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Still hoping to hear about the locality disparity of people that moved from the DC Area to Charleston- I know Charleston is expensive in general but I am hoping other things may offset those costs- although I understand you just went to a 9% sales tax- wowzer! Is that on everything? The only time I notice the insane taxes here are where I work and in DC and Old Town Alexandria where the food tax is 10% but not on your everyday items. Do you pay the 9% on everything and what about the Personal Property Tax? That's one thing I don't miss from moving from Fairfax County VA to MD- where that doesn't apply, nor do we have yearly state inspections or registrations like VA.
My wife and I moved from Glover Park (37th tween Calvert and Tunlaw) to Mount Pleasant four years ago and haven't looked back since.
Housing prices don't really compare to DC which is obviously a lot more expensive per square foot in the nicest areas. Same with property tax ... both as primary residences we paid $10k/yr for a 1800 sq/ft townhouse in DC whereas we pay about $5k/yr for a 4300 sq/ft home in MP.
As has been mentioned before the property tax system is similar to Virginia's, where on things like vehicles you pay an annual tax as opposed to a sales tax up front (at least that's my memory of VA). This is very advantageous if one has cars that they rotate often as you only pay for the amount of time you own them as opposed to getting hammered over and over at the start even if you keep a car for a year.
Every day costs like groceries are about the same, restaurants are slightly cheaper here except on the higher end.
Life is a lot easier in general in Charleston, even with ever increasing traffic, and despite the protestations of locals, it nowhere near compares to the traffic of a major city like DC, although there's no doubt we're trending in the wrong direction. If you have the option of choosing the times you commute to work you can easily avoid traffic most of the time.
As a result of the high tourist volume we benefit from having a number and quality of restaurants and cultural/art events that one usually wouldn't expect in a city of this size, so that good. Still, you're not going to have the cultural options of a city like DC, nor the sports teams, nor an international airport ... but that's part of the compromise of moving to a smaller town.
Although there's little doubt that one is in the deep South, Charleston itself has a healthy mix of political views, mostly due to the diversity borne from the universities and all the people moving here from around the country. This makes for a vibrant community where most people tend to respect each others views (when not on the internet) as opposed to other places in the country that might be heavily skewed toward a particular bias and then it just becomes a stagnant insular community. As a DC resident you might remember the liberal City Paper that is long gone from DC, but by all accounts thrives here, so that's a good indication that there is a healthy mix of viewpoints. That said, as you radiate outwards from the peninsula expect this dynamic to dissolve quickly, this isn't a judgment just an observation.
We don't have kids so I can't help on that front. I'm sure I forgot to address some of your questions so don't hesitate to ask. My wife and I have lived in NYC, DC, Miami, and all over Europe, and there's no place we'd currently rather live in than Charleston ... although I do really miss El Pollo Rico and Pho 75.
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PS. Someone mentioned that downtown is a lot like Georgetown. Although very true from a layout and architectural viewpoint, from a practical level it's more akin to living inside Colonial Williamsburg. With only one supermarket, and everything being either hospitality or shopping, it is 99% geared towards tourism and not residence. It is full of tourists all year long, some walking, many on slow horse carriages. There are lovely streets to live in that aren't that overwhelmed by tourism but you have to get in your car and go off the peninsula to do pretty much anything related to daily life other than dining out, clothes shopping, or antiquing. Most areas of Georgetown/Glover Park are a lot more practical to live in. MP is a lot like Arlington in general. Just across the Cooper River bridge is busy very much like Roslyn and then it radiates outward from there. Or you can look at it like across the bridge is like Chevy Chase and again it gets less busy the farther out you go. West Ashley reminds me of Annandale. But these are approximations, you have to spend a little time here to figure out what's what.
Gov pay scales are feast or famine. Many get paid much less than an equivalent private sector position with the same skill set and experience requirements. Other positions make much more. In my experience, the higher the education, experience, or technical requirements, the less you make in comparison to the private sector.
My comment was tongue in cheek. This post above is another way of putting it.
My comment was tongue in cheek. This post above is another way of putting it.
Mine wasn't. Working at home making six figures. Besides sales jobs.. what in govt lets you work at home and make 6 figures... I mean what do you DO that makes that income AT HOME? I get inspecting ports in dangerous situations. Otherwise massively overpaid...
Mine wasn't. Working at home making six figures. Besides sales jobs.. what in govt lets you work at home and make 6 figures... I mean what do you DO that makes that income AT HOME? I get inspecting ports in dangerous situations. Otherwise massively overpaid...
A remote workforce is very alive and well in both gov and private sector. Having to be in an office isn't a requirement anymore. Meetings are virtual, phones are dynamically routed, and VPNs extend the network to wherever you are.
A remote workforce is very alive and well in both gov and private sector. Having to be in an office isn't a requirement anymore. Meetings are virtual, phones are dynamically routed, and VPNs extend the network to wherever you are.
I don’t think the guys stuck in traffic got that memo.
A remote workforce is very alive and well in both gov and private sector. Having to be in an office isn't a requirement anymore. Meetings are virtual, phones are dynamically routed, and VPNs extend the network to wherever you are.
I'm just trying to understand what a person can do for da gubment sitting behind a phone or computer at home that warrants $100k+ pay. I suspect that it's classic overpayment for a service that in the private sector would be paid 20-30% less. IIRC that location is either working with passports or global payments.
Senior positions or leads in analytics, info sec, database administrators, application developers, human resource managers, etc. Professional services very much exists "sitting behind a computer". In today's computing environment, anything that is done behind a computer can be done remotely. It's just a matter of needing to be physically present for meetings and such. I don't think you understand labor markets and what professional services does in this day and age.
I see I have been MIA and there has been quite the responses. Let's not get feisty about Government pay. My husband and I have over 15 years each in the Government sector and are in senior positions. We aren't just pushing pen to paper everyday. When he worked in the private sector as a Government Consultant, he was making more money but the security/stability and benefits in the Government were better. Working in managerial and professional series fields, you can move up quickly based on your certifications, training history, education, security clearance, and just doing a good job! plus its DC where $100k is not much in the grand scheme of things. Our contractors make far more than we do and we know this because I used to write the contracts that paid them! So for me unintentionally offending about Charleston schools, I don't think its fair for anyone to knock Government workers. Do you know how much crap we get on a consistent basis from people that have never worked in the Government and make arse assumptions? We are always the first to get the cuts to be the example out of everyone else- we had pay freezes for years while everything including a gallon of milk skyrocketed.
My wife and I moved from Glover Park (37th tween Calvert and Tunlaw) to Mount Pleasant four years ago and haven't looked back since.
Housing prices don't really compare to DC which is obviously a lot more expensive per square foot in the nicest areas. Same with property tax ... both as primary residences we paid $10k/yr for a 1800 sq/ft townhouse in DC whereas we pay about $5k/yr for a 4300 sq/ft home in MP.
As has been mentioned before the property tax system is similar to Virginia's, where on things like vehicles you pay an annual tax as opposed to a sales tax up front (at least that's my memory of VA). This is very advantageous if one has cars that they rotate often as you only pay for the amount of time you own them as opposed to getting hammered over and over at the start even if you keep a car for a year.
Every day costs like groceries are about the same, restaurants are slightly cheaper here except on the higher end.
Life is a lot easier in general in Charleston, even with ever increasing traffic, and despite the protestations of locals, it nowhere near compares to the traffic of a major city like DC, although there's no doubt we're trending in the wrong direction. If you have the option of choosing the times you commute to work you can easily avoid traffic most of the time.
As a result of the high tourist volume we benefit from having a number and quality of restaurants and cultural/art events that one usually wouldn't expect in a city of this size, so that good. Still, you're not going to have the cultural options of a city like DC, nor the sports teams, nor an international airport ... but that's part of the compromise of moving to a smaller town.
Although there's little doubt that one is in the deep South, Charleston itself has a healthy mix of political views, mostly due to the diversity borne from the universities and all the people moving here from around the country. This makes for a vibrant community where most people tend to respect each others views (when not on the internet) as opposed to other places in the country that might be heavily skewed toward a particular bias and then it just becomes a stagnant insular community. As a DC resident you might remember the liberal City Paper that is long gone from DC, but by all accounts thrives here, so that's a good indication that there is a healthy mix of viewpoints. That said, as you radiate outwards from the peninsula expect this dynamic to dissolve quickly, this isn't a judgment just an observation.
We don't have kids so I can't help on that front. I'm sure I forgot to address some of your questions so don't hesitate to ask. My wife and I have lived in NYC, DC, Miami, and all over Europe, and there's no place we'd currently rather live in than Charleston ... although I do really miss El Pollo Rico and Pho 75.
--------------------------------------
PS. Someone mentioned that downtown is a lot like Georgetown. Although very true from a layout and architectural viewpoint, from a practical level it's more akin to living inside Colonial Williamsburg. With only one supermarket, and everything being either hospitality or shopping, it is 99% geared towards tourism and not residence. It is full of tourists all year long, some walking, many on slow horse carriages. There are lovely streets to live in that aren't that overwhelmed by tourism but you have to get in your car and go off the peninsula to do pretty much anything related to daily life other than dining out, clothes shopping, or antiquing. Most areas of Georgetown/Glover Park are a lot more practical to live in. MP is a lot like Arlington in general. Just across the Cooper River bridge is busy very much like Roslyn and then it radiates outward from there. Or you can look at it like across the bridge is like Chevy Chase and again it gets less busy the farther out you go. West Ashley reminds me of Annandale. But these are approximations, you have to spend a little time here to figure out what's what.
Thank you! This is a great and thorough response and you warmed my hear mentioning El Pollo Rico and Pho 75. I am sure I will be coming back to you once I have more specific questions, trying to get a flight down in the next week or two.....
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