed them to buy a bigger house for less than they would have found in Northern California.

For Marlene Diaz, moving to Carson City from central California still meant living in an apartment. A home is "pretty much out of reach."

The Drudges sold their Eureka, Calif., home for about $345,000 and purchased a house three times its size in the capital city's coveted Timberline area in August 2004, when housing prices were beyond what many natives could afford. The Waterfall fire had just stripped their back yard of trees (they chose Carson City because of the greenery), so they were able to negotiate the price to just under $1 million.

The Drudges are happy with the move for their family and their business, Blankshirts.com. With a high income and equity already invested in a home, the Drudges could make wise financial decisions. And they did, one of which was moving to Nevada's cheaper tax bracket.

"It was inexpensive compared to California," Shawnda Drudge said. "It was all around better."

Just how much better depends on your budget.

Diaz's salary of $13,000 a year pays her $675 monthly rent, and allows her a trip once a month to Sonic Drive-In for her favorite double cheeseburger and fries, and to pay her car loan. In a year, the Ford Escort will be her own.

Diaz, 54, lives alone. She works 40 hours a week at a busy preschool popular with many low-income families. She loves her job, even though it's exhausting. Diaz shows more concern for the families of the children she watches than for herself. She wants them to have a higher salary. She wants them to be able to spend more time with their kids.

"Half of the people at my school are getting a part-time second job just to pay for child care," Diaz said. "Or they're getting Grandma to pitch in."

Carson City's lower-income residents are struggling with wages that they believe don't match the cost of living. For three years, Diaz has taken home tours - even in the cheapest area of town - and still hasn't found anything she can afford. She dutifully puts in long hours but doesn't have a penny in savings, "and I don't even go anywhere."

A Reno woman saw Carson City as the place where she could finally have a home of her own to raise her two young children, rather than pumping money into a tiny apartment that has no yard for her kids. But she'll have to get into a housing-assistance program. She's on the waiting list.

Disappointment. Yet again.

• • •

Carson City's working poor could move on, or not move here at all, leaving the city without a vital work force. No child-care providers. No food-service workers. Nor countless other jobs that politicians describe as the backbone of the economy.

But if area wages are too high, new businesses will move on, or move out, said University of Nevada, Reno professor Jeanne Wendel.

Per-capita personal incomes in Carson City have increased, at a level slightly above the state and the Reno-Sparks area, according to 2000-2004 Bureau of Economic Analysis numbers.

The issues of wage and affordable housing are tightly intertwined.

The boom started in 1999, when the average home sold for $162,000, and prices have increased ever since, said Carson City Assessor Dave Dawley. The increase in home sales is most often attributed to lower interest rates and new financing methods. In 2005, the average cost of a Carson City home was $339,800.

Diaz doesn't believe she can make a mortgage payment for a home that costs more than $200,000.

"A lot of people are coming over from California, selling their houses for a fortune, and are buying over-inflated houses here because, compared to California, it's a deal," Dawley said. "That increases values around it. Neighbors say, 'They sold that house for that much, I can get that much, too.'"

Nevada had the third highest level of migration in the country, averaging 50,800 people a year from 2000-2004, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released last month. Only Florida and Arizona attracted more people. California came in second to last, losing about 100,000 people a year in the same time period. Nevada had the highest annual net migration rate of any state, attracting 23 new residents for every 1,000 residents.

There's nothing in Reno for Carole Kendrick. If she works anything more than part-time at her cafeteria job with the school district, she'd be making too much money to qualify for disability or Medicare. She has leukemia.

Kendrick doesn't ever see herself as owning a home. But she wants to try.

"The first thing I ever heard of was in Carson City," she said about a local housing-assistance program that enables participants to help build their home, rather than make a down payment. "I tried (Housing and Urban Development) in Reno, but I couldn't get anything. I didn't quality."

The 50-year-old mother of two young teens makes too much, with $1,600 a month in disability and $600 a month at her job. Her rent is $875 a month - which pales to the $800 a day she spends on medications.

"I'm making it right now," she said. "I've had some hard times, but Nevada Cancer Institute has helped me with my rent. And my church has helped me out."

• • •

Other costs are inching up. Sierra Pacific Power Co. recently increased rates, a rise of about $3 on the typical monthly bill.

"The biggest factor affecting electricity costs nationwide is the high cost of natural gas, the fuel for many of the nation's power plants and for several of Sierra Pacific's generating units," said company spokesman Karl Walquist.

Most drivers complain about the cost of gas, but that's not the only car expense.

A recent study by AAA reported that the overall average cost of owning and operating a car is $7,834, based on 15,000 miles of driving. Factored into this amount are maintenance, tires, depreciation, insurance and gas.

Diaz's solution: Bring up wages by a few dollars.

Carson City had the third highest increase in average weekly wages last year. Wages in the third quarter of 2005 increased by $60 over the previous year to $774, a percentage change of 8.4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. Per capita income was $36,055 in 2004, compared to $32,043 in 2000.

Wendel said an increase in wages spurred by market forces is a healthier form of wage increase than one mandated by government.

"If you tell the employer that they have to pay more, some will cut back on employees. Or if it's just mandated in one area, they may avoid it by moving across the county line or just not come there," she said.

"So the people who do have the jobs will get paid more because you mandated it, but some people won't have jobs. And that's why it's not an easy thing to decide," she said.

Diaz doesn't complain about her finances. She describes it as "very budgety. Right at the penny."

Wendel said housing density is key to housing affordability.

"When there is more supply the price will be lower," she said. "Less supply means prices go higher. Anything the government does - any policies, any zoning laws - affects costs, and that affects the price of a house."

• Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.

By the numbers

The average monthly costs to live in Carson City:

Home mortgage (for a $250,000 home) $2,000

Or rent $750-$1,200

Water/sewer $33

Electricity $98

Car expenses $650

Annual amount spent in taxes:

Property taxes $2,300 (for a $250,000 home)

Sales taxes $410

Weekly wages:

Carson City $774

United States $777

Nevada $750

- Sources: Local real estate agent Bob Fredlund, with Coldwell Banker Bestsellers; Carson City Treasurer Al Kramer; Sierra Pacific Power Co.; city Finance Officer Tom Minton; AAA "Your Driving Costs" study, the factors included are gas, maintenance, tires, depreciation, insurance and loan finance charges; Bureau of Labor Statistics' average weekly wages for Q3 2005.