Can someone live OK on 35-45K in the Washington DC area? (living in, price)

[KerryB]

No way you could live here in the city comfortably for $35K-$45K, I dont care what anyone tells you. Sure, you COULD do it if you wanted to live in a not so good part of town. Or, you could live in a better part but then you wouldnt be able to do anything else but work & pay your bills, so thats not really my idea of fun.

Now, you could live out in Fairfax or somewhere similar for cheaper, but then there is the god awful commute you have to worry about. So, for your money situation, it would be kinda tuff on you & might not even be worth it.

DC is turning into an awesome place to live, work & play, but the city itself is still in a transition phase. However the cost of living in desirable neighborhoods is nearing NYC prices.

And as much as I love DC, lets face it, its not quite there yet to be asking for those kinda prices. Its just not. Still a great city, though.

I hear a lot of people here saying the same things I just did. Many are interested in places like Chicago that are MUCH more affordable & offer a lot too. Money just doesn't go far here.

[LoveMiiorHateMii]

I work for the government and I can tell you that once you get your foot in the door and start networking, being a friendly, hard-working employee, you can move up grades very fast. It does depend on how long you have been working for the government and what experience you have. I love working her because of the benefits and the friendships that I have made. My best-friend also works for the government and she has a nice one-bedroom apartment in the Largo area of Prince George's County that she pays $950 for. Its only her in the apartment.

[Raymo853]

I am trying to move to DC, making 20K more than the original poster's range but about to give up and not take the job. Evey place I look at in the 1100-1400 range is bad, has an insane owner that wants a commitment for two plus years, is way to far from a metro stop, or something else crazy. I could see putting up with it if I were a bit younger but at 35 I am thinking I am just too old to be poor living in a city again.

[ferrisbueller]

How much do teachers get paid in DC ??

[nsgjdennis]

I don't think anyone that puts a premium on job security should move to this area. Their has been a huge amount of money puring into the area over the last couple of years from the Bush Administration. This of course has resulted in the huge increase in jobs here. I think this will all come to end after 2008, it has to we are spending way more then we should and the economy is slowing down so the defecit is going to balloon here very soon. Also most people think the federal government has gotten to big under this administration and want it brought back to historical levels. I have talked to some coworkers that worked in the defense industry during the downsizing of the Clinton years and they all said what happens is that most of the support contractors get laid off except for the ones with a lot of senority or special skills. Then depending on how tight the government purse strings are many of the lower level government employees are laid off but most of these are kept on as contractors because its cheaper for the government to employ them. Keep in mind that most contracting jobs are bid every year at this time these jobs are in danger of vanishing.

This is a really nice place to live very exciting and I find the people to be great much more very freindly but as others have said Money here is a huge issue. I have noticed that many of the people that are living well here are the ones that moved here before Sept 11th and the huge realestate boom very few people that are really well off here are newcomers. There are some though that are doing it I sure don't know how.

[Raymo853]

Well after much searching and frustration, I did find a place on P Street NW near capitol. Seems like a cool place that is getting cooler. And the apartment is out of control amazing. My two long time DC friends (Marie and Daisy) I brought as second opinions were consider trying to scope the place from me.

I am so glad I am moving to DC and out of super blah central PA.

[jmark1]

You can DEF live in DC on that salary...i just found an amazing place on the hill for under $1000 a month. Yes you may have to budget, but it's not like you are moving to NYC or LA. The reason I am staying in DC and not moving to NYC is because i can live here on a salary like that. You can find a place, it just takes time. goood luck and i hope you enjoy!!

[javajive711]

I'm from Pittsburgh, and I moved to DC 2 years ago.

Before you make the move, look at salary.com's cost of living wizard [url="http://swz.salary.com/costoflivingwizard/layoutscripts/coll_start.asp"] If I had any idea that making $60k in DC was like making $35k in Pittsburgh before I made my move (and that someone making $60k in DC would make about $55k in Pittsburgh), I would have seriously rethought my strategy.

I made $41k my first year. I miiiiiiiiiiight have been okay if I didn't have any student loans or credit card debt to pay off. The only way I survived is that I have an amazing fiance.

Now, I'm making $60k, and can pay my bills without getting a loan from the boyfriend or the MasterCard. But there's no money left over to do anything I want to do. And if you want to buy property, just forget about it. A 1 bedroom condo outside of DC not in a particularly desirable neighborhood will cost you about $300k.

On top of all of these negatives, the traffic in DC is simply terrible (my commute on a good day takes 45 minutes to go 5 miles), AND many places expect you to work long hours (10 hrs + per day everyday).

[PropertyMan]

What you have to do is find a "not so good part of town" that is actually not that bad. There are a few areas like that around town with "guilt by association" problems. This is particularly the case with certain parts of Southeast. Because all of SE is dogged by a serious stigma, you can find great deals in certain enclaves.

When my wife and I were first starting out, that is what we did. We lived in a condo in Hillcrest. It wasn't bad. It was "city" living and we took normal "city" precautions, but we never had a major problem.

[hurd300403]

i make $47000. a friend of mine makes $40,000, and another makes $52,000. We all have our own places (mine is in capitol hill) and we live perfectly fine in dc. of course, not having a car helps a lot...

later