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D.C. is a town for achievers and those who want to change the world. There is also a TON of cash flowing through the District so your lifestyle will be superior than that of other metros. If one is lazy or unfocused then that is a recipe for failure in Washington. You are gonna want to know how to play the game and the game is played to win.
The Bay Area is more of a family and leisure focused metro. The pace is more relaxed and unfocused. Social ties and personal enrichment are a higher priority over careerism and power.
Neither metro is better or worse than the other; it just depends on what kind of person you are and what you think life should be about.
I think you're faling to make a distinction between the "culture" of San Francisco/SV compared to that of the Bay Area as a whole.
I think the people in SF tend to be very career focused. It's just that most careers revolve around tech instead of government, law or the non-profit sector. It seems like everyone out there has their own startup or is working on their own startup (among the people I know). The area, I believe, has the second highest number of Ivy League grads behind NYC (maybe Boston?). There's nothing "relaxed and unfocused" about most Ivy League grads and Stanford grads for that matter.
D.C. is a town for achievers and those who want to change the world. There is also a TON of cash flowing through the District so your lifestyle will be superior than that of other metros. If one is lazy or unfocused then that is a recipe for failure in Washington. You are gonna want to know how to play the game and the game is played to win.
The Bay Area is more of a family and leisure focused metro. The pace is more relaxed and unfocused. Social ties and personal enrichment are a higher priority over careerism and power.
Neither metro is better or worse than the other; it just depends on what kind of person you are and what you think life should be about.
In a high level, yes, but most come for the money, not changing the world, just like in Cali. However, a lot of younger and recent grads think this way, then they the place changes them.
The lifestyle is not superior. This isn't Chicago, or NYC, or even TN or Texas, and Miami. This is probably the crummiest choice metro you'll see out of all metros. You won't have the food that's available in the places mentioned earlier, nor would you have luxury of open minded people. And lazy, and unfocused are majority of the work force anywhere, especially in the metro areas, because it's how it's structured.
But if you really want to make a difference, this is like no other "metros" or other major cities. This is THE PLACE to make a difference. You'll have to work hard, despite the fact that you won't get a piece of mind, or even fairness.
Social ties, and personal enrichment is a high priority in DC as well, because they tie so closely together to career development, and "power".
The difference between the two areas are how you want to change the world, and the approach you take, and the industry that's available to you to make that happen, which is vastly different.
As we all know, success isn't about where you are, but how you adopt to the environment to do what you want to do. That's how it happens.
You just have to make up your mind about what you can't live without in this world, and see if one area offers that more than the other. Live in the world you want to live in.
Well if the skewed rent is slightly higher in SF than the skewed rent in DC, then it's still slightly higher.
Nope, unless $1,000/month is a "slight" increase for you. Curbed reports that typical market rents in Manhattan or SF are 50% higher than in DC, and even in Brooklyn/Queens about 30% higher. Compare that to the Census figures, which say that SF is is 8% more expensive than DC, and NYC is 8% cheaper.
Rent stabilization here isn't anywhere near as extensive as in those two cities -- particularly SF, where 75% of apartments are rent stabilized. Here, rent control doesn't apply to anything built since 1975, and rents can substantially increase every time an apartment's vacated or renovated. (There isn't even a register of rent-controlled units, though.)
I think you're faling to make a distinction between the "culture" of San Francisco/SV compared to that of the Bay Area as a whole.
I think the people in SF tend to be very career focused. It's just that most careers revolve around tech instead of government, law or the non-profit sector. It seems like everyone out there has their own startup or is working on their own startup (among the people I know). The area, I believe, has the second highest number of Ivy League grads behind NYC (maybe Boston?). There's nothing "relaxed and unfocused" about most Ivy League grads and Stanford grads for that matter.
I highly doubt the Bay Area has more Ivy League grads than the D.C. area.
In a high level, yes, but most come for the money, not changing the world, just like in Cali. However, a lot of younger and recent grads think this way, then they the place changes them.
The lifestyle is not superior. This isn't Chicago, or NYC, or even TN or Texas, and Miami. This is probably the crummiest choice metro you'll see out of all metros. You won't have the food that's available in the places mentioned earlier, nor would you have luxury of open minded people. And lazy, and unfocused are majority of the work force anywhere, especially in the metro areas, because it's how it's structured.
But if you really want to make a difference, this is like no other "metros" or other major cities. This is THE PLACE to make a difference. You'll have to work hard, despite the fact that you won't get a piece of mind, or even fairness.
Social ties, and personal enrichment is a high priority in DC as well, because they tie so closely together to career development, and "power".
The difference between the two areas are how you want to change the world, and the approach you take, and the industry that's available to you to make that happen, which is vastly different.
As we all know, success isn't about where you are, but how you adopt to the environment to do what you want to do. That's how it happens.
You just have to make up your mind about what you can't live without in this world, and see if one area offers that more than the other. Live in the world you want to live in.
D.C. food culture can easily compete with these other cities.
If you had a budget of $1,200-$1,500 month for rent, where in the greater DC area would you choose to live provided you used Metro to go to/from work and desired to live within a 5-10 minute drive of any given Metro station?
I'm considering leaving LA after 60+ years here, and DC is on my list thanks in large part to a much healthier economy.
You arrived too late for the show, Marv. The regional Washington, DC economy has been slumping for the past two years now. Federal government contracting jobs are shrinking and full-time GS fed jobs are getting more difficult to attain. Retail stores closing down. Restaurants starting up and then going out of business within one year. There are many people looking for full-time jobs but they cannot find anything steady; and I am talking about experienced professionals with college degrees. Seeing unemployed attorneys, marketing executives, journalists or architects scouring job sites in the corner Starbucks store is a common site all over DC.
The homeland security/defense department spending bubble was a HUGE boon for the local economy during the 2000-2010 decade but Congress and White House are under enormous pressure to reduce the federal government budget deficit. For a while, jobs really did grow on trees here since BILLIONS of federal taxpayer dollars were flooding the DC regional economy thanks to terrorism, Middle East wars, and spying on American citizens through the internet.
Second, you will not find $1,200-$1,500/month apartments within a short distance of a Metro station. Had you moved here in 2004, you would have scored some great places in Arlington VA, Columbia Heights, Logan Circle, Mt. Pleasant and Capitol Hill neighborhoods. That was then. Today, you would have to fork over $2,000/month just for a one-bedroom apartment in most Metro station neighborhoods along the Red, Orange, Silver, Blue and Yellow lines.
You would have more success of landing an apartment farther out in the Virginia or Maryland suburbs where you have to be more car dependent. Sorry for the Debbie Downer reply but things are not that much better here compared to California.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marv101
If you had a budget of $1,200-$1,500 month for rent, where in the greater DC area would you choose to live provided you used Metro to go to/from work and desired to live within a 5-10 minute drive of any given Metro station?
I'm considering leaving LA after 60+ years here, and DC is on my list thanks in large part to a much healthier economy.
You arrived too late for the show, Marv. The regional Washington, DC economy has been slumping for the past two years now. Federal government contracting jobs are shrinking and full-time GS fed jobs are getting more difficult to attain. Retail stores closing down. Restaurants starting up and then going out of business within one year. There are many people looking for full-time jobs but they cannot find anything steady; and I am talking about experienced professionals with college degrees. Seeing unemployed attorneys, marketing executives, journalists or architects scouring job sites in the corner Starbucks store is a common site all over DC.
The homeland security/defense department spending bubble was a HUGE boon for the local economy during the 2000-2010 decade but Congress and White House are under enormous pressure to reduce the federal government budget deficit. For a while, jobs really did grow on trees here since BILLIONS of federal taxpayer dollars were flooding the DC regional economy thanks to terrorism, Middle East wars, and spying on American citizens through the internet.
Second, you will not find $1,200-$1,500/month apartments within a short distance of a Metro station. Had you moved here in 2004, you would have scored some great places in Arlington VA, Columbia Heights, Logan Circle, Mt. Pleasant and Capitol Hill neighborhoods. That was then. Today, you would have to fork over $2,000/month just for a one-bedroom apartment in most Metro station neighborhoods along the Red, Orange, Silver, Blue and Yellow lines.
You would have more success of landing an apartment farther out in the Virginia or Maryland suburbs where you have to be more car dependent. Sorry for the Debbie Downer reply but things are not that much better here compared to California.
Wrong. There are studio apartments for under $1,500 close to Metro stations all over the place. Heck, within the last couple years I know people who have viewed studios in Dupont Circle for $1,500 a month and that's probably the most expensive neighborhood with a Metro stop. 1 bedroom apartments are tougher to find in that price range, but still possible in some of the more overlooked areas such as Brookland.
Last edited by stateofnature; 10-18-2014 at 02:52 PM..
If you had a budget of $1,200-$1,500 month for rent, where in the greater DC area would you choose to live provided you used Metro to go to/from work and desired to live within a 5-10 minute drive of any given Metro station?
I'm considering leaving LA after 60+ years here, and DC is on my list thanks in large part to a much healthier economy.
1,200 to 1,500 can get you a studio apartment almost anywhere in the area. You need to narrow down what you are looking for more.
If you are expecting to drive to your Metro station you are basically ruling out all of DC because I don't think any of the Metro stations in DC have their own parking. Some of the stations in the Maryland and Virginia burbs have parking lots, but not all.
This is a much less car-oriented city than LA. Many people don't have cars at all because DC is walkable enough and public transit is good enough that depending on where you live a car may not be necessary.
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