Living in Tennessee has tons of perks, from enjoying the dynamic music scene in Nashville to the delicious Southern cuisine. But, if bigger, better-known cities like Nashville and Memphis are out of your budget, you may want to turn your attention to Knoxville.
Located in the eastern part of the state along the Tennessee River, this city of around 192,648 has a rich history, higher education and access to the spectacular great outdoors of the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In the revitalized downtown area, residents and visitors can shop, dine, drink craft beer and explore while surrounded by 19th-century buildings.
As the home of the University of Tennessee’s flagship campus, Knoxville has a distinct college-town feel with active arts and culture. Thanks to the local U of T Volunteers sports teams, collegiate athletics are a big deal here, as well. Finally, being the gateway to the nearby national park and the Appalachian Mountains makes Knoxville a great base camp for outdoor adventures from canoeing to hiking. With all these accolades, it’s no wonder that Knoxville ranks as one of the best places to live in Tennessee.
Furthermore, Knoxville boasts an affordable cost of living that’s appealing to everyone from students to families. With an overall cost of living that’s 16.8 percent lower than the national average, it’s even one of Tennessee’s most affordable major cities to live in. Let’s dive into the different cost of living expenses here to see if Knoxville could be the right fit for your budget and lifestyle.
Knoxville housing prices
At 31.7 percent below the national average, housing prices in Knoxville are among the most affordable in the state. The cost of housing here is down 1.6 percent from last year. In comparison, housing costs in the capital city of Nashville are 4.4 percent higher than the national average.
But, those low housing costs are clearly catching people’s attention. Both the rental and homeowning markets have seen significant growth over the past year. The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is up 20 percent from last year to $1,310. Two-bedroom rental rates are up 30 percent to $1,474. While rates remain reasonable for now, that could change with the steady upward growth.
If you want to own a house in Knoxville, prices are also on the rise. The median sale price for a house here is $319,900, which is 23.1 percent higher than last year. For context, the national median sale price for a house is $406,074.
Food prices
One of the best parts of living in a Southern state is the fantastic food, and Knoxville is no exception. At restaurants around town, you can enjoy Tenneessee’s signature state barbecue, as well as other Southern staples like rich mac and cheese, collard greens, fried chicken and fried green tomatoes.
Along with the affordable housing, broke college students and budget-savvy families living in Knoxville will find that food costs here are also on the low side. Food prices are 9.6 percent below the national average, which is 1.6 percent higher than last year.
To put those figures into perspective, let’s look at the average food costs of some basic grocery items. Picking up a dozen eggs costs $1.80, a half-gallon of milk is $2.31 and a loaf of bread is $3.80. Proteins come out to $4.19 for a pound of ground beef and $12.98 for a nice steak.
Although Knoxville has some of the lowest food prices compared to the national average, individual prices in different cities are actually pretty similar. In Nashville, whose food prices are 4.4 percent below the national average, a dozen eggs are one cent cheaper at $1.79. A half-gallon of milk goes down to $2.22, but a pound of ground beef is more expensive at $5.33.
Utility prices
Of all the different cost of living categories, the cost of utilities in Knoxville is the closest to the national average, falling just 3.6 percent below. This is just 0.2 percent less than last year.
So, why are utility prices some of the highest cost of living expenses here? During the hot and humid summer months, those air conditioning units definitely get a workout. While winters are chilly and generally mild, it actually can get cold enough for snow to fall. So, Knoxville sees all four seasons, which leads to variations in utility usage throughout the year. But, in general, the average monthly energy bill is around $167.86.
Utility prices in Knoxville are actually among the most expensive in the state. In Nashville, the average monthly energy bill is $138.74 and utility costs are 10.7 percent below the national average. One of the few towns with higher utility prices than Knoxville is Morristown, which is one percent above the national average. There, the average monthly energy bill is $175.45.
Transportation prices
With a low walk score of 30 and an even lower bike score of 28, it’s a good idea to have a car when living in Knoxville. Not only does this make it easier to get around, but you can easily head out of town for adventures in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and other parts of the scenic and the wild Appalachian Mountains. Some areas like downtown and the college campus are great to explore on foot, though.
Similar to other cost-of-living areas, transportation costs here are lower than the national average at 7.8 percent. This has gone up over the past year by 6.3 percent.
One benefit of having a car in Knoxville and Tennessee, in general, is that there are no toll roads. If you don’t want to use a car to get around Knoxville, you can use the local Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) bus system. Residents have 23 different routes to choose from that crisscross both the city center and branch out to the surrounding areas. A one-way pass costs $1, a full-day pass is $2 and a monthly 30-day pass costs $30.
Residents can also take advantage of the free trolley that offers rides around downtown Knoxville and the University of Tennessee campus area.
Healthcare prices
At 8.4 percent below the national average, healthcare costs in Knoxville are on the more affordable side. Rates here are down 0.4 percent from the previous year. Many other major Tennessee cities are in a similar ballpark. Nashville is 10 percent below the national average and Memphis is 9.4 percent below. Cookeville is 15 percent below the national average, so Knoxville sits nicely in the middle for healthcare costs. The university also has a well-regarded health sciences program.
It’s important to note that since healthcare needs vary by person and insurance, the average costs of different healthcare services in Knoxville won’t always apply to everyone. Your costs are higher or lower depending on your needs. For a rough overview, though, going to the doctor’s office for a check-up is $112. Getting your teeth checked out at the dentist is around $91.60 and having an eye appointment at the optometrist is $91.
For over-the-counter meds like ibuprofen, expect to pay around $9.38. If you need prescription medications, you’ll definitely want the benefit of having insurance since average prescriptions cost around $510.10.
Compared to other Tennessee cities, healthcare costs in Knoxville are pretty middle-ground. A doctor’s visit in Nashville is $99.14. But in Jackson, heading to the doctor’s office will set you back $137.33.
Goods and services prices
Living in a fun city like Knoxville, you want to take advantage of everything it has to offer. That means going out to the movies, meeting friends for pizza or doing other things out on the town. That’s where miscellaneous goods and services come into your monthly budget. This area of expense covers everything from fun activities and goods to necessary goods or services you need on a semi-regular basis like getting a haircut.
Goods and services are one of the lowest cost of living areas in Knoxville, falling 13.7 percent below the national average. This is 0.1 percent lower than last year, so prices have remained pretty consistent over the past year. In comparison, goods and services in Nashville are only 4.5 percent below the national average.
Getting your haircut in Knoxville is around $16 compared to $21.80 in Nashville. Movie tickets come out to $11.06 and taking your clothes to the dry cleaners sets you back $15.45.
Taxes in Knoxville
In Tennessee, the general state sales tax is 7 percent. Counties and cities have the option to add an additional local sales tax on top of the statewide rate. In Knoxville, the sales tax is 9.25. To put that in perspective, say you spend $1,000 throwing a giant backyard barbecue party. You’ll pay an additional $92.50 in sales tax.
Other cities in Tennessee have higher sales taxes, though. The highest sales tax is in Memphis and several other cities at 9.75 percent. The lowest sales tax is 8.5. So, Knoxville sits at a good middle point for sales tax rates.
How much do I need to earn to live in Knoxville?
In order to figure out if you can comfortably afford to live in Knoxville, you need to work backward from your biggest monthly expense. Housing costs like rent are typically your biggest expense each month. To ensure that you still have enough money for other expenses like food and utilities, experts recommend that you only spend 30 percent of your monthly income on rent.
Considering that the average one-bedroom apartment in Knoxville costs $1,299, you’ll need to make $4,330 each month. That comes out to $51,960 annually. The median household income in Knoxville is $41,598, which potentially gives you the option to scope out some of the cooler, more popular neighborhoods to live in.
If you’re unsure what you can afford in rent, use our rent calculator to do some calculations and figure out what fits your budget.
Free things to do
Although Knoxville is overall a fairly affordable place to live, it never hurts to take advantage of fun and free things to do around town.
If you love being outdoors, the Ijams Nature Center on the outskirts of town is a popular option with 10 miles of hiking trails and scenic boardwalks along wetlands and the Tennessee River. The Knoxville Botanical Garden and the University of Tennessee Gardens are other great places to get outdoors and learn about nature for free.
If you prefer more in-town fun, hit up the local farmer’s markets or wander around downtown looking for cool murals. History buffs can dig into genealogy records at the McClung Collection or visit the Marble Springs State Historic Site. The Knoxville Museum of Art also offers free admission to some exhibits.
Living in Knoxville
Whether you’re a sports fan or a nature lover who spends all your time hiking, Knoxville’s blend of mid-sized city fun and outdoor access appeals to a wide range of interests and lifestyles. Top it off with its affordable cost of living and it’s easy to see why everyone from young students to families enjoy the quality of life here.
The Cost of Living Index comes from coli.org.
The rent information included in this summary is based on a calculation of multifamily rental property inventory on Rent. as of October 2022.
Rent prices are for illustrative purposes only. This information does not constitute a pricing guarantee or financial advice related to the rental market.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with new information and offers.
Citi is a TPG advertising partner.
Citi Premier® Card overview
The Citi Premier® Card (see rates and fees) is an under-the-radar gem with a phenomenal range of bonus categories. While the card isn’t as strong on the redemption side as similar offerings from Chase or Amex, the ability to earn 3 points per dollar on air travel, hotels, gas stations, supermarkets and restaurants (including takeout) for just $95 a year is still a pretty great deal. Card rating*: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
* Card rating is based on the opinion of TPG’s editors and is not influenced by the card issuer.
The Citi Premier Card is one of the best earners on a wide variety of everyday spending. It accrues 3 points per dollar with airlines, hotels, gas stations, restaurants and supermarkets — an excellent slate of bonus categories for a card with a $95 annual fee.
Not only that, but the points you earn with the Citi Premier are among the most versatile rewards currencies and are worth 1.8 cents each by TPG valuations. That’s because Citi has improved the ThankYou Rewards program substantially over the years to compete with American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Here’s what else you should know about this card — and why you might want to apply now.
Related: The best Citi credit cards
Citi Premier welcome offer
The Citi Premier is currently offering 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. According to our valuations, that bonus is worth $1,080. However, we have seen a public offer for 75,000 points for the same spending requirement, so opt for that offer if you can access it.
Citi uses a rather interesting rule to determine bonus eligibility. You won’t be able to earn the bonus on the Citi Premier if you’ve opened or closed the Citi Rewards+® Card (see rates and fees), Citi ThankYou® Preferred*, Citi Premier or Citi Prestige® Card*in the last 24 months. Most issuers count that time solely based on when you opened a card or received a bonus, but with Citi, your clock also resets if you close a card, so it’s all in the timing.
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*The Citi ThankYou Preferred and Citi Prestige are no longer available for new applicants. The information for these cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
There’s a $95 annual fee on the Citi Premier.
Related: The ultimate guide to credit card application restrictions
Earning points on the Citi Premier
The Citi Premier’s earning structure is one aspect where the card shines. Cardholders earn 3 points per dollar on purchases in the following categories, with no caps or annual limits:
The card also earns 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.
These earning rates are among the most impressive of any travel rewards card, especially considering the Citi Premier’s affordable annual fee.
To coincide with the launch of Citi Travel with Booking.com, Premier cardholders can earn 10 points per dollar on bookings for hotels, rental cars and eligible attractions when booking through the portal through June 30, 2024.
Related: The best credit cards with annual fees under $100
Redeeming points on the Citi Premier
The Citi Premier is also a top choice for travelers, thanks to its participation in the ThankYou Rewards program, which currently has 14 airline transfer partners and two hotel partners.
While you’ll notice that many of the frequent flyer programs are those of international airlines, there are still some high-value (and easily redeemable) awards to be booked through them.
For instance, you can leverage Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles for decent business-class award availability on those airlines and their SkyTeam partners, get some phenomenal deals on Star Alliance awards using Avianca LifeMiles and snag some great Oneworld tickets with Qatar Privilege Club.
You can also redeem your ThankYou Points for travel directly through the Citi portal at a rate of 1 cent each, but that’s well below TPG’s valuation of ThankYou points at 1.8 cents each, a number derived largely from Citi’s extensive list of transfer partners.
Related: The ultimate guide to Citi ThankYou Rewards
Citi Premier benefits
Much of the Citi Premier’s value proposition comes from its ability to earn bonus points in many categories without charging a hefty annual fee. As such, you shouldn’t expect an overwhelming number of perks, but there are several benefits of this card that can help you recoup your annual fee:
$100 annual hotel credit: You’ll enjoy a $100 credit once per calendar year for single-stay hotel bookings of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) made through the Citi travel portal.
Extended warranty protection: This adds 24 months to a manufacturer’s warranty when you purchase a covered item using your card.
Damage and theft protection: This can reimburse you for repairing or replacing an eligible item damaged or stolen within 90 days of purchase (up to $10,000 per incident and $50,000 per year).
World Elite Mastercard benefits: As a World Elite Mastercard, the Citi Premier confers several travel-related perks that consumers might not know about. These include a $5 monthly Lyft credit after taking three rides in a calendar month and access to the Mastercard luxury hotels and resorts portfolio for on-property perks like complimentary breakfast and room upgrades upon availability. Through the World Elite Mastercard program, you’ll also enjoy perks like cellphone protection and Global Emergency Services.
Citi Entertainment: This program gives cardholders special access to purchase tickets to thousands of events — from concerts and sporting events to unique dining experiences and movie screenings — before the general public can buy them.
No foreign transaction fees: Like any good travel card, the Citi Premier allows you to travel freely without incurring a fee on international spending.
Which cards compete with the Citi Premier?
As an affordable travel rewards card, the Citi Premier has a few direct competitors that might be a better fit for you:
If you prefer Chase cards: The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, with an annual fee of $95, competes directly with the Citi Premier. While Chase’s transfer partners (including United MileagePlus, Southwest Rapid Rewards and World of Hyatt) might be more beneficial for many travelers, there are also some overlaps, including Singapore KrisFlyer, Emirates Skywards and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. For more information, read our full review of the Sapphire Preferred.
If you want a flat earnings rate: Try the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (see rates and fees). It, too, charges a $95 annual fee, but this card comes with a less lucrative (but much simpler) earning rate of 2 miles per dollar on all purchases. Instead of an annual hotel credit, you’ll get up to a $100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application credit once every four years with the Venture. You’ll even get two annual lounge visits per year to Capital One’s lounges — or you can use those passes at over 100 Plaza Premium lounge locations. For more information, read our full review of the Venture Rewards card.
If you want added perks: One of the Citi Premier’s closest competitors over at American Express is the American Express® Gold Card, which earns 4 points per dollar at restaurants, 4 points per dollar at U.S. supermarkets (on the first $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1 per dollar), 3 points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel, and 1 point per dollar on other eligible purchases. The Amex Gold Card also comes with up to $10 in monthly dining credits at select restaurants (up to $120 in annual statement credits) and up to $10 in monthly U.S. Uber Cash (up to $120 annually), offsetting the majority of the $250 annual fee (see rates and fees). Enrollment is required for select benefits. For more information, read our full review of the Amex Gold.
For additional options, check out our full list of the top travel rewards cards.
Read more: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Citi Premier: Which mid-tier travel card is better?
Bottom line
Despite a bevy of competitors, the Citi Premier’s long list of bonus categories and solid sign-up bonus make it one of the most lucrative points-earning cards in its price range. The wide range of ThankYou Rewards transfer partners makes this card compelling, especially for travelers who desire the flexibility to redeem points with various loyalty programs. It’s worth a look if you’re partial to Citi or looking for a versatile travel card to add to your wallet.
Official application link: Citi Premier Cardwith 60,000 bonus ThankYou points after $4,000 in spending in the first three months of account opening.
Additional reporting by Ryan Wilcox, Stella Shon, Eric Rosen and Christina Ly.
For rates and fees of the Amex Gold Card, click here.
If you’re considering living in Omaha, Nebraska, prepare to experience a city of vibrancy and entertainment. The town boasts an array of unique attractions and experiences that locals and newcomers alike can enjoy. There’s something for everyone, whether it’s savoring exquisite craft cocktails, exploring hidden gems, or immersing yourself in nature.
Whether you’re still considering making the move or you’re already exploring apartments for rent or homes for sale in Omaha, this Redfin article will showcase a plethora of unique things to do in Omaha.
1. Proof Whiskey Bar and Craft Cocktail Lounge
If you’re a whiskey and craft cocktails fan, Proof Whiskey Bar and Craft Cocktail Lounge is the place to be. The bar offers one of the wildest whiskey collections, nearly guaranteeing you’ll be met with a great drink.
“The bartenders are extremely knowledgeable and are experts at their craft,” say’s Shantel Powers, a photographer with Glam Haven Photography. “Try the Barrel Pick Old Fashioned that comes in a cedar smoked glass for a twist on the classic cocktail.”
2. Nosh Restaurant and Wine Lounge
Not every high-end meal has to come with high-end prices, which Nosh Restaurant and Wine Lounge owner Erick Neimier aims to deliver. Offering 35 wines by the glass, 150 bottles, and 70 different types of whiskey, there’s something for everyone, no matter your taste buds.
Neimier describes Nosh as having a friendly, relaxed vibe with comfortable seating. Whether you’re meeting up with friends or family for a relaxing dinner or a quick bite before a concert, you’ll find what you’re looking for at Nosh.
3. Cellar44 Wine Bar
With its warm and inviting ambiance, Cellar44 Wine Bar offers a sophisticated yet relaxed atmosphere where patrons can unwind and savor a remarkable selection of handpicked wines from around the world. Owner Wendy Sutton-Millage shares that “the menu offers a wide range of wines and a food menu featuring charcuterie, signature snack items, and sliders.” On Thursday and Friday nights, Cellar44 comes alive with live music. It’s the perfect place to unwind, sip on your favorite wine, and let the music carry you away into an unforgettable night.
4. Bärchen Beer Garden
Bärchen Beer Garden stands out as a unique thing to do in Omaha for several reasons, including its unique Bavarian-inspired atmosphere with an American twist.
General manager Marc Emanuel shares that Bärchen has a selection of international beers and quality food. From the menu, Marc recommends trying a burger or chicken sandwich, stating they are “the best in town.” To have the whole experience, order a house-made pretzel or sausage that perfectly complements the diverse beer and cocktail offerings.
5. Dundee Dell
Dundee Dell is a cherished hidden gem in Omaha’s beautiful Dundee neighborhood. Originally founded as the Dundee Delicatessen in 1915, no shortage of history and heritage sets Dundee Dell apart. General manager Marc Emanuel says that their “must-try” menu item is their flavorful and crispy fish and chips, which has garnered a devoted following.
6. Sofra Creperie
Located in the Inner Rail Food Hall is Sofra Creperie, offering an authentic taste of European cuisine. Michel Thornhill, a web designer with Little Mountain Web Design, suggests trying the Mediterranean crepe, which boasts delicious flavors from cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta, bell peppers, spinach, and a secret sauce.
7. Tasty Pizza
Minutes from the University of Nebraska and Elmwood Park, discover a campus favorite, Tasty Pizza. Morgan Dorsey, the photographer for MTD Aerial Photography and the University of Nebraska alums, recommends trying the McKenna Macarena, a combination of buffalo chicken and pepperoncini. Tasty Pizza is a must-visit and will “satisfy even the most discerning pizza connoisseur,” says Dorsey.
8. Ollie the Trolley
Ollie the Trolley, an iconic symbol of Omaha, Nebraska, offers a unique way to explore the city’s charm and rich history. This charming, vintage-style trolley provides a nostalgic and picturesque journey through Omaha’s streets, allowing passengers to discover the city’s hidden gems and popular landmarks in comfort and style.
Director of Marketing, Deb Skinner, says Ollie the Trolley offers five public tours complemented with a bloody mary, margaritas, and lessons on the city’s rich history. Take in the sights and sounds on this relaxing tour, and if you’re looking for the perfect way to celebrate an event such as a bachelor or bachelorette party, look no further.
9. Lauritzen Gardens
Beyond the cornfields associated with Omaha, Nebraska, discover the 100-acre Lauritzen Gardens. This Omaha hidden gem offers over 15 unique gardens and exhibits.
Paul Jones of The Gardening Dad blog describes Lauritzen Gardens as a “tropical paradise to be enjoyed on a beautiful summer day or during a cabin-fever winter weekend.” Jones adds that the gardens offer refreshing yoga retreats, spectacular kid activities, educational photography, cocktail hours, and more.
10. Fontenelle Forest
For the occasional escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, look no further than Fontenelle Forest. Local real estate agent Ryan Renner shares that this hidden gem offers miles of walking trails, a raptor refuge, and a rope course. “Coming to Fontenelle Forest feels like you aren’t in the city anymore,” adds Renner.
11. Book Nook Bookstores
A list of unique things to do in Omaha would only be complete with an escape from reality within a book. To experience such, look no further than Book Nook Bookstores. This locally owned bookstore offers a myriad of books, games, movies, and collectibles. So stop in and discover your new favorite author amongst the sea of material.
United Airlines is offering passengers affected by the weeklong delays and cancellations 30,000 frequent flyer miles following a bumpy recovery and a string of bad publicity.
“I know this week was hard,” United wrote in an email from Chief Customer Officer Linda Jojo on Saturday to impacted passengers, and obtained by TPG. “Really bad weather, air traffic control issues and some of our own operational challenges led to a rough experience for you and many of our customers.”
Severe thunderstorms spurred widespread travel disruptions last weekend, however, United fared far worse than the other U.S. airlines, as it led in cancellations and delays in the days following the inclement weather.
As a result of the thousands of cancellations and delays United reported within the week, thousands of travelers were left stranded in airports across the country, scrambling for backup flights ahead of July 4, reported to be one of the busiest travel weekends on record.
According to United, the email was sent to customers with trips between June 24-30, and who were delayed overnight or had their flights canceled.
United told TPG via email, “Customers will get a follow-up email later next week with simple steps to automatically add 30,000 miles to their account (existing MileagePlus members will have one path, non-MP members will be given instructions on how to sign up and receive their miles).”
United initially blamed the Federal Aviation Administration for the disruptions, but the carrier also faced staffing issues, with its chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA reporting long wait times for scheduling.
To add fuel to the fire, Kirby also chartered a private jet from Teterboro Airport to Denver as the Chicago-based carrier struggled to restore its operations. United said it did not pay for Kirby’s flight.
Kirby apologized for flying on a private jet as United faced operational woes in a memo sent to staff.
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“Taking a private jet was the wrong decision because it was insensitive to our customers waiting to get home,” he wrote.
As of Saturday afternoon, United seemed to be on the road to recovery, tallying 523 delays and 56 cancellations, according to FlightAware. Still, 19% of its flights on Saturday were delayed as of 4:48 p.m. ET with most of those delays again coming from its Newark hub.
“Providing these miles is the right thing to do,” Kirby wrote in the email to passengers. “After all, you put your trust in us and expect more.” Customers will receive a follow-up email with how to claim the miles.
United told TPG, “This gesture is in addition to the many other ways we’ve been helping our customers whose travel has been impacted this week, including things like: providing vouchers for hotels and meals, offering amenity carts with snacks and beverages, and giving customers future travel credits and miles.”
Interestingly, United does not suggest it would reimburse all affected customers for costs incurred during the meltdown as Southwest did after a similar mess during Christmas.
“This has been one of the most operationally challenging weeks I’ve experienced in my entire career,” Kirby wrote to employees in a memo first reported by CNBC.
High above the Las Vegas Strip, solar panels blanketed the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center — 26,000 of them, rippling across an area larger than 20 football fields.
From this vantage point, the sun-dappled Mandalay Bay and Delano hotels dominated the horizon, emerging like comically large golden scepters from the glittering black panels.Snow-tipped mountains rose to the west.
It was a cold winter morning in the Mojave Desert. But there was plenty of sunlight to supply the solar array.
“This is really an ideal location,” said Michael Gulich, vice president of sustainability at MGM Resorts International.
The same goes for the rest of Las Vegas and its sprawling suburbs.
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Sin City already has more solar panels per person than any major U.S. metropolis outside Hawaii, according to one analysis. And the city is bursting with single-family homes, warehouses and parking lots untouched by solar.
L.A. Times energy reporter Sammy Roth heads to the Las Vegas Valley, where giant solar fields are beginning to carpet the desert. But what is the environmental cost? (Video by Jessica Q. Chen, Maggie Beidelman / Los Angeles Times)
There’s enormous opportunity to lower household utility bills and cut climate pollution — without damaging wildlife habitat or disrupting treasured landscapes.
But that hasn’t stopped corporations from making plans to carpet the desert surrounding Las Vegas with dozens of giant solar fields — some of them designed to supply power to California. The Biden administration has fueled that growth, taking steps to encourage solar and wind energy development across vast stretches of public lands in Nevada and other Western states.
Those energy generators could imperil rare plants and slow-footed tortoises already threatened by rising temperatures.
They could also lessen the death and suffering from the worsening heat waves, fires, droughts and storms of the climate crisis.
Researchers have found there’s not nearly enough space on rooftops to supply all U.S. electricity — especially as more people drive electric cars. Even an analysis funded by rooftop solar advocates and installers found that the most cost-effective route to phasing out fossil fuels involves six times more power from big solar and wind farms than from smaller local solar systems.
But the exact balance has yet to be determined. And Nevada is ground zero for figuring it out.
The outcome could be determined, in part, by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
The so-called Oracle of Omaha owns NV Energy, the monopoly utility that supplies electricity to most Nevadans. NV Energy and its investor-owned utility brethren across the country can earn huge amounts of money paving over public lands with solar and wind farms and building long-distance transmission lines to cities.
But by regulatory design, those companies don’t profit off rooftop solar. And in many cases, they’ve fought to limit rooftop solar — which can reduce the need for large-scale infrastructure and result in lower returns for investors.
Mike Troncoso remembers the exact date of Nevada’s rooftop solar reckoning.
It was Dec. 23, 2015, and he was working for SolarCity. The rooftop installer abruptly ceased operations in the Silver State after NV Energy helped persuade officials to slash a program that pays solar customers for energy they send to the power grid.
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“I was out in the field working, and we got a call: ‘Stop everything you’re doing, don’t finish the project, come to the warehouse,’” Troncoso said. “It was right before Christmas, and they said, ‘Hey, guys, unfortunately we’re getting shut down.’”
After a public outcry, Nevada lawmakers partly reversed the reductions to rooftop solar incentives. Since then, NV Energy and the rooftop solar industry have maintained an uneasy political ceasefire. Installations now exceed pre-2015 levels.
Today, Troncoso is Nevada branch manager for Sunrun, the nation’s largest rooftop solar installer. The company has enough work in the state to support a dozen crews, each named for a different casino. On a chilly winter morning before sunrise, they prepared for the day ahead — laying out steel rails, hooking up microinverters and loading panels onto powder-blue trucks.
But even if Sunrun’s business continues to grow, it won’t eliminate the need for large solar farms in the desert.
Some habitat destruction is unavoidable — at least if we want to break our fossil fuel addiction. The key questions are: How many big solar farms are needed, and where should they be built? Can they be engineered to coexist with animals and plants?
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And if not, should Americans be willing to sacrifice a few endangered species in the name of tackling climate change?
To answer those questions, Los Angeles Times journalists spent a week in southern Nevada, touring solar construction sites, hiking up sand dunes and off-roading through the Mojave. We spoke with NV Energy executives, conservation activists battling Buffett’s company and desert rats who don’t want to see their favorite off-highway vehicle trails cut off by solar farms.
Odds are, no one will get everything they want.
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The tortoise in the coal mine
Biologist Bre Moyle easily spotted the small yellow flag affixed to a scraggly creosote bush — one of many hardy plants sprouting from the caliche soil, surrounded by rows of gleaming steel trusses that would soon hoist solar panels toward the sky.
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Moyle leaned down for a closer look, gently pulling aside branches to reveal a football-sized hole in the ground. It was the entrance to a desert tortoise burrow — one of thousands catalogued by her employer, Primergy Solar, during construction of one of the nation’s largest solar farms on public lands outside Las Vegas.
“I wouldn’t stand on this side of it,” Moyle advised us. “If you walk back there, you could collapse it, potentially.”
I’d seen plenty of solar construction sites in my decade reporting on energy. But none like this.
Instead of tearing out every cactus and other plant and leveling the land flat — the “blade and grade” method — Primergy had left much of the native vegetation in place and installed trusses of different heights to match the ground’s natural contours. The company had temporarily relocated more than 1,600 plants to an on-site nursery, with plans to put them back later.
The Oakland-based developer also went to great lengths to safeguard desert tortoises — an iconic reptile protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, and the biggest environmental roadblock to building solar in the Mojave.
Desert tortoises are sensitive to global warming, residential sprawl and other human encroachment on their habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has estimated tortoise populations fell by more than one-third between 2004 and 2014.
Scientists consider much of the Primergy site high-quality tortoise habitat. It also straddles a connectivity corridor that could help the reptiles seek safer haven as hotter weather and more extreme droughts make their current homes increasingly unlivable.
Before Primergy started building, the company scoured the site and removed 167 tortoises, with plans to let them return and live among the solar panels once the heavy lifting is over. Two-thirds of the project site will be repopulated with tortoises.
Workers removed more tortoises during construction. As of January, the company knew of just two tortoises killed — one that may have been hit by a car, and another that may have been entombed in its burrow by roadwork, then eaten by a kit fox.
Primergy Vice President Thomas Regenhard acknowledged the company can’t build solar here without doing any harm to the ecosystem — or spurring opposition from conservation activists. But as he watched union construction workers lift panels onto trusses, he said Primergy is “making the best of the worst-case situation” for solar opponents.
“What we’re trying to do is make it the least impactful on the environment and natural resources,” he said. “What we’re also doing is we’re sharing that knowledge, so that these projects can be built in a better way moving forward.”
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The company isn’t saving tortoises out of the goodness of its profit-seeking heart.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management conditioned its approval of the solar farm, called Gemini, on a long list of environmental protection measures — and only after some bureau staffers seemingly contemplated rejecting the project entirely.
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife show the bureau’s Las Vegas field office drafted several versions of a “record of decision” that would have denied the permit application for Gemini. The drafts listed several objections, including harm to desert tortoises, loss of space for off-road vehicle drivers and disturbance of the Old Spanish National Historic Trail, which runs through the project site.
Separately, Primergy reached a legal settlement with conservationists — who challenged the project’s federal approval in court — in which the company agreed to additional steps to protect tortoises and a plant known as the three-corner milkvetch.
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The company estimates just 2.5% of the project site will be permanently disturbed — far less than the 33% allowed by Primergy’s federal permit. Regenhard is hopeful the lessons learned here will inform future solar development on public lands.
“This is something new. So we’re refining a lot of the processes,” he said. “We’re not perfect. We’re still learning.”
By the time construction wraps this fall, 1.8 million panels will cover nearly 4,000 football fields’ worth of land, just off the 15 Freeway. They’ll be able to produce 690 megawatts of power — as much as 115,000 typical home solar systems. And they’ll be paired with batteries, to store energy and help NV Energy customers keep running their air conditioners after sundown.
Unlike many solar fields, Gemini is close to the population it will serve — just a few dozen miles from the Strip. And the affected landscape is far from visually stunning, with none of the red-rock majesty found at nearby Valley of Fire State Park.
But desert tortoises don’t care if a place looks cool to humans. They care if it’s good tortoise habitat.
Moyle, Primergy’s environmental services manager, pointed to a small black structure at the bottom of a fence along the site’s edge — a shade shelter for tortoises. Workers installed them every 800 feet, so that if any relocated reptiles try to return to the solar farm too early, they don’t die pacing along the fence in the heat.
“They have a really, really good sense of direction,” Moyle said. “They know where their homes are. They want to come back.”
Primergy will study what happens when tortoises do come back. Will they benefit from the shade of the solar panels? Or will they struggle to survive on the industrialized landscape?
And looming over those uncertainties, a more existential query: With global warming beginning to devastate human and animal life around the world, should we really be slowing or stopping solar development to save a single type of reptile?
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Moyle was ready with an answer: Tortoises are a keystone species. If they’re doing well, it’s a good sign of a healthy ecosystem in which other desert creatures — such as burrowing owls, kit foxes and American badgers — are positioned to thrive, too.
And as the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, human survival is inextricably linked with a healthy natural world.
“We take one thing out, we don’t know what sort of disastrous effect it’s going to have on everything else,” Moyle said.
We do, however, know the consequences of relying on fossil fuels: entire towns burning to the ground, Lake Mead three-quarters empty, elderly Americans baking to death in their overheated homes. With worse to come.
The shifting sands of time
A few miles south, another solar project was rising in the desert. This one looked different.
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A fleet of bulldozers, scrapers, excavators and graders was nearly done flattening the land — a beige moonscape devoid of cacti and creosote. The solar panel support trusses were all the same height, forming an eerily rigid silver sea.
When I asked Carl Glass — construction manager for DEPCOM Power, the contractor building this project for Buffett’s NV Energy — why workers couldn’t leave vegetation in place like at Gemini, he offered a simple answer: drainage. Allowing the land to retain its natural contours, he said, would make it difficult to move stormwater off the site during summer monsoons.
Safety was another consideration, said Dani Strain, NV Energy’s senior manager for the project. Blading and grading the land meant workers wouldn’t have to carry solar panels and equipment across ground studded with tripping hazards.
“It’s nicer for the environment not to do it,” Strain said. “But it creates other problems. You can’t have everything.”
This kind of solar project has typified development in the Mojave Desert.
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And it helps explain why the Center for Biological Diversity’s Patrick Donnelly has fought so hard to limit that development.
The morning after touring the solar construction sites, we joined Donnelly for a hike up Big Dune, a giant pile of sand covering five square miles and towering 500 feet above the desert floor, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The sun was just beginning its ascent over the Mojave, bathing the sand in a smooth umber glow beneath pockets of wispy cloud.
On weekends, Donnelly said, the dune can be overrun by thousands of off-road vehicles. But on this day, it was quiet.
Energy companies have proposed more than a dozen solar farms on public lands surrounding Big Dune — some with overlapping footprints. Donnelly doesn’t oppose all of them. But he thinks federal agencies should limit solar to the least ecologically sensitive parts of Nevada, instead of letting companies pitch projects almost anywhere they choose.
“Developers are looking at this as low-hanging fruit,” he said. “The idea is, this is where California can build all of its solar.”
We trekked slowly up the dune, our bodies casting long shadows in the early morning light. When we took a breather and looked back down, a trail of footprints marked our path. Donnelly assured us a windy day would wipe them away.
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“This is why I live here, man,” he said. “It’s the most beautiful place on Earth, in my mind.”
Donnelly broke his back in a rock-climbing accident, so he used a walking stick to scale the dune. He lives not far from here, at the edge of Death Valley National Park, and works as the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity’s Great Basin director.
As we resumed our journey, the wind blowing hard, I asked Donnelly to rank the top human threats to the Mojave. He was quick to answer: The climate crisis was No. 1, followed by housing sprawl, solar development and off-road vehicles.
“There’s no good solar project in the desert. But there’s less bad,” he said. “And we’re at a point now where we have to settle for less bad, because the alternatives are more bad: more coal, more gas, climate apocalypse.”
That hasn’t stopped Donnelly and his colleagues from fighting renewable energy projects they fear would wipe out entire species — even little-known plants and animals with tiny ranges, such as Tiehm’s buckwheat and the Dixie Valley toad.
“I’m not a religious guy,” Donnelly said. “But all God’s creatures great and small.”
After a steep stretch of sand, we stopped along a ridge with sweeping views. To our west were the Funeral Mountains, across the California state line in Death Valley National Park — and far beyond them Mt. Whitney, its snow-covered facade just barely visible. To our east was Highway 95, cutting across the Amargosa Valley en route from Las Vegas to Reno.
It’s along this highway that so many developers want to build.
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“We would be in a sea of solar right now,” Donnelly said.
Having heard plenty of rural residents say they don’t want to look at such a sea, I asked Donnelly if this was a bad spot for solar because it would ruin the glorious views. He told me he never makes that argument, “because honestly, views aren’t really the primary concern at this moment. The primary concern is stopping the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis.”
“There are certain places where we shouldn’t put solar because it’s a wild and undisturbed landscape,” he said.
As far as he’s concerned, though, the Amargosa Valley isn’t one of those landscapes, what with Highway 95 running through it. The same goes for Dry Lake Valley, where NV Energy’s solar construction site is already surrounded by energy infrastructure.
What Donnelly would like to see is better planning.
He pointed to California, where state and federal officials spent eight years crafting a desert conservation plan that allows solar and wind farms across a few hundred thousand acres while setting aside millions more for protection. He thinks a similar process is crucial in Nevada, where four-fifths of the land area is owned by the federal government — more than any other state.
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If Donnelly had his way, regulators would put the kibosh on solar farms immediately adjacent to Big Dune. He’s worried they could alter the movement of sand across the desert floor, affecting several rare beetles that call the dune home.
But if the feds want to allow solar projects along the highway to the south, near the Area 51 Alien Center?
“Might not be the end the world,” Donnelly said.
He shot me a grin.
“You know, one thing I like to do …”
Without warning, he took off racing down the dune, carried by momentum and love for the desert. He laughed as he reached a natural stopping point, calling for us to join him. His voice sounded free and full of possibility.
Some solar panels on the horizon wouldn’t have changed that.
Shout it from the rooftops
Laura Cunningham and Kevin Emmerich were a match made in Mojave Desert heaven.
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Cunningham was a wildlife biologist, Emmerich a park ranger when they met nearly 30 years ago at Death Valley. She studied tortoises for government agencies and later a private contractor. He worked with bighorn sheep and gave interpretive talks. They got married, bought property along the Amargosa River and started their own conservation group, Basin and Range Watch.
And they’ve been fighting solar development ever since.
That’s how we ended up in the back of their SUV, pulling open a rickety cattle gate off Highway 95 and driving past wild burros on a dirt road through Nevada’s Bullfrog Hills, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
They had told us Sarcobatus Flat was stunning, but I was still surprised by how stunning. I got my first look as we crested a ridge. The gently sloping valley spilled down toward Death Valley National Park, whose snowy mountain peaks towered over a landscape dotted with thousands of Joshua trees.
“Everything we’re looking at is proposed for solar development,” Cunningham said.
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Most environmentalists agree we need at least some large solar farms. Cunningham and Emmerich are different. They’re at the vanguard of a harder-core desert protection movement that sees all large-scale solar farms on public lands as bad news.
Why had so many companies converged on Sarcobatus Flat?
The main answer is transmission. NV Energy is seeking federal approval to build the 358-mile Greenlink West electric line, which would carry thousands of megawatts of renewable power between Reno and Las Vegas along the Highway 95 corridor.
The dirt road curved around a small hill, and suddenly we found ourselves on the valley floor, surrounded by Joshua trees. Some looked healthy; others had bark that had been chewed by rodents seeking water, a sign of drought stress. Scientists estimate the Joshua tree’s western subspecies could lose 90% of its range as the world gets hotter and droughts get more intense.
But asked whether climate change or solar posed a bigger threat to Sarcobatus Flat, Cunningham didn’t hesitate.
“Oh, solar development hands down,” she said.
Nearly 20 years ago, she said, she helped relocate desert tortoises to make way for a test track in California. One of them tried to return home, walking 20 miles before hitting a fence. It paced back and forth and eventually died of heat exhaustion.
Solar farms, she said, pose a similar threat to tortoises. And at Sarcobatus Flat, they would cover a high-elevation area that could otherwise serve as a climate refuge for Joshua trees, giving them a relatively cool place to reproduce as the planet heats up.
“It makes no sense to me that we’re going to bulldoze them down and throw them into trash piles. It’s just crazy,” she said.
In Cunningham and Emmerich’s view, every sun-baked parking lot in L.A. and Vegas and Phoenix should have a solar canopy, every warehouse and single-family home a solar roof. It’s a common argument among desert defenders: Why sacrifice sensitive ecosystems when there’s an easy alternative for fighting climate change? Especially when rooftop solar can reduce strain on an overtaxed electric grid and — when paired with batteries — help people keep their lights on during blackouts?
The answer isn’t especially satisfying to conservationists.
For all the virtues of rooftop solar, it’s an expensive way to generate clean power — and keeping energy costs low is crucial to ensure that lower-income families can afford electric cars, another key climate solution. A recent report from investment bank Lazard pegged the cost of rooftop solar at 11.7 cents per kilowatt-hour on the low end, compared with 2.4 cents for utility solar.
Even when factoring in pricey long-distance electric lines, utility-scale solar is typically cheaper, several experts told me.
“It’s three to six times more expensive to put solar on your roof than to put it in a large-scale project,” said Jesse Jenkins, an energy systems researcher at Princeton University. “There may be some added value to having solar in the Los Angeles Basin instead of the middle of the Mojave Desert. But is it 300% to 600% more value? Probably not. It’s probably not even close.”
There’s a practical challenge, too.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated U.S. rooftops could generate 1,432 terawatt-hours of electricity per year — just 13% of the power America will need to replace most of its coal, oil and gas, according to research led by Jenkins.
Add in parking lots and other areas within cities, and urban solar systems might conceivably supply one-quarter or even one-third of U.S. power, several experts told The Times — in an unlikely scenario where they’re installed in every suitable spot.
Energy researcher Chris Clack’s consulting firm has found that dramatic growth in rooftop and other small-scale solar installations could reduce the costs of slashing climate pollution by half a trillion dollars. But even Clack said rooftops alone won’t cut it.
“Realistically, 80% is going to end up being utility grid no matter what,” he said.
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All those industrial renewable energy projects will have to go somewhere.
Sarcobatus Flat may not be the answer. Federal officials classified all three solar proposals there as “low priority,” citing their proximity to Death Valley and potential harm to tortoise habitat. One developer withdrew its application last year.
Before leaving the area, Cunningham pointed to a wooden marker, one of at least half a dozen stretching out in a line. I walked over to take a closer look and discovered it was a mining claim for lithium — a main ingredient in electric-car batteries.
If solar development didn’t upend this valley, lithium extraction might.
On the beaten track
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The four-wheeler jerked violently as Erica Muxlow pressed her foot to the gas, sending us flying down a rough dirt road with no end in sight but the distant mountains. Five-point safety straps were the only things stopping us from flying out of our seats, the vehicle leaping through the air as we reached speeds of 40 mph, then 50 mph, the wind whipping our faces.
It was like riding Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds — just without the Yeti.
Ahead of us, Muxlow’s neighbor Jimmy Lewis led the way on an electric blue motorcycle, kicking up a stream of sand. He wanted us to see thousands of acres of public lands outside his adopted hometown of Pahrump, in Nevada’s Nye County, that could soon be blocked by solar projects — cutting off access to off-highway vehicle enthusiasts such as himself.
“You could build an apartment complex or a shopping mall here, and it would be the same thing to me,” he said.
To progressive-minded Angelenos or San Franciscans, preserving large chunks of public land for gas-guzzling, environmentally destructive dirt bikes might sound like a terrible reason not to build solar farms that would lessen the climate crisis.
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But here’s the reality: Rural Westerners such as Lewis will play a key role in determining how much clean energy gets built.
Not long before our Nevada trip, Nye County placed a six-month pause on new renewable energy projects, citing local concerns about loss of off-road vehicle trails. Similar fears have stymied development across the U.S., with rural residents attacking solar and wind farms as industrial intrusions on their way of life — and local governments throwing up roadblocks.
For Lewis, the conflict is deeply personal.
He moved here from Southern California more than a decade ago, trading life by the beach for a five-acre plot where he runs an off-roading school and test-drives motorcycles for manufacturers. His warehouse was packed with dozens of dirt bikes.
“This is my life. Motorcycles, motorcycles, motorcycles,” he said, laughing.
Lewis has worked to stir up opposition to three local solar farm proposals. So far, his efforts have been in vain.
One project is already under construction. Peering through a fence, we saw row after row of trusses, waiting for their photovoltaic panels. It’s called Yellow Pine, and it’s being built by Florida-based NextEra Energy to supply power to California.
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Lewis learned about Yellow Pine when he was riding one of his favorite trails and was surprised to find it cut off. He compared the experience to riding the best roller-coaster at a theme park, only to have it grind to a halt three-quarters of the way through.
“I don’t want my playground taken away from me,” he said.
“Me neither!” a voice called out from behind us.
We turned and were greeted by Shannon Salter, an activist who had previously spent nine months camping near the Yellow Pine site to protest the habitat destruction. She and Lewis had never met, but they quickly realized they had common cause.
“It’s the opposite of green!” Salter said.
“On my roof, not my backyard,” Lewis agreed.
Never mind that conservationists have long decried the ecological damage from desert off-roading. Salter and Lewis both cared about these lands. Neither wanted to see the solar industry lay claim to them. They talked about staying in touch.
It’s easy to imagine similar alliances forming across the West, the clean energy transition bringing together environmentalists and rural residents in a battle to defend their lifestyles, their landscapes and animals that can’t fight for themselves.
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It’s also easy to imagine major cities that badly need lots of solar and wind power — Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix — brushing off those complaints as insignificant compared with the climate emergency, or as fueled by right-wing misinformation.
But many of concerns raised by critics are legitimate. And their voices are only getting louder.
As night fell over the Mojave, Lewis shared his idea that any city buying electricity from a desert solar farm should be required to install a certain amount of rooftop solar back home first — on government buildings, at least. It only seemed fair.
“Some people see the desert as just a wasteland,” Lewis said. “I think it’s beautiful.”
The view from Black Mountain
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So how do we build enough renewable energy to replace fossil fuels without destroying too many ecosystems, or stoking too much political opposition from rural towns, or moving too slowly to save the planet?
Few people could do more to ease those tensions than Buffett.
Our conversation kept returning to the legendary investor as we hiked Black Mountain, just outside Vegas, on our last morning in the Silver State. We were joined by Jaina Moan, director of external affairs for the Nature Conservancy’s Nevada chapter. She had promised a view of massive solar fields from the peak — but only after a 3.5-mile trek with 2,000 feet of elevation gain.
“It’ll be a little StairMaster at the end,” she warned us.
The homes and hotels and casinos of the Las Vegas Valley retreated behind us as we climbed, looking ever smaller and more insignificant against the vast open desert. It was an illusion that will prove increasingly difficult to maintain as Sin City and its suburbs continue their march into the Mojave. Nevada politicians from both parties are pushing for legislation that would let federal officials auction off additional public lands for residential and commercial development.
Vegas and other Western cities could limit the need for more suburbs — and sprawling solar farms — by growing smarter, Moan said. Urban areas could embrace density, to help people drive fewer miles and reduce the demand for new power supplies to fuel electric vehicles. They could invest in electric buses and trains — and use less water, which would save a lot of energy.
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“As our spaces become more crowded, we’re going to have to come up with more creative ideas,” Moan said.
That’s where Buffett could make things easier.
The billionaire’s Berkshire Hathaway company owns electric utilities that serve millions of people, from California to Nevada to Illinois. Those utilities, Moan said, could buck the industry trend of urging policymakers to reduce financial incentives for rooftop solar and instead encourage the technology — along with other small-scale clean energy solutions, such as local microgrids.
That would limit the need for big solar farms — at least somewhat.
Berkshire and other energy giants could also build solar on lands already altered by humans, such as abandoned mines, toxic Superfund sites, reservoirs, landfills, agricultural areas, highway corridors and canals that carry water to farms and cities.
The costs are typically higher than building on undisturbed public lands. And in many cases there are technical challenges yet to be resolved. But those kinds of “creative solutions” could at least lessen the loss of biodiversity, Moan said.
“There’s money to be made there, and there’s good to be done,” she said.
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It’s hard to know what Buffett thinks. A Berkshire spokesperson declined my request to interview him.
Tony Sanchez, NV Energy’s executive vice president for business development and external relations, was more forthcoming.
“The problem for us with rooftop solar,” he said, is that it’s “not controlled at all by us.” As a result, NV Energy can’t decide when and how rooftop solar power is used — and can’t rely on that power to help balance supply and demand on the grid.
Over time, Sanchez predicted, a lot more rooftop solar will get built. But he couldn’t say how much.
Rooftop solar faces a similarly uncertain future in California, where state officials voted last year to slash incentive payments, calling them an unfair subsidy. Industry leaders have warned of a dramatic decline in installations.
As we neared the top of Black Mountain, the solar farms on the other side came into view. They stretched across the Eldorado Valley far below — black rectangles that could help save life on Earth while also destroying bits and pieces of it.
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Moan believes the key to balancing clean energy and conservation is “go slow to go fast.” Government agencies, she said, should work with conservation activists, small-town residents and Native American tribes to study and map out the best places for clean energy, then reward companies that agree to build in those areas with faster approvals. Solar and wind development would slow down in the short term but speed up in the long run, with quicker environmental reviews and less risk of lawsuits.
It’s a tantalizing concept — but I confessed to Moan that I worried it would backfire.
What if the sparring factions couldn’t agree on the best spots to build solar and wind farms, and instead wasted years arguing? Or what if they did manage to hammer out some compromises, only for a handful of unhappy people or groups to take them to court, gumming up the works? Couldn’t “go slow to go fast” end up becoming “go slow to go slow”?
In other words, should we really bet our collective future on human beings working together, rather than fighting?
Moan was sympathetic to my fears. She also didn’t see another way forward.
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“We really need to think holistically about saving everything,” she said.
The sad truth is, not everything can be saved. Not if we want to keep the world livable for people and animals alike.
Some beloved landscapes will be left unrecognizable. Some families will be stuck paying high energy bills to monopoly utilities, even as some utility investors make less money. Some tortoises will probably die, pacing along fences in the heat.
The alternative is worse.
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In a nondescript building adorned with the LATAM logo sits a handful of Delta Air Lines employees — an arrangement that would’ve been unthinkable just a few years ago.
Earlier this month, Delta officially inaugurated its new South Florida offices, which are now in LATAM Cargo’s Miami headquarters.
There you’ll find about 10 full-time Delta employees, some of whom are working closely with LATAM to build out a joint-venture partnership between the two carriers.
The walls feature pictures of Delta and LATAM airplanes, and the space is so new that one of the conference rooms hasn’t even been built yet.
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The Delta employees working from this office even have a front-row view of LATAM’s cargo operations, watching as some of the airline’s freighters load and unload their goods before their next mission.
Every few minutes, you might even glimpse an American Airlines jet taking off in the distance — a somewhat ironic sight considering the circumstances.
Until mid-2020, the South American conglomerate LATAM was a member of the Oneworld frequent flyer alliance and a partner with American Airlines.
However, Delta wooed the airline away from its U.S. rival back in late 2019, in a move that shocked many industry observers. It acquired a 20% ownership stake in LATAM and also filed plans to begin a joint venture partnership (that includes profit sharing and schedule coordination) between the U.S. and South America.
That joint venture was approved in late September, and both Delta and LATAM have raced to implement it.
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Now that we’re nine months into the tie-up, Delta and LATAM invited me to check out their new digs and learn more about their nascent joint venture. Here’s what I learned.
Delta bolsters presence in key region
From Delta’s perspective, the joint venture was designed to quickly fill a noticeable gap in the airline’s global route map, Perry Cantarutti, senior vice president of alliances for Delta, said.
“When we looked at the world, that was one part of the world where we were not very well covered,” Cantarutti told TPG.
Before the tie-up, Delta was far from being the market leader in flights between the U.S. and South America. It offered just 122 flights on average a week between the two regions. Cirium schedules show that this was well below the 475 and 200 weekly flights American Airlines and United Airlines offered in 2019, respectively.
Nowadays, “We are together the No. 1 player between North and South America,” Cantarutti was proud to share.
The joint venture already connects more than 200 North American destinations served by Delta to the more than 120 South American destinations served by LATAM.
Also, at least nine new routes were teased as part of the pact, and five of them were formally announced, including:
Orlando-Bogota, Colombia (starts July 1)
Los Angeles-Sao Paulo (starts Aug. 1)
Miami-Medellin, Colombia (starts Oct. 29)
New York-Rio de Janeiro (starts Dec. 16)
Atlanta-Cartagena, Colombia(starts Dec. 22)
Together with some additional frequencies on existing routes, this translates to a 75% capacity increase since the pact was implemented — an impressive feat for such a new partnership.
Miami is becoming a ‘gateway hub’
When the joint venture was announced, Delta promised to turn Miami into a “gateway hub.”
Since then, Delta and LATAM have grown the Miami operation by nearly 40% more flights, according to Luciano Macagno, Delta’s managing director of Latin America, the Caribbean and South Florida.
From Miami, Delta has launched or recently increased service to Boston, Los Angeles, Orlando, Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C.
Additional domestic connectivity may be in the works. However, Delta’s existing domestic flights now cover most of the demand for travelers headed to or from Miami and those connecting beyond Miami into South America (and vice versa), Macagno said.
For instance, that short Orlando flight — a rare point-to-point route for Delta — is largely about funneling connections through Miami.
In addition to the new routes, Delta is upgrading its Miami terminal to better support the LATAM joint venture. This includes a more streamlined connecting experience when landing from an international destination, as well as adding Spanish signage across the entire facility.
Delta’s operations are co-located with LATAM’s in Miami (and a handful of other key airports). That’s a big improvement for travelers who used to connect from LATAM to American — a process that required a ton of walking and maneuvering around the airport.
The airline is also modernizing and expanding its Miami Sky Club to accommodate a total of 320 flyers with more than 12,000 square feet. Delta is even starting to insource its ground handling in Miami, too.
Although it’s not necessarily specific to Miami, Delta unveiled a Spanish version of its mobile app last week, a project that was accelerated due to the joint venture. Portuguese support is coming soon, according to Cantarutti.
Delta fills a bigger gap than American
When Delta purchased a stake in LATAM, it sent shockwaves throughout the aviation industry. The news upended some long-standing alliances throughout the hemisphere, perhaps most notably the deep-seated tie-up between American and LATAM.
While some industry insiders might’ve been surprised by the move, it makes total sense from LATAM’s perspective: Delta fills a bigger gap than American, providing access to more one-stop destinations for flyers.
“We’re very excited about the access to the interior of the U.S. and their gateways,” Marty St. George, chief commercial officer at LATAM, said in an interview.
Relative to American’s operation in Miami (the key connecting city under the American-LATAM pact), Delta’s Atlanta hub offers “many, many more destinations,” St. George said. “The thing I say to my team is that we will be selling customers to cities you have never heard of in your entire life.”
There is a “very, very long tail of demand to and from South America,” which accounts for roughly 20% of the traffic between the two continents, St. George added. The Delta joint venture enables LATAM to serve these cities with one-stop itineraries that wouldn’t have been possible with American.
While LATAM isn’t as big in Miami — the key U.S. gateway to South America — as it was with access to American’s big hub there, St. George isn’t worried. “We can manage Miami on our own … we have a lot of service there anyway,” he said.
SkyTeam membership could be coming
Delta and LATAM have already added reciprocal loyalty benefits, giving frequent travelers access to perks, such as lounge access, regardless of which airline they fly.
You can now earn and redeem miles on either airline, too.
But as exciting as the Delta partnership is, LATAM was once a key member of the Oneworld frequent flyer alliance. Membership in a global airline alliance helps boost connectivity and provides access to a broader network of customers. LATAM might consider joining Delta’s alliance, SkyTeam.
“Our focus right now is Delta … I think the concept of SkyTeam is a little bit in the future,” St. George said.
Pressed further, he added that the “experience working with Delta has been fantastic so far. They’re a great poster child for what the possible benefit of the SkyTeam would be.”
Reading between the lines, I wouldn’t be surprised if LATAM’s long-term plan includes membership in SkyTeam.
For now, though, it maintains a limited partnership with two Oneworld airlines, Iberia and Qantas, which help bolster its connectivity to Europe and Australia, respectively.
Metal neutrality is the goal
So far, executives at both airlines are happy with the progress that they’ve made in just under a year.
In the future, Delta and LATAM will continue working toward “metal neutrality,” Alain Bellemare, Delta’s president-international, said. This basically means that fares, loyalty benefits and the passenger experience will be aligned between both airlines.
The executive teams at both carriers meet once a quarter to go over long-term plans. They gather in cities that are commercially important to the joint venture, such as Atlanta, Miami and Lima, Peru.
While more route announcements and flyer benefits are in the works, both carriers are also doubling down on building their brands and awareness across the continents; this is especially true for Delta, which has historically been weak in South America.
Such measures include an advertising campaign and customer outreach across the continent. “We find it’s important because people don’t know what Delta is as a credit card or a faucet,” Cantarutti said.
Fast forward a few years, and I bet South American flyers will know Delta as the airline that’s partnered with LATAM — and vice versa in the U.S.
With the news this month that the housing market hit a milestone by showing the first year-over-year price decline in recent memory, homeowners who’d considered finally selling their home this year are finding themselves discouraged yet again.
What happened, they might wonder, to the not-so-distant glory days of frantic bidding wars and over-ask offers? Plenty of frustrated owners seem worried that the window for a fast and lucrative home sale might be shutting fast.
But here’s the reality: The U.S. housing market is no monolith. Although it’s true that many of the hottest markets of the past few years have seen prices fall in the wake of higher mortgage interest rates that broadly dampened home shoppers’ buying power, there are still cities where buyers continue to snatch up homes quickly and where sellers are getting their full asking price—or more.
This is why the Realtor.com® data team dug in to find the U.S. real estate markets that most favor sellers. (Sorry, buyers!)
The best places for sellers generally have persistently low housing inventory, strong demand from buyers, and often—but not always—lower prices that have room to swell. These are generally affordable metropolitan areas in the Northeast with a few in the Midwest.
Three of the metros on our list—Hartford, CT, Worcester, MA, and Providence, RI—are so close, you could tour homes in all of them in a single day. Our ranking also has one spot in the South and a somewhat bizarre outlier in California—more on that later.
To figure out if an area is a buyer’s or seller’s market, Pamela Ermen likes to track the change in the number of closed sales per month, compared with the change in the number of new listings per month.
“When sales are going up and inventory is going down, that’s a real seller’s market,” says Ermen, a Virginia Beach–based Realtor® at Re/Max and a speaker and coach at Real Estate Guidance.
Still, sellers who focus solely on low inventory can wrongly conclude that they can list their home at a higher price than an agent might advise. That can lead to their property languishing on the market not receiving strong offers. Meanwhile, buyers who focus only on the number of sales going down might wrongly think there’s less competition. That might result in heartache when they find out the hard way that many homes are still getting multiple offers.
To find true seller-friendly places, the Realtor.com data team looked at the May 2023 listing data for the 100 largest metropolitan areas. Then we ranked each based on the number of days that the median listing is on the market, combined with the portion of listings that have had the price reduced. These metrics tell us where homes are selling faster than average and with fewer sellers having to reduce their price to make the sale.
We selected just one metro area per state to ensure geographical diversity. (Metros include the main city and surrounding towns, suburbs, and smaller urban areas.)
Here’s where sellers can expect the market to be most tilted in their favor this summer.
Median list price: $265,000 Median days on the market: 13 Listings with a price reduction: 1 in 17
Rochester, on the western edge of New York along the southern shore of Lake Ontario, not only is at the top of our seller’s saviors list—it’s also in a class of its own. Rochester had both the lowest number of days on the market and the lowest portion of listings with a price reduction. But this is nothing new for the so-called Flower City.
The metro area has become a mainstay of the Realtor.com hottest real estate markets list. It’s also where sellers are usually still getting their asking price, and where buyers can find one of the largest selections of homes for less than $200,000. Plus, home prices are well below the national median list price of $441,500 in May.
These affordable homes have made the area appealing to locals, out-of-towners, and investors.
“If you’re priced right in our market, you can expect to still sell in about one week,” says Jenna May, a local real estate agent at Keller Williams Realty.
When the market was at its pandemic peak in 2022, and even before anyone had heard of COVID-19, Rochester was still leading the nation in the low number of days on the market. Demand here for homes is high and seems destined to stay that way.
“There are people who are offering $80,000 over listing price and not getting the home,” says May. “It’s that competitive.”
Median list price: $424,925 Median days on the market: 19 Listings with a price reduction: 1 in 14
The capital city of Connecticut is also no stranger to the Realtor.com list of the nation’s hottest real estate markets. Hartford is the largest population hub in the state, with 1.2 million residents.
It also boasts home prices that are about 5% below the national median.
“The Northeast has been well undervalued compared with other markets—and not just for years, but for decades,” says Lisa Barrall-Matt, a senior broker at Berkshire Hathaway in West Hartford.
Homes in the Hartford area have been priced $100,000 less than comparable homes in other markets, Barrall-Matt says, for so long that she began to take it for granted.
Now, she’s feeling vindicated: “I used to say, ‘Why aren’t prices higher?’ Now I’m saying, ‘Where’s the ceiling?’”
Median list price: $622,500 Median days on the market: 24 Listings with a price reduction: 1 in 13
Portland became a popular pandemic destination for Northeasterners looking for a scenic, coastal city with some great restaurants, entertainment, and a brewery scene. The area has a rich history, having a Native American presence dating more than 10,000 years before becoming an early Colonial settlement.
The above-average prices in this artsy city on Casco Bay aren’t keeping sellers from enjoying quick sales. In fact, few listings are getting marked down. The demand for housing here is just so strong. Portland has been featured on our list of the best places to retire in 2022, and it has one of the last year’s hottest neighborhoods: Windham, just on the northwestern edge of Portland proper.
Prices in Portland have grown significantly faster during the pandemic—from May 2019 to now—than they did in most of the country. Where prices rose about 40% nationally, prices in Portland have grown by about 62%. Just since this time last year, prices rose 17%.
A newer four-bedroom home in South Portland that’s within walking distance of Fore River is listed for $650,000, close to the area average.
Median list price: $517,450 Median days on the market: 19 Listings with a price reduction: 1 in 10
Worcester, about 40 miles west of Boston, was nicknamed the “Heart of the Commonwealth” because of its central location in Massachusetts.
This medium-sized metro has a name that’s fun to say, like “rooster” but with a W. But it simply doesn’t have enough homes to match the high interest from potential buyers, according to Nick McNeil, a local Realtor with the Lux Group.
“The amount of demand and the absolute lack of inventory is nuts,” he says. “And there’s not much room for new construction in this area, with tight regulations on what can be built.”
Until there’s some kind of change in the supply and demand dynamic in the area, McNeil says, it’s going to be hard for buyers, and relatively easy for sellers—as long as they’re not also trying to buy.
“The best situation you can be in is if you can sell now,” he says.
Median list price: $384,250 Median days on the market: 25 Listings with a price reduction: 1 in 10
Amid the rolling hills of Eastern Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, Allentown has a few things going for sellers right now. The portion of homes with a price reduction is about half the national average, and homes are selling about 40% faster.
Like some other places on this list, the homes in this historic steel town are priced below the national average. But local incomes are a bit higher than average, offering buyers more affordability. That’s helping the real estate market to remain competitive as buyers seek out deals.
Allentown offers a mix of urban, suburban, and rural lifestyles, making it broadly attractive for buyers.
What’s especially notable about the area is the price growth over the past several years. Allentown metro prices have risen by 78% since before the pandemic, ahead of all the other places on this list.
For about the local median price in Allentown, buyers can find a five-bedroom bungalow in the Hamilton Park neighborhood west of downtown Allentown.
Median list price: $374,950 Median days on the market: 29 Listings with a price reduction: 1 in 11
Perched on the western shore of Lake Michigan in southeastern Wisconsin, Milwaukee is known for its breweries, including Miller and Pabst. It’s also where Harley-Davidson was founded. And it’s been a staple of housing affordability for some time.
However, prices have been rising in Milwaukee’s metro area: They rose by around 11% compared with this time last year.
The median number of days on the market is below the average now, just like it was before the pandemic. The same goes for the portion of listings with a price reduction. This is all very good news for home sellers hoping for a quick, profitable sale.
For $375,000, a buyer can get a large, four-bedroom home just 5 minutes from hiking trails, a golf course, and a dog park, all along the shoreline.
Median list price: $386,973 Median days on the market: 29 Listings with a price reduction: 1 in 9
The Virginia Beach metro area, a popular vacation spot for beach, maritime history, and seafood lovers, is another place where incomes are higher than average and home prices are lower.
Last year, sellers could count on getting multiple offers, usually leading to potential buyers bidding up the price, says Virginia Beach–based Realtor Ermen. Now, it’s not as easy to figure out that pricing sweet spot. If the home is listed too high, that’s when there’s eventually pressure to reduce the price.
In the month of May, even with a low number of price reductions, Erman says, “90% of price reductions were made before the listing hit the average time on market.”
That indicates sellers are getting antsy, and probably would have been better off pricing the home lower to begin with. But homes that are priced to sell are still moving briskly.
Median list price: $1,530,000 Median days on the market: 25 Listings with a price reduction: 1 in 9
San Jose is the oddball on this list.
Nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley, it is one of the most expensive real estate markets in the nation. Homes in this San Francisco Bay Area hot spot cost more than triple the national average, which means real estate attracts a very specific buyer.
Because San Jose is a global technology hub, its population is very diverse, and not just racially or ethnically. Roughly 40% of residents were born outside of the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Most significantly, many residents have tons of money to spend, whether they’re high-salaried tech employees or they have had an entrepreneurial startup windfall.
Local real estate agents will tell you that San Jose is simply insulated from many of the market dynamics because the clientele is so wealthy. If they’re making an all-cash purchase, they don’t have to worry about higher mortgage rates. And that’s a big boon for sellers.
Median list price: $539,950 Median days on the market: 31 Listings with a price reduction: 1 in 10
Providence, home to Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, is a bustling town filled with older homes. About 50 miles southwest of Boston, it’s one of the medium-sized, Northeastern metros on our list that are enjoying especially strong housing markets right now.
Providence prices are significantly above the national average, but compared with nearby Boston, where the median list price is north of $850,000, Providence is a downright bargain.
Plus, it’s got a lot going for it. It boasts beautiful scenery along the Seekonk River, a thriving arts scene, and good jobs. The headquarters for CVS is located in nearby Woonsocket.
In Providence, for $550,000, a little above the local average, buyers can find a midcentury two-bedroom home with classic brick construction about 15 minutes from downtown.
Median list price: $229,950 Median days on the market: 31 Listings with a price reduction: 1 in 9
Home prices in this Rust Belt city, which has struggled in more recent years, are still dramatically lower than the national average—about 45% less expensive. And with the focus of buyers on affordability, it’s no wonder that Toledo has taken off.
In the past year, median list prices in Toledo have risen by 25% (10% per square foot), which is quite a bit higher than before the pandemic.
For less than the median list price in Toledo, buyers can get a massive, six-bedroom home in Toledo’s Old West End neighborhood, just northwest of downtown.
The latest figures put the average honeymoon cost at around $4,800, Brides.com reports, adding that the average honeymoon lasts eight days.
There are plenty of ways to save on or save for a honeymoon, though.
Here’s what you need to know about the average honeymoon cost and paying for a trip you’ll never forget.
The Honeymoon Tab
The Knot, a wedding-planning platform, cited a pre-pandemic average honeymoon cost of $5,000, based on an internal study of more than 27,000 couples who married in 2019. That is atop the average cost of a wedding, which The Knot put at nearly $30,000.
The average cost of a honeymoon has increased in the past few years, reflecting couples’ desire for more experiential travel, The Knot says, with more than 60% of American couples traveling outside the continental U.S. for their honeymoon.
Of course, the honeymoon outlay could be much higher if a couple goes on a luxury getaway or takes an extended trip.
Big-Ticket Honeymoon Items
The cost of a honeymoon can depend on location, amenities, and even the season couples decide to travel. Typically the cost will include:
• Plane, train, or automobile travel
• Accommodations
• Any excursions
• Food and beverages
• Taxes, tips, and fees
Essentially, it’s the same as any other big trip. The only extras may come because you want to make this trip the best it can be (and we don’t blame you).
Ways to Cut Honeymoon Expenses
There are still plenty of ways to save money on a honeymoon. As mentioned, location can play a major factor in the cost of the trip, but there is a secret a lot of travel insiders know and don’t share: Shoulder season.
Shoulder season is that awkward time between the high and low seasons of different destinations. It’s not necessarily that a place is less desirable to visit, but merely a less popular time to go.
The shoulder season in the Caribbean is the early fall (in the Northern Hemisphere, September to November), which is the midst of hurricane season, meaning fewer people tend to book during this time. Honeymooners could score great deals on flights and accommodations, and find more restaurant and excursion reservations available.
Hawaii, a perennial honeymoon destination favorite, has shoulder seasons of April through June, after all the school breaks end, and September to December, right before the holiday travel rush.
Check to see when your desired location’s shoulder season may fall, and if you wish, book in this window for the chance to save a little money.
Two other ideas:
Forage for great fares. Another way to cut back on typical honeymoon expenses is to hunt for the best flights possible if you’re traveling by air. This can be done by signing up for newsletter or alert services like Next Vacay, which sends daily emails with cheap flight deals, or similar services like Scott’s Cheap Flights and Skyscanner.
Use points or miles. One more way to lessen the financial strain of a honeymoon is to dig into credit card rewards such as points or miles. Check to see if your points can be used on flights, accommodations, or activities, and use them as you please. Don’t forget to check on any of those frequent flyer miles you’ve got hanging around either.
Paying for a Honeymoon
There are a number of ways couples can finance their honeymoon. Here are a few.
Join a honeymoon registry. The first, and perhaps most festive for a wedding, is to ask your friends and family to get involved with a honeymoon registry.
A honeymoon registry is a new twist on the wedding registry tradition. Rather than ask for gifts like china that comes out of the closet once every 10 years, couples can instead ask their guests to gift them money that they may use toward their honeymoon.
Some couples take the honeymoon registry a step further by registering at places like Honeyfund or Zola for specific honeymoon items rather than a blanket ask. This can include a specific hotel stay or merely an upgrade, scuba lessons or ski tickets, or dining at one special restaurant during the trip.
Carve out a honeymoon savings fund. Another way to finance your honeymoon is by starting your own honeymoon budget. Once you’ve decided as a couple where you’d like to travel on your first trip as the newly betrothed, you can estimate how much the trip will cost.
From there, you can start a fund where you put in a little each day, week, or a month from income or through any cutbacks you’re willing to make to your personal budgets to turn this dream trip into a reality.
Decide to camp out in Uncle Jeremy’s backyard. And grill hot dogs for days. It will be unforgettable. Just sayin’.
Take out a personal loan. A personal wedding or honeymoon loan can be used for just about anything you want. Yes, that means it can be used to cover any and all costs of a honeymoon.
The Takeaway
The average honeymoon costs around $4,800. But clearly, that number can vary greatly depending on when and where honeymooners travel, for how long, and the level of luxury. With more couples lusting for experiential travel, the average tab has grown.
Think twice before turning to high-interest credit cards. Consider a SoFi personal loan instead. SoFi offers competitive fixed rates and same-day funding. Checking your rate takes just a minute.
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I completely understand why some people are afraid to use credit cards. I was. It seemed like a surefire way to get into credit card debt seemingly overnight. But between rewards credit cards and sign-up bonuses, I realized credit cards can be used for good — a lot of good.
Credit card sign-up bonuses can offer you an extra few hundred dollars or even a free plane ticket just for spending the way you normally would. The sign-up bonuses I’ve received from credit cards have paid for a camping vacation, a concert, and a few train tickets for a weekend getaway.
Big or small, you can likely find a sign-up bonus that works for your spending habits. But are they worth it? To figure that out, you need to know how they work and how to evaluate them.
How Credit Card Bonuses Work
Credit card bonuses are perks credit card companies offer to win your business. Bonuses typically involve the credit card company offering extra cash, points, or miles when you sign up, though you usually have to do something first, such as spend a certain amount.
The cash price of the reward depends on the card you choose. Some sign-up bonuses are worth a few hundred dollars, while others are valued at $700 or more. You typically find that the higher the spending requirement, the higher the reward.
Types of Credit Card Bonuses
Credit card bonuses all look slightly different and have different requirements. While credit card issuers can technically make anything they can legally give you a bonus, there are some common types.
Cash-back bonuses. Cash-back bonuses are pretty straightforward. You spend a specific amount during a specified time and get some form of cash back, such as a statement credit, check, or redemption for products or experiences. Cash-back bonuses tend to be smaller than other bonuses. For example, you might see a $200 bonus when you spend $500 in the first three months.
Travel rewards bonuses. Some travel rewards cards offer travel bonuses if you spend a certain amount in a certain time frame, such as 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months.
Points bonuses. Points are essentially another form of cash back. Once you reach certain point thresholds, you can cash those points in for statement credits, travel purchases, or another option your credit card issuer offers. For example, you might see cards that offer 75,000 or even 100,000 points after you spend $2,000.
Referral bonuses. Some credit card companies offer a small bonus when you refer someone who applies for a card. For example, a card may offer you a $200 statement credit if you get one of your friends to apply for the same card within the first 60 days.
How to Evaluate Credit Card Bonuses
When trying to pick the right bonus, there are a lot of factors outside the cash you earn. It’s vital to compare the bonus in the context of the card’s full value potential to decide whether the credit card bonus is worth it to you.
Bonus Value
When searching for the right bonus, think about what you’ll use it for. Perhaps you’re planning for an upcoming family vacation or you want to take a weekend trip with your friends. A 75,000-point bonus can get one of you a free flight. Or if you’re saving up for a big purchase like a new flat-screen TV or couch, a cash bonus of $200 can help offset the price.
Annual Fee
Annual fees have a huge range, from $0 to almost $1,000. The higher the annual fee, the nicer the reward. But there’s no use in earning a bonus if the continued annual fee is too much. A 150,000-point travel bonus sounds sweet, but the next year when you face a $650 annual fee, it might not seem so worth it.
Consider how much you’re willing to pay on an ongoing basis, not just the first year. If you’re willing to switch cards next year and can do so without negatively impacting your credit score, go for it. But if you’re looking for a long-term relationship, make sure you can afford it.
Rewards
Ensure the rewards you earn outweigh the annual fee. You want the rewards you earn now, including the bonus, to be more than the annual fee, to be sure.
But in future years, will you use the card enough to continually justify the fee? If not, you’re just paying to keep a credit card in your wallet.
Additionally, think about how the rewards offered can help you reach the bonus. Pick a card that encourages you to spend in your regular areas, which helps you rack up enough in purchases to earn the bonus.
Similarly, be wary of a card with rewards that conflict with your go-to card for that spending category. If you already get excellent gas rewards, is it worth switching to another card for those?
Spending Requirement
Ensure you can spend enough to earn the reward bonus. You can find spending requirements that are fairly low at a few hundred dollars, but some require you to spend thousands.
Look at your budget and think realistically about how much you spend regularly. A credit card shouldn’t increase your spending; it should simply reward you for spending in the right areas.
Even if you already have a rewards card you use for certain purchases, it still might be worth it to sign up for another one that’s currently offering a bonus, even if the rewards you earn are slightly less.
Do the math to see how what you earn in rewards each month from your original card compares to the bonus you would earn combined with the additional rewards you earn on the new card. You can use the card just for a few months to earn the bonus and switch back to your old card after.
But that’s not the only way to meet spending requirements. You can put streaming services on your card. Some credit cards even offer cash back on these recurring subscriptions. Or put a big purchase you’ve been planning on the card or add a trustworthy authorized user to get two people spending on the card for a few months.
Other Card Benefits
Many credit cards have perks and features beyond rewards and sign-up bonuses. These features offer benefits you may not even realize you need.
For example, if you travel overseas frequently, check to see if the card you’re interested in has a foreign transaction fee. Most of these fees hover around 3%, so it can add up if you use your card a lot while traveling. If you can find a card without one, you can save hundreds or even thousands per trip.
But that’s not all. Look for features like low balance-transfer rates or special security features. Do you want the ability to lock and unlock your card at will? Do you want extra verification steps when you make online purchases? Some issuers offer these features, while others don’t, so make sure you’re reading the fine print.
Your Spending Habits
Your spending habits play an outsize role in choosing the sign-up bonus that’s right for you.
If you have a large family and can put your everyday spending on the card, even temporarily, you likely have enough expenses to reach a higher spending requirement. For those with tighter budgets, sticking with a smaller sign-up bonus makes more sense because they also come with lower spending thresholds.
Bonus cards are also perfect for large purchases. For example, if you’re thinking of buying a new couch, a sign-up bonus card that offers $200 back for just $500 in spending is the perfect choice. If you buy a $700 couch, you’re essentially getting a $200 rebate just for putting the purchase on the right card.
Other Factors to Consider
Even if you evaluate the bonus and decide it’s worth it, you need to check out the terms and conditions to ensure they won’t impede your progress toward the spending goal. While they can vary by issuer, there are a few that exist on almost every card.
Only New Cardholders Are Eligible
One of the biggest catches of sign-up bonuses is that they exist to attract new customers, not keep existing customers happy. That’s outstanding for anyone looking to add a new card to their wallet, but those who already have that card need to look elsewhere for a sign-up bonus.
Your Time Already Started
The time you have to reach your spending requirement starts the day you receive approval, not the day you get the card. You usually get your card in the mail within a few days to weeks, depending on where you live.
That shortens the already brief few months you have to meet the spending requirement. That said, some cards allow you to activate a virtual version of your card before it arrives.
Some Transactions Don’t Count
Spending requirements for bonuses can get tricky. Larger bonuses tend to have stricter requirements or limits on what purchases count toward your spending minimum. Check the fine print to see the exact requirements for your card.
For example, the fine print might say balance transfers and lottery tickets don’t count toward your spending requirement.
The Bonus Value May Depend on How You Redeem It
More complex bonuses may offer a greater value if you redeem the bonus for something other than cash or have specific rules for how you can use the bonus.
For example, you might earn 75,000 travel points worth $750. That’s more than the $500 they’d give you if you took your bonus as statement credits (which is essentially cash). But you can only use it if you spend it on purchases through your credit card’s travel portal.
If you can’t or won’t do that, you need to take the cash bonus, meaning that’s what you should base the credit card bonus evaluation on.
The Bonus Might Expire
Certain credit card bonuses expire if you don’t use them in time. That mostly applies to points or miles. And many cards already have rules about the expiration of points or miles, which apply to your bonus too. Check the bonus offer’s fine print to see if there’s a time limit on your rewards.
Are Credit Card Bonuses Worth It?
Plenty of people sign up for bonuses, so that must mean they’re worth it, right? Not always.
If you can meet the spending requirements without overspending, love most other things about the card, and need a new credit card, then yes, earning a bonus is a sweet deal.
But if you’re likely to struggle to spend hundreds or thousands just to earn a small bonus, it’s probably not the right time for you to get a new card, rewards be damned. Or if getting a new credit card entices you to spend more than you need, the bonus won’t offset the interest.
Don’t be enticed by a sign-up bonus you see on a flashy offer you get in the mail. Always consider your motives outside the bonus, no matter how good it sounds. Remember, credit card companies don’t offer these bonuses out of the goodness of their hearts. There’s something in it for them too.
Final Word
Credit card bonuses are an added benefit to strong rewards credit cards. They come in all sizes, and all have specific requirements you must meet to be eligible for the bonus. Still, when thinking about your next credit card, the sign-up bonus should be closer to the bottom of your list of incentives.
Focus instead on what you really need. That might be a balance-transfer credit card that offers a 0% interest rate to help you finally pay off your debt. Or if you’re looking to rebuild credit, a secured credit card is a better idea.
But if the card you want has a sign-up bonus that isn’t too hard for you to earn, don’t leave money on the table.
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Christopher Murray is a professional personal finance and sustainability writer who enjoys writing about everything from budgeting to unique investing options like SRI and cryptocurrency. He also focuses on how sustainability is the best savings tool around. You can find his work on sites like Bankrate, Money Crashers, FinanceBuzz, Investor Junkie, and Time.
This guest post from Nicole is part of the “reader stories” feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity and with all sorts of incomes. Nicole is an active GRS commenter. She’s also half of the blog Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured, where she and her partner-in-crime write about personal finance, novels, academia, and cats — among other things.
Four years ago, in November, my husband and I had one car (a tiny Hyundai Accent), a house that was too big, and not enough money to furnish the house. It was our first year with real jobs since leaving graduate school and we hadn’t quite caught up yet, especially with all the unexpected expenses that come when you buy a house. But that’s another story.
On top of that, I was hugely pregnant with our first child. We knew we were going to need a second car once our son was born because, on any given day either one of us could be called to use the car in case of emergency. With no parental leave (FMLA doesn’t cover first-year employees…that’s also another story), we wouldn’t be able to make commuting and baby care work with just one car. At the rate we were saving, we would have enough by January (just in time for our son) to buy a fancy new Honda Civic Hybrid so long as we didn’t bother to furnish any of the empty rooms.
Sidenote: We know and knew that the Hybrid would not pay for itself in gas savings. And, no, we’re only moderately tree-huggers. However, my husband is an engineer and he likes fancy technology. In terms of new vs. used, at the time, new Civic hybrids cost about the same as used Civic hybrids. Plus my economics background suggests that at least for the non-luxury car market, buying a new car is about equivalent to buying a used car once you factor in the probability of getting a lemon. (There’s a really famous paper on it, but that’s the subject of a different post, probably one designed to get 200+ comments at GRS.)
A Catalyst
We weren’t expecting to have to buy a car prior to the birth of our child. We weren’t expecting it in the same way we weren’t expecting an F150 in front of us to make a sudden unexpected stop on a 70 mph highway. Turns out the F150 has much better brakes than the Hyundai Accent. With physics being what it is, we ended up with a crumpled smoking front, and, since we had the minimum insurance we were on our own for repair and rental expenses.
All of a sudden, we were in the market for a car earlier than we had expected. (The F150 drove away completely unscathed.) After a few days in a dreadful rental PT Cruiser, we decided we were ready for a new car right away.
NOT Nicole’s motorcrash — just a stock photo for illustrative purposes…
Learning From Past Mistakes
Our first car-buying experience — several years before — had been miserable. The Hyundai salesman tried every trick in the book to wear down my poor husband and succeeded at adding $300 in additional fees (we got away easy!). They also got us to accept zero for our trade-in, a 5-year-old Accent that drove perfectly well, but needed body work that would cost more than the value of the car to get an inspection sticker.
In their defense, we couldn’t get anybody to take the old car as a donation, so maybe it was worth zero. Happily, my husband didn’t allow them to up-sell him a fancier car, even when they pretended the car he wanted suddenly wasn’t in stock and walked him by the ones with fancy power windows. (As he made to leave, they “found” the missing car.) We wanted to avoid that kind of experience this time.
So, we were prepared. We’d found the Motley Fool car-buying guide, and with a little updating, we were able to use their methodology to our advantage.
Step One: Finding Financing
We couldn’t pay in cash this time without completely liquidating our emergency fund. We debated getting a cheaper car that we could pay cash for, but since we would have the cash in a couple of months, we decided to take out a loan, even for a depreciating asset. Using Edmunds and Kelly Blue Book, we had a general idea of what people were paying for the car we wanted. We decided to finance about $6,000 worth of the car.
Our first stop was at our local credit union to get pre-qualified for a loan. A day after we went in to apply, we found that we’d been qualified for a 5% loan. The same credit union was offering Term Shares (like CDs) for 5.05%, and our online savings account was also offering a little more. (Now it’s hard to remember those days when interest rates were more than 1%!)
If we’d known in advance, we would have financed more of the car! We’d been planning to pay the loan off early, but instead we put the money away in online savings until interest rates dropped below 5%. In the end, the dealership admitted there was no way they could beat that interest rate no matter how good our credit was.
Step Two: Negotiation
The next stop was negotiation. I’m much better at negotiating than my husband is, mainly because it doesn’t give me a stomach ache. But, there’s hard evidence that car dealers offer worse initial deals to woman than they do to men. In fact, women are often advised to just bring a guy with them — even an unrelated one — when car shopping. Luckily, the Motley Fool method allows a way around that.
Using my husband’s junk hotmail account, I impersonated him — with his permission. That Friday, I emailed every Honda dealership within 100 miles. I told them we were in the market for a new 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid, no navigation, and that we were emailing every dealership in the area and were planning on buying one that Saturday from whoever gave us the best deal. Color and other details did not matter. I asked for a walk-away price.
Return emails trickled, then flooded in. Almost all were reluctant to give a price. Most suggested that I give my phone number so they could talk over the phone. I politely emailed back to say I would prefer to keep the transactions via email. Finally someone sent me a price. Jackpot.
With that price, I emailed all of the dealerships that had responded to the first round of emails. I told them I had gotten that offer as a price and could any of them beat it? Yes, many of them could. Some places offered navigation upgrades for more money, to which I politely responded I was only interested in the upgrade if it were the same price as the one I’d quoted. At least one dealership offered me what I wanted for $3,000 less. So I did a third round with the new price. The dealerships in the expensive city two hours away dropped out at that point — they couldn’t beat that price. Several other dealerships offered to match. The offers got closer with each round of negotiation.
If you buy a car Nicole’s way, you don’t have to deal with this…
Step Three: Closing the Deal
Finally, I emailed the local dealership in town and told them the best offer I’d received was in a city an hour-and-a-half away and quite a bit less than what they had offered me. It was worth $50 to me not to have to drive that far on Saturday. Could they give me the lowest price offered plus $50?
The local salesperson countered with how wonderful it is to have a relationship with a local dealership (note: not much of an incentive given its reputation for service). I emailed back saying that if they were willing to take the price I had named, I would buy the car that night instead of Saturday. The salesperson emailed back, “Let me talk to the manager,” as if we were actually negotiating in person.
Eventually, the salesperson agreed, and with the sun setting and ten minutes left before closing time, we shook hands and did a test drive. We came back the next day to finish the paperwork and actually get the car. In all, we spent less than 30 minutes at the dealership. The email negotiation did take most of the day, but I was able to get some work done in between emails, and during that time I was in control, not the dealership. Much more pleasant than our first car-buying experience.
Lessons Learned
Based on that experience, here are my suggestions for buying a new car:
If you’re going to get financing, get it before playing with the dealership. Credit Unions are awesome.
Decide exactly what you want. Put a price item on any potential upgrades you might consider. Do not waiver from that unless they are willing to give you the additional benefits for free. This makes it easier to compare.
When you start emailing dealerships, use a junk email address. Four years and many unsubscribes later, we’re still getting junk mail from various dealerships.
In your emails, ask for the “walk-away price.” Dealerships will try to confuse you with prices that cannot be compared because they will add on different fees. Some of these fees are the same for all dealerships, but some of them are imaginary and dealer-specific. Asking for the walk-away price cuts through the garbage and gives you something you can understand.
Don’t let them get you on the phone. The tricks they try sound much less convincing in email than they do spoken.
Once you get a price, keep pushing for matches until you get tired of emailing or everyone has settled on one price.
Use their tricks against them — tell them you have a specific deadline that they have to meet or they won’t get your sale. It also doesn’t hurt to make them feel like they’re getting a deal.
By the way, we love our Honda Civic Hybrid. I have to admit that after having spent most of my life with the cheapest model Ford or Hyundai, (and a good portion of my childhood in an ancient Volkswagen Beetle with holes rusted through the floor) I felt a little guilty having such a luxurious car. Intellectually, I know there are fancier cars out there, but they’re beyond my ability to imagine.
My husband loved all the fancy electronic gee-gaws even more than he had expected to, though after the initial fascination he started finding them distracting and has since turned them off. I hope that we get many more years out of it and my (repaired) Accent before we have to go through the car-buying process again. But when we do, we’ll be prepared.