These 9 cities, states and countries will pay you to move there
These 9 cities, states and countries will pay you to move there
By Nicole Lyn Pesce
Published: Oct 26, 2018 3:13 p.m. ET
Maine helps new residents pay off their student loans, joining Alaska, Kansas, Chile and Candela, Italy in rewarding new residents with cash, free land and other perks.
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It pays to live in Maine.
The northeastern most state has no trouble coaxing about 36 million tourists to explore its rocky New England coastline with its lighthouses and lobster fests each year, but getting Maine graduates to stay for good, or drawing in young professionals from other states to live and work there, has posed a bit of a problem. In fact, the median age of residents in the Pine Tree State is 44 -- five years older than the median age across the rest of the country.
So the 2008 Opportunity Maine Tax Credit, which helps pay off the student loans of Maine residents, has expanded to out-of-state workers. After you move to Maine, the amount of money you put toward paying your student loans each year is subtracted from your state income taxes. So if you pay $1,800 in student loans, but you owe the state $2,000 in taxes, then you just pay Maine $200 at tax time.
The catch is, out-of-state residents must have earned their bachelors or associates degrees after 2015 to qualify; that suggests the initiative is targeted toward grads in their mid-to-late 20s, assuming they pursued their degrees right after high school. Maine residents who earned a degree after 2007 and before 2016 from a Maine school can still get the benefit, however. Visit the site to see if you meet the requirements, or to fill out the tax credit form.
And last fall, the mayor of Candela, Italy began offering up to 2,000 euros (about $2,350), CNN Travel reported, to lure people back to the picturesque Medieval village that has seen its population drop from more than 8,000 residents in the 1990s to just 2,700 last year. Interested newcomers must live inside Candela, rent a house and have a job paying a salary of at least 7,500 euros ($8,800) per year to be approved for the generous offer.
Singles will receive 800 ($940) euros from the town coffers, couples will get 1,200 euros ($1,400), three-member families will get 1,500 to 1,800 euros ($1,760-$2,100), and families of four to five people will get more than 2,000 euros ($2,350). Candela may also give tax credits on city waste disposal, bills and nurseries in the future.
CNN reported that six families from northern Italy took advantage of the offer to settle down in Candela last year. The town has yet to respond to Moneyish’s requests for comment about the application process. If Americans do want to move to Italy, however, they have to apply for a visa; visit the Department of State’s website for more details.
But you don’t have to cross an ocean to find a city willing to pay you a premium to live there. These U.S. and Canadian cities - and even the entire state of Alaska - are pulling out the stops to pay you to stay.
New Haven, Connecticut
The New England city’s Re:New Haven initiative offers up to $80,000 in incentives for new homeowners, including $10,000 interest-free to use as a down payment on a new home, or to cover your closing costs on a house. It’s also offering up to $30,000 toward home renovations and energy-saving upgrades, and $40,000 for college tuition. Plus, city employees, teachers, firefighters, police officers and military members get an extra $2,500 on top of that. And once you’re settled in, the city also guarantees free in-state college tuition to students graduating from New Haven public schools.
Your income can’t exceed 120% of the city’s median family income, but they’ve got a calculator to figure out where you stand.
Baltimore, Maryland
Buying into Baltimore gives 30 potential residents $5,000 toward buying a new house in the city through a lottery twice a year at its spring/summer and fall/winter events. The mortgage can’t be greater than $517,000, however, and you’ve got to close on that house within 60 days of being selected in the drawing. Or its Vacants to Value program offers $10,000 to purchase a distressed, vacant property and redevelop it, which helps to combat neighborhood blight.
Alaska
Our northernmost state has been sharing the wealth from its oil money since 1976, when the Permanent Fund Dividend was established to divide 25% of its oil revenues each year among its permanent residents. You must live in Alaska for at least a year, be present in the state for at least 190 days in a calendar year, and not be a convicted felon in order to get your cut, which averages around $1,200 a head, but has been as high as $3,269 in 2008.
Kansas and Nebraska
If you’re prepared to build a house from scratch on the Great Plains, a few Kansas and Nebraska towns are offering free tracts of land. Lincoln, Kansas’s Free Lot Plan includes lot sizes of between 12,000 to 36,000 square feet within walking distance of the community’s business district. Curtis, Nebraska also offers free lots to be built on (pending application and permit approval) in a community that already has paved roads and utilities ready. And Harmony, Nebraska offers cash rebates of $5,000 to $12,000 for those building new homes in the city.
And if you are game to leave the States:
Saskatchewan, Canada
The Graduate Retention Program doles out up to $20,000 CAD (about $15,956 USD) to graduates living in Saskatchewan to cover their tuition fees, which comes in the form of tax credit paid out over seven years - if you file your taxes in Saskatchewan. You also have to have graduated from an approved post-secondary school in Canada.
Chile
Start-up Chile wants to turn the nation into South America’s business center, so it will pay about $45,000 and give you a one-year working visa to launch your business there. It’s also sharing local mentors and business contacts to help get you started, as well as $100,000 in perks, including $500 off United flights, or a $10,000 Amazon Web Services credit.
This article was originally published in October 2017 and has been updated with Maine's tax credit.
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