Looking to move to a diverse, safe, and affordable neighborhood (houses, job market)

[gsrfamily]

Hello All,

My wife and I currently live in Arkansas and are looking to relocate to a city where not only is there much diversity but also career opportunities. We are a mixed family, my wife is African-American and myself Caucasian. We just had our first child and are looking to move somewhere that is culturally diverse, many things to do, and plenty of career opportunities. We have realized that we want to move someplace where we can stay for awhile instead of relocating again. Looking to move in about 8 months but trying to start early to find a place that fits us. We appreciate any suggestions and thank you in advance.

[spencgr]

DC is very much a place that accepts diverse families. That being said, I hope you can afford it. Moving here before you have employment that supports the high cost of living is asinine. That is, of course, unless you are a millionaire.

[Plokivos]

"diverse, safe, and affordable neighborhood" isn't that like in San Francisco where all of the houses are $1 Million and plus?

[DC Bossman]

You can find diverse, safe, and affordable easily but it won't be near a Metro

[Plokivos]

Originally Posted by DC Bossman

You can find diverse, safe, and affordable easily but it won't be near a Metro

So you're saying, you don't know.

[gsrfamily]

We are considering all parts of the U.S. We have interest in various places, including: Chicago, DC, Baltimore, Pittsburgh,etc. But as mentioned in the initial post I am looking to move to a suburb near a large city. I completely understand that the cost of living is certainly different as compared to where we are right now. Just as salary is increased so is the cost of living. I utilize this forum as a gauge of furthering my research about a particular location. I feel as though I can get a pulse on the specific city by hearing the comments from this forum.

[DC Bossman]

Originally Posted by Plokivos

So you're saying, you don't know.

I guess reading comprehension was one of your weaker areas in school then?

Originally Posted by gsrfamily

We are considering all parts of the U.S. We have interest in various places, including: Chicago, DC, Baltimore, Pittsburgh,etc. But as mentioned in the initial post I am looking to move to a suburb near a large city. I completely understand that the cost of living is certainly different as compared to where we are right now. Just as salary is increased so is the cost of living. I utilize this forum as a gauge of furthering my research about a particular location. I feel as though I can get a pulse on the specific city by hearing the comments from this forum.

it would help to know what kind of budget you're talking. "affordable" is relative to who you're talking to

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by gsrfamily

Hello All,

My wife and I currently live in Arkansas and are looking to relocate to a city where not only is there much diversity but also career opportunities. We are a mixed family, my wife is African-American and myself Caucasian. We just had our first child and are looking to move somewhere that is culturally diverse, many things to do, and plenty of career opportunities. We have realized that we want to move someplace where we can stay for awhile instead of relocating again. Looking to move in about 8 months but trying to start early to find a place that fits us. We appreciate any suggestions and thank you in advance.

I can suggest Silver Spring, Maryland for a lot of diversity and relative safety and affordability.

However, the better way to do this is to land a job in your field and then find an affordable place to live within a reasonable distance.

[stateofnature]

It's weird to group DC with Chicago, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. The cost of living in the DC area is SIGNIFICANTLY higher than those three metro areas. In terms of affordability, DC is much closer to New York and San Francisco than the other cities the OP is interested in. That leads me to believe the OP probably won't find DC very affordable.

[JEB77]

Originally Posted by gsrfamily

We are considering all parts of the U.S. We have interest in various places, including: Chicago, DC, Baltimore, Pittsburgh,etc. But as mentioned in the initial post I am looking to move to a suburb near a large city. I completely understand that the cost of living is certainly different as compared to where we are right now. Just as salary is increased so is the cost of living. I utilize this forum as a gauge of furthering my research about a particular location. I feel as though I can get a pulse on the specific city by hearing the comments from this forum.

I think you suggested in your first post that you were interested in moving to a city, and in the second that you were interested in a suburb near a large city.

Some of the responses to your post so far seem harsh, but people are just trying to make clear that the DC area - while it has a good job market - is very expensive. If you move to the area without a job, you could exhaust your savings fairly quickly. A lot of people have been moving to this area in recent years for the same reasons that you are mentioning. If you give people an idea of your qualifications and/or potential salary, they may be able to give you more specific advice. And, if you're thinking that you'd want to live in the suburbs, you might try posting on the Northern Virginia and Maryland sub-forums instead, as this sub-forum is focused on DC itself. Both DC and its close-in suburbs are very diverse (in some respects, the suburbs more so than DC), but they are expensive. Baltimore and Pittsburgh are less diverse, but more affordable.