DC or Houston? Cost of Living (Washington: houses, living in, price)

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by 14thandYou

Wow, what a narrow definition of "culture" that is. And even allowing only for that abbreviated definition, the notion that the Houston area is somehow "miles beyond" DC is false.

The overall percentage of foreign-born residents in Houston's MSA is a little over 19%, versus 13% for DC (source: http://www.metrocouncil.org/census/M...ign%20born.xls) . But those numbers are skewed because of Houston's significant Latino population. DC leads Houston--in many cases, by a considerable margin--in terms of % of residents who come from Europe, Asia and Africa.

But a city's "culture" extends far beyond simply the number of people who live there who come from elsewhere. DC has the best museum system in the world in the Smithsonian, a number of the country's preeminent public and private art museums and galleries, nearly 180 international embassies hosting events and programs throughout the year, innumerable international organizations offering educational conferences, seminars and cultural enrichment programs, governmental institutions and buildings offering programs and opportunities unavailable anywhere else, a diverse array of festivals and celebrations--many among the largest in the country--occuring throughout the year, some of the country's finest performing arts venues and organizations, and the most educated populace of any U.S. city producing an incomparable body of academic and artistic work.

You can't just wish that type of stuff away because it's related to DC being the seat of the nation's government--that is, after all, DC's culture.

And it's no knock against Houston to say that it doesn't compete with that--aside from New York, there really isn't a city that competes with DC at this level. Like I said above, Houston's a fine city. But culturally "miles beyond" DC? I'm afraid not.

I said DC is miles behind Houston because a couple of people in here said that Houston is miles behind DC. I didn't really mean that. I was just giving them a taste of their own medicine. I was replying in the same form.

[grindin]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

I am being fair in this debate. It sounds like you're the one making it a pissing contest. Unlike you I'm not getting mad and I'm not taking this personal. If you don't like hearing dissenting opinions then you shouldn't debate with people. You and a couple of other people in here seem to think that DC is way more cultural than Houston. I disagree with that. I've been to Washington a couple of times and to me it seems about the same as Houston. I don't see much difference in terms of culture. Houston has the 2nd largest amount of theater space behind NYC. So it has more theaters than Washington. Houston has a nice museum district and all that stuff too. As big of a city as Houston is it has to have a lot of culture. Houston is a huge city. It's bigger than Washington. Any city this big is going to have a lot of theaters, museums, etc. It's impossible to be this big and not have quite a bit of culture. I also have relatives in the DC area. That's why I have been to the area. I've pretty much seen all the high points in VA, MD and DC. I go there to see my relatives and the surrounding area at the same time. I'm killing two birds with one plane ticket. That was pretty funny, wasn't it?

Anyways it doesn't matter. They're both good cities.

No one was getting mad or taking it personally about your dissenting opinion. I may somewhat disagree, but I'm not mad. I don't know you, and frankly, don't find your posts worth the bandwith to get angry over. I'm an adult with far more important issues to deal with than to get pissed off over what someone says on a message board.


Also, If you bothered to use some reading comprehension and really read my post, I for one didn't say that Houston had "less culture" than Washington. I said that both cities have different aspects of culture, but one is no lesser than the other. I can't speak to what others were saying about this, but don't lump me in when my post was saying otherwise. I managed to throw in some facts about the DC area's diversity and economy, but yet, I'm supposed to go by the experience of someone who's been to the area "a couple of times" (in your own words) in order to make a fair judgment or assessment? Please.

I've been to Houston many times enough to know it's not some backwater cowtown like some people portray it as, and I am fully aware of the reputation and bad rap that the city gets. I think I was being pretty fair in my assessment. My observations (and/or so-called "anger") come from people who visit one part of a city and unfairly paint a picture over that. I'm pretty sure as a Houstonian, you wouldn't be too happy over someone making a blanket judgment of your city based on the I-45 Corridor between IAH and Downtown, or what is along I-10 to the east of Downtown and think that represents all of Houston. That would be pretty unfair, now wouldn't it?

I said DC is miles behind Houston because a couple of people in here said that Houston is miles behind DC. I didn't really mean that. I was just giving them a taste of their own medicine. I was replying in the same form.

And you consider this a fair way to debate and trying to tell me how to debate? Pot, meet kettle.

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by grindin

No one was getting mad or taking it personally about your dissenting opinion. I may somewhat disagree, but I'm not mad. I don't know you, and frankly, don't find your posts worth the bandwith to get angry over. I'm an adult with far more important issues to deal with than to get pissed off over what someone says on a message board.


Also, If you bothered to use some reading comprehension and really read my post, I for one didn't say that Houston had "less culture" than Washington. I said that both cities have different aspects of culture, but one is no lesser than the other. I can't speak to what others were saying about this, but don't lump me in when my post was saying otherwise. I managed to throw in some facts about the DC area's diversity and economy, but yet, I'm supposed to go by the experience of someone who's been to the area "a couple of times" (in your own words) in order to make a fair judgment or assessment? Please.

I've been to Houston many times enough to know it's not some backwater cowtown like some people portray it as, and I am fully aware of the reputation and bad rap that the city gets. I think I was being pretty fair in my assessment. My observations (and/or so-called "anger") come from people who visit one part of a city and unfairly paint a picture over that. I'm pretty sure as a Houstonian, you wouldn't be too happy over someone making a blanket judgment of your city based on the I-45 Corridor between IAH and Downtown, or what is along I-10 to the east of Downtown and think that represents all of Houston. That would be pretty unfair, now wouldn't it?



And you consider this a fair way to debate and trying to tell me how to debate? Pot, meet kettle.

No you did say DC has more culture than Houston. Now you're trying to change what you said. Yes it's fair to debate ridiculous statements with ridiculous statements. When someone makes ridiculous statements about Houston then I make them about their city. Yes it's very fair. I fight fire with fire.

[Yac]

Calm down everybody, please.
Yac.

[laloesch]

Thats a tough question. On 30,000 a year you'd have a tough time finding any place to live on your own, if thats what your thinking. You'd have to find roommates for sure. DC does have culture and an awesome vibe, but if you don't know people or have friends here, you could have a tough time making friends in this city. Its definitely a place where you need to know people to get into the IN crowd, espcially if your the 20ish crowd. Also if you have to commute to work be prepared for AWFUL, AWFUL traffic. This city swells bigger day by day and it has only gotten worse the longer i've lived here. My recommendation is to live as close to work as possible. All in all a lot of cool things to see here, but DC is definitely a rat race.

[CmonFolks!]

Ok. Lived in both DC and houston metros, that is Suburban MD and Sugar Land. Moved back to DC area from houston. In terms of history, culture, education, affluence, quality of life, services, transportation: DC destroys Houston, hands down (as you might already have guessed). Yes, you pay more for it, but it is manageable and, overall, worth it. Traffic sucked in both areas, but for different reasons. Stagnant heat and humidity for over half the year in Houston, not to mention, the impending possibilities that my home and business might be devoured by 2 hurricanes was not fun. After living in DC, the touting of lower cost of living in Houston seemed way too one-dimensional and unsophisticated in stance - not to mention, after paying fees in insurance, transportation, property, and sales tax in Houston, didn't add up either.

Moved back to DC on my own volition since I missed what that area had to offer. Moved to N. VA this time to locate next to business and we are not looking to move again. Will not move inside DC since we don't prefer inner city lifestyle. However, I find DC caters to a more worldly crowd and less isolationistic. Found that people were nicer in Houston, but far more real in DC.

[paytonc]

Originally Posted by AK123

- Houston has the second largest volume of theatre and performance art space (in terms of square footage) in the United States ranking only behind New York
- Houston ranks third in the nation in terms of the volume of fine arts museum space

Funny how these measure even the arts by quantity, not quality. These aren't even relevant metrics, since most theaters are dark most of the time and since most art museums keep most of their collections in storage. Just because there's capacity to exhibit work doesn't mean there's any being exhibited, or that said work is any good. More relevant ways of quantifying the availability of museums or performances might include something like the number of paying performances on an average week.

FWIW, just because I was curious (I have no skin in this game since I live far away from either city), here's a strange coincidence: the DC-Baltimore area has 2.38X more residents with college degrees and 2.3X more residents born outside the Americas than the Houston area. (I included college degrees since higher education attainment is strongly correlated with arts participation.)

Advice for the OP:
1. Look into the combined cost of housing & transportation when evaluating the cost of living. Most standard cost of living calculators assume that everyone has to drive, which is not true. One site that examines the interaction between the two is here: Housing and Transportation Affordability Index
2. Someone else mentioned this, but where would you be better off, career-wise? I take it you're just starting out, and choosing a good place -- with lots of openings, a professional community for networking and advancement, and challenges -- at the start of your career can make a difference.
3. Another caveat with cost of living calculators: some of them (although thankfully not the CNN one posted above) try to take state/local taxes into account, but ultimately can't account very well for one's individual tax burden.

[Mrs. 14th & You]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

No it's not an exaggeration. I've been to DC a couple of times and Houston has more culture. Houston is more diverse than DC thus has more culture. I don't care about people not liking Texas but when they say something that isn't true like DC has more culture then I have to speak up. If you think DC has more culture than Houston then provide some examples. What are the reasons you think DC is more cultural?

I'm sorry, but DC has a gigantic international crowd! Between the embassies, IMF, World Bank, journalists, and international professionals, this is one of the most multi-cultural cities outside of NYC. Also, many folks define "culture" as cultural activities. Low-hanging fruit in DC: The Smithsonian museums, the Folk Life Festival, the embassies, the myriad theaters (Kennedy Center, Ford's Theater, National Theater, Warner Theater, and too many others to list). As well, we have so many colleges and universities (GWU, Georgetown, Catholic, American, Trinity, Galludet) in this city that attract performing artists and fascinating lectures. Many of these events are available to the public. Lastly, an exceptionally high proportion of our population is college educated (about 40% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, as opposed to 27% in Houston). With so many bright folks around, there are a lot of events designed to stimulate this brainiac crowd.

Now that I've vented on that . . .

DC is a very expensive city. I had a rent of $650 when I graduated college and a salary close to your potential salary. I did own a car, but I did not have any debt. I found it very hard to get by. You can meet your basic expenses here, but it's hard to participate in all the wonderful things this city has to offer without much money. Eating out, in particular, can get incredibly expensive.

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by Mrs. 14th & You

I'm sorry, but DC has a gigantic international crowd! Between the embassies, IMF, World Bank, journalists, and international professionals, this is one of the most multi-cultural cities outside of NYC. Also, many folks define "culture" as cultural activities. Low-hanging fruit in DC: The Smithsonian museums, the Folk Life Festival, the embassies, the myriad theaters (Kennedy Center, Ford's Theater, National Theater, Warner Theater, and too many others to list). As well, we have so many colleges and universities (GWU, Georgetown, Catholic, American, Trinity, Galludet) in this city that attract performing artists and fascinating lectures. Many of these events are available to the public. Lastly, an exceptionally high proportion of our population is college educated (about 40% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, as opposed to 27% in Houston). With so many bright folks around, there are a lot of events designed to stimulate this brainiac crowd.

Now that I've vented on that . . .

DC is a very expensive city. I had a rent of $650 when I graduated college and a salary close to your potential salary. I did own a car, but I did not have any debt. I found it very hard to get by. You can meet your basic expenses here, but it's hard to participate in all the wonderful things this city has to offer without much money. Eating out, in particular, can get incredibly expensive.

So it sounds like you don't live in DC any more? Yeah I hear ya about DC being expensive. I feel most of the expensive cities aren't worth it. No matter how much culture a city has if it's real expensive to live there then you're going to be under a lot of stress and then you don't have the money to do all these cultural things anyway. So I don't see the point. Houston is a real big city so it has just about everything any other city has but cost of living is real cheap here relatively speaking. So here you have all the cultural stuff but you can actually afford to do these things.

[smakawhat]

Houston is hotter than hell!!!