Should I Move to DC? (buying, college, income)

[SmerkyGrl]

Originally Posted by chip1980

If you want to live in the hood or if you are willing to have several roommates sure 40k will be fine

I live in a tidy little place by Bailey's Crossroads in Falls Church in a 1 bedroom apartment all by myself. I make 40k. I shop on weekends and go to happy hours as usual.

I have many coworkers that commute from DC to the Tyson's Corner area and they make about the same as I do.


No roommates, no hood I'm sure many others have similar stories. In the end, its all about spending habits.

[chip1980]

Originally Posted by SmerkyGrl

I live in a tidy little place by Bailey's Crossroads in Falls Church in a 1 bedroom apartment all by myself. I make 40k. I shop on weekends and go to happy hours as usual.

I have many coworkers that commute from DC to the Tyson's Corner area and they make about the same as I do.


No roommates, no hood I'm sure many others have similar stories. In the end, its all about spending habits.

How much is your rent?
You have a car?

[Bluefly]

Seriously Chip. Stop posting about DC. You really do not know the city at all. You just embarrass yourself with your outrageous comments about AIDS and $64,000. Outrageously wrong.

I lived in DC on $30,000 when I got out of college and I had a wonderful life - so happy, never bored, never feeling like I was being jipped by lower pay. Went to shows at the Kennedy Center and bars and clubs etc...

No, I did not live in the hood. I owned an apartment in Northwest.

You'll be fine. DC is a very young city. There will be many people making $30,000 a year there.

[Zippy7fo]

Not gonna lie but thats poverty...I made that 10 years ago when I first got to DC. However your starting out so this will motivate you to excel. Just save your money and figure out a way to put enuff away for retirement/savings/home ownership. But do your year/ 2years and move on to something higher paying. You do need to make more money if you have kids and want to save adequately for retirement and also buy "things"...

[chip1980]

Originally Posted by Bluefly

Seriously Chip. Stop posting about DC. You really do not know the city at all. You just embarrass yourself with your outrageous comments about AIDS and $64,000. Outrageously wrong.

I lived in DC on $30,000 when I got out of college and I had a wonderful life - so happy, never bored, never feeling like I was being jipped by lower pay. Went to shows at the Kennedy Center and bars and clubs etc...

No, I did not live in the hood. I owned an apartment in Northwest.

You'll be fine. DC is a very young city. There will be many people making $30,000 a year there.

Lets see here, 30k a year equals to about $2500 a month. Around $2000 after taxes. I dont see how you can live comfortable in DC bringing home $2000 a month. Unless you have a roommate and you take the metro instead of buying a car. Most of my friends who live in the DC metro area are paying over $1500 a month for a one/two bedroom apartment. Me personally, I would not live in DC unless I was being paid at around 70k per year. I'm not bashing DC, i'm going by what my friend's told me. They said a single person needs to make at lease 70k to live comfortable. Comfortable meaning living with no roommates in a safe area, money for your car note, money for your bills, and extra money to spend on entertainment.


Fight HIV in DC

[SmerkyGrl]

Originally Posted by chip1980

How much is your rent?
You have a car?

Rent is 1164. Have car. have insurance, have DirecTV. But let's not make this post about you checking up on me to make sure I'm not bluffing. I assure you, I have no reason to bluff.

[Bluefly]

Originally Posted by chip1980

Lets see here, 30k a year equals to about $2500 a month. Around $2000 after taxes. I dont see how you can live comfortable in DC bringing home $2000 a month. Unless you have a roommate and you take the metro instead of buying a car. Most of my friends who live in the DC metro area are paying over $1500 a month for a one/two bedroom apartment. Me personally, I would not live in DC unless I was being paid at around 70k per year. I'm not bashing DC, i'm going by what my friend's told me. They said a single person needs to make at lease 70k to live comfortable. Comfortable meaning living with no roommates in a safe area, money for your car note, money for your bills, and extra money to spend on entertainment.

Well, if you would never live in DC and have never lived in DC then stop posting about DC. When people seek advice about major decisions in their lives, having someone who spreads false rumors based on what their friends tell them does not help. I don't think anyone under 25 that I knew made anywhere near $64,000. While I did have a car, it sat unusedmost of the time. There's really no reason to use one in DC. So, I don't see why that's such a major factor. Quality of life is significantly higher without a car. Consider that your friends have a very skewed perspective of DC and, again, please consider refraining from spreading these misinformed perspectives.

The person who posted that $30,000 is poverty is clearly a finance focused individual who doesn't realize the median income in the U.S. is about $26,000. He/she has entered the phase of his/her life in which family planning and retirement take precedent. That is great, but that is not why young people (like the OP) move to DC. If such people wanted the house with the yard in the burbs, they would have stayed in the South or Midwest where their childhood friends spend their time at the age of 25 trolling around on pontoon boats and talking about retirement while growing pasty pot bellies. Trust me on that one.

People drawn to DC seek something else. DC is the national epicenter of non-profits. Non-profits pay crap until you reach the upper echelons. Many, many young people make between $21,000 and $35,000 working in non-profits in DC and absolutely love their lives.

Their goal is not to save for retirement. Their goal is to work in DC. It's an incredible place to do that and I would highly recommend you move there if you are so compelled. It's truly like no other place in the world to live and work if you are young, intelligent, educated, and motivated to engage with the world's issues. DC is the mecca for such people in the same way LA is to aspiring actors.

[chip1980]

Originally Posted by Bluefly

Well, if you would never live in DC and have never lived in DC then stop posting about DC. When people seek advice about major decisions in their lives, having someone who spreads false rumors based on what their friends tell them does not help. I don't think anyone under 25 that I knew made anywhere near $64,000. While I did have a car, it sat unusedmost of the time. There's really no reason to use one in DC. So, I don't see why that's such a major factor. Quality of life is significantly higher without a car. Consider that your friends have a very skewed perspective of DC and, again, please consider refraining from spreading these misinformed perspectives.

The person who posted that $30,000 is poverty is clearly a finance focused individual who doesn't realize the median income in the U.S. is about $26,000. He/she has entered the phase of his/her life in which family planning and retirement take precedent. That is great, but that is not why young people (like the OP) move to DC. If such people wanted the house with the yard in the burbs, they would have stayed in the South or Midwest where their childhood friends spend their time at the age of 25 trolling around on pontoon boats and talking about retirement while growing pasty pot bellies. Trust me on that one.

People drawn to DC seek something else. DC is the national epicenter of non-profits. Non-profits pay crap until you reach the upper echelons. Many, many young people make between $21,000 and $35,000 working in non-profits in DC and absolutely love their lives.

Their goal is not to save for retirement. Their goal is to work in DC. It's an incredible place to do that and I would highly recommend you move there if you are so compelled. It's truly like no other place in the world to live and work if you are young, intelligent, educated, and motivated to engage with the world's issues. DC is the mecca for such people in the same way LA is to aspiring actors.

Ok, I agree with 90% of what you said. Its all about what point you are within your life as far as your standard of living/family/etc. BTW, most of the very young people that I know that makes 64k+ have the defense/intel jobs in the DC area

[EasternMkt]

Originally Posted by chip1980

Comfortable meaning living with no roommates in a safe area, money for your car note, money for your bills, and extra money to spend on entertainment.[/url]

Suburban ideals are not necessarily applicable to an urban environment, just like priorities will tend to evolve over a person's lifetime. When I was fresh out of undergrad, I moved back to NYC on my own. My base salary was the equivalent of $30K today, and NYC had (and still does) a higher cost of living than DC. I found a small 2BR w/ a friend from work and ditched the car as it was more of a hassle than a benefit. We had a GREAT time! Always had people over for take out, went out frequently and didn't worry much about our level of poverty since the majority of people we knew were in exactly the same place.

I had almost universally good experiences w/ roommates. I didn't think of them as a drawback but rather an opportunity to meet someone new. As far as a car note, assuming that you're physically healthy and live in the city or near metro and don't have children and/or large pets, why bother? Zipcar is widely available for when you do need personal transportation. In other cases, biking, walking or public transit are more efficient and cost effective.

[SmerkyGrl]

Originally Posted by chip1980

Ok, I agree with 90% of what you said. Its all about what point you are within your life as far as your standard of living/family/etc. BTW, most of the very young people that I know that makes 64k+ have the defense/intel jobs in the DC area

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