You can download CT mill rates here to see where your town falls:

http://www.ct.gov/opm/cwp/view.asp?Q=385976

$3K property taxes is not a lot anywhere.

Before rushing to FL I would found out about:

Property taxes

Price of electricity (cost of AC in the hot months in FL can be outrageous)

Property costs - don;t know where you get a house for $75K near Orlando

Gas isn't cheap anywhere (if costs are a issue why drive an SUV instead of a compact sedan that gets twice as man miles to a gallon?)

Do look at one of the sites that shows all local costs

Come on. Be straight if you want an honest discussion. $75,000 value for taxation means nothings when trying to compare value and taxes. What do you think is the realistic fair market value of your house including land. What can you sell it for !!!!!! As Dukey pointed out, the only way to compare property taxes is as a percentage of sales price/current price of your house. The property tax on our house in Denver area of Colorado is roughly .85% of the market value last year. Currently it may be closer to .5%.

Now if the true value of your house really is $75,000 and you say it is nice and well maintained. Then a $500/month is ridiculous for about a 500 sq ft house. The average price per sq foot of house in the US is in the range of $150/sq ft. In colder climates it is closer to 200. So it doesn't make any different how you cut, I doubt if you are living in something less than 750 sq ft and paying 500 utilities.

So be truthful with you numbers so you can get quality advice.

www.gasbuddy.com will be helpful if gasoline is a major concern.

Thanks everyone...There is my story i am raising a young person with autism who does not speak. Our home we keep warm during the winter for him. He does not like summer ever so our home is allways around 75 degrees. Yes we live in cape home that was is not that big and our land around our home is small. Our mill rate is high in town we live. Our home is modular home.Our home was allot of leaks so heat and ac escapes our of home. We talk about putting solar on our home but our home is not right direction. We talk about founding some land here in ct and look at all the mill rates in each town. I would love to pay less in taxes on a home plus have solar home as well. I been to Florida for a vacation and i love it there. Plus our income is going to changing from 130000 to 30000. If my husband does not retire from him job he will loose his medical benifits and i am stay at home mom since my child needs me 24 care. I am doing my best between taking care of my child and doing my homework online. I made some calls between taking care of my screaming child and talking on the phone. Our child does not change at all and i really wanted to stay in our home but our bills are high and what we need lower cost of living. I know as well florida is not great place for us to raise our child so i am looking at other states as. I know one person said i have lazy typing and i am sorry about my typing. I just need to found way to live comforable and make sure our child has there needs`ment. Again thanks everyone for there advise i just keep doing my homework and found a place that works for our family. Thanks again

If your son doesn't like the heat, you'll have to eliminate Florida, no? Good luck with everything.

Maybe you meant to type he does not like winter ever?

<i>While escaping snow may sound good the summer in FL can be truly horrendous and AC costs can be astronomical.</i>

I am quite sure my AC costs in the summer are no more than New York heating costs during the winter.

<i>Gas isn't cheap anywhere</i>

Gas costs in the greater Orlando area currently average $3.35-$3.45/gal.

i know power is not cheap that why i would like a solar home. gas is high in ct for sure one of highest in the states...and i pay more then 3.45 here in conn. i pay like 4 a gallon for gas

Well it's hard to tell exactly - but in NYC our Con Ed bill in the summer is almost $700 per month (primarily AC) and we aren;t home during the day - so it's set at 75. I know the heat in the winter is not anywhere near that.

Perhaps electricity in FL is much cheaper than in NYC. But I would find out the average cost of AC during the summer months.

And I don;t know how large your house is - but 750 square feet is a moderate size one-bedroom apartment - a house with = I'm assuming 2 bedrooms, even a modest one is going to be at least 1100 sq ft.

Have you looked at the cost of a decent small house or townhome in FL?

You really need to get hard numbers and run them - costs vs income - to see what realistic options are.

I'm not at all sure FL is really that cheap - y understanding is that housing in Texas is very cheap - and might better meet your needs.

People with a window air conditioner in New York are likely to spend more in August running it than a typical Florida home with central air.

That's true. We average about $1,000 a summer here in NYC for A/C. ConEd stock is probably a good buy!

Happily, heat is included in the rent!

<i>There is also the option of posting it and then later hitting the triangle and asking for it to be removed.</i>

Enter your e-mail address in your profile, and you can delete it once the correspondence has been established (although I have had no excessive spams by leaving it in my profile).

You are in a difficult position which moving to Florida may or may not solve.

In general, social services are less available in southern and western states and are fast being destroyed by Tea Party legislatures in NC, previously one of the best states to live in.

You do not seem currently to be using social services, having bravely decided to try to raise a difficult child entirely on your own. But if you needed some day care to give yourself a break, you would probably find it in Connecticut. You need to find out whether good medical and social services are available wherever you think about moving. It is important because you and your husband are not going to be around forever. In what state will your son be better off.

Your husband will be retiring, and you are rightfully concerned about the loss of his income. But very few people do not do something in retirement. Perhaps each of you could have a half time job and share the child care. You need to find a place where jobs other than fast food or greeting at Walmart are available, whether in Florida or not.

This may not be travel advice, more sort of "don't travel" advice, but my heart goes out to you. If I were you, I would try to talk to a priest or minister about your situation and your worries. If you ate not religious, think about a counselor. You are trying to manage a very large load.

That's true. We average about $1,000 a summer here in NYC for A/C. ConEd stock is probably a good buy!
___
We are in Virginia in an approximately 4000 sq ft home with two heat pumps. Our electric bill is roughly $150-$200/year round.

our home is around 1200 square feet and during the winter time i heat my son room the bathroom on the main floor along with the kitchen and living room ....i do not heat upstairs at all ...my husband is on a sleep machine and uses oxygen machine at night that heat up our bedroom and when we have computer he works on that take allot of energy so our electic bill takes a beating.....my husband was talking about az or nv as well ...i know it is dry heat out there....we have talk about found a piece of land here in ct and building a solar home as well....we are talking about options and how to handle our son......one thing i do not like about ct is the snow and the cold....

I am also thinking English is not first language perhaps.
Building a solar home is NOT inexpensive so let that one go.
AC in Florida will be a lot--and in Arizona or Nevada.
Your son (age?) would undoubtedly benefit from outside therapy as indeed you would--it is a little short sighted to not have this in place. Have you applied for any SS help for him? (unless I missed it)

Your son doesn't like heat--Florida, NV, AZ are not going to be good for him.
Think about NC or SC--hot for part of the year. Some parts less hot. SC has low taxes--and actually I just heard a program about some very good autism programs there.

Florida is cheap in some ways. I have a friend there in a place that is fairly cheap (because no one wants to live there, it's in the middle of the state so no beach in easy distance). I guess some people want to live there, she did (Gainesville), but I know while it is moderate temp in winter, she said last year it was over 100 for several months straight, I think (or maybe the year before). I couldn't bear that myself. Gas seems about the same cost in Florida as where I live in Maryland (I was just in FL).

In any case, I also think there are other places that might work better for you, that have more moderate climates than CT, and are cheaper. SC sounds like a good possibility. And I would not move to a state like FL with its voting record and conservative bent if you are going to need any kind of help with medical bills, or any social services. I work in health insurance consulting, and there are some states which you wouldn't expect that have fairly generous Medicaid programs, for example. At least in terms of what they pay physicians, which is what I look at, but that might be an indicator. Arizona, New Mexico, Kentucky, Nevada and South Carolina are some of them that are in more moderate climates or the south. Connecticut, also, actually, but you might know that. Florida is not one of them, nor Texas. I'm just thinking maybe you might need that with your child, if your income is low enough to qualify (it probably wouldn't be if it were 30K, though).

Some places in NM might be expensive (Santa Fe), but I imagine there are lots of other places that are not. Their income tax rate is lower than where I live (it caps at 5 pct), although they have sales tax. I bet you could get some cheaper land in Nevada, also. There is no state income tax there, also, although there is a rather high sales tax. YOu are going to have taxes somewhere, one way or another. I don't know what property taxes are like in NM or NV, just thinking if you are in the southern part of NV, climate is moderate. I just like the West a lot, I like the climate and the outdoor activities available (hiking, skiing) close by. And when it does get hot, at least it isn't humid.