Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You'll be fine on that salary assuming you don't have a lot of student loan debt. I lived in Hyattsville, MD for 5 years and worked at a non-profit for 2 1/2 years before going to law school. I had a 1 br apt. and lived alone. There was a bus that regularly stopped right in front of my apartment that took me to the metro station. My last year of work, which was in 2003, I earned $29,000 per year. Adjusted for inflation to 2008 dollars that equals $33,879. If you can make $40,000 a year you can survive and live alone. However, If I had to do it again, I wouldn't live in the same apartment and the rent on that apartment has increased since I left. Also, I had no student loans and my car was paid for. Good luck!
Why do you always comment about DC when all you do it put it down. You don't even know what you're talking about.
I make $44k and live in Mount Pleasant which is a great neighborhood with tons to do. About a 10 minute walk to the heart of Adams Morgan. I have very good health insurance. In fact, I probably pay more for insurance than most people on here. Being a fireman I have quite a few extra policies towards accident insurance, a few other policies in case I die on the job, and some union dues. I still manage to go out on weekends, eat out once in awhile, shop at a more expensive grocery store, and pay for car insurance and gas.(My job requires having a car) I'm happy as ever.
I make around that (I'm not saying how much) and can attest that you can comfortably live in the DC area on that much. There are so many variables. How much student loans? Are you willing to live with a roommate? Do you have a car? Is your job in the city or the burbs? So there is no definite income you have to look at your own bills not someone else's.
Why do you always comment about DC when all you do it put it down. You don't even know what you're talking about.
I make $44k and live in Mount Pleasant which is a great neighborhood with tons to do. About a 10 minute walk to the heart of Adams Morgan. I have very good health insurance. In fact, I probably pay more for insurance than most people on here. Being a fireman I have quite a few extra policies towards accident insurance, a few other policies in case I die on the job, and some union dues. I still manage to go out on weekends, eat out once in awhile, shop at a more expensive grocery store, and pay for car insurance and gas.(My job requires having a car) I'm happy as ever.
I wasn't referring to your post, but the fact is that rather the other person who failed to ask certain questions.
Not everybody is a firefighter or government employee, there are students who barely scrap by and in an expensive area like D.C. or any other city for that matter, its important, also cost of living as your case demonstrates is based on circumstances a lot of times rather than an its obvious that so and so is more expensive or if you are single and doing quite fine.
Why do you always comment about DC when all you do it put it down. You don't even know what you're talking about.
I make $44k and live in Mount Pleasant which is a great neighborhood with tons to do. About a 10 minute walk to the heart of Adams Morgan. I have very good health insurance. In fact, I probably pay more for insurance than most people on here. Being a fireman I have quite a few extra policies towards accident insurance, a few other policies in case I die on the job, and some union dues. I still manage to go out on weekends, eat out once in awhile, shop at a more expensive grocery store, and pay for car insurance and gas.(My job requires having a car) I'm happy as ever.
Tech2enable, do you mind if I pick your brain about the fire department in dc? MY hubby's dream was to join fdny. He works for transit and when fdny called him, we absolutely couldn't afford the pay cut. We're planning to move to the dc metro area in 2010 and he's been applying to transit jobs there. I mentioned that he might give the fire department another shot. He drags me to firehouses in every city that we visit, but we've never met a DC firefighter. How do you like it? Also, how well received are new firefighters in the 30+ age group?
Also, thanks for your recommendation about Mount Pleasant...we will check it out.
Tech2enable, do you mind if I pick your brain about the fire department in dc? MY hubby's dream was to join fdny. He works for transit and when fdny called him, we absolutely couldn't afford the pay cut. We're planning to move to the dc metro area in 2010 and he's been applying to transit jobs there. I mentioned that he might give the fire department another shot. He drags me to firehouses in every city that we visit, but we've never met a DC firefighter. How do you like it? Also, how well received are new firefighters in the 30+ age group?
Also, thanks for your recommendation about Mount Pleasant...we will check it out.
I'm not Tech2enable, but thanks. haha
First off, right now(or at least on the last test) he would be too old. DC, FDNY, and a few other large city departments have age limits due to the high call volume and burnout rate. DC is 19-31 I think. However, DCFD wants paramedics and many of them coming in from around the country are too old. So I was told that they might drop the age cap(not sure if its only medics). There's a very good chance they might do that though.
The DCFD has been testing every two years. The last was in 2008 so they might be testing again this summer. Off of the 2006 list they ran over 10 classes of recruits. Part of this was because the firefighters now had to staff the ambulances as well. So far they've only hired three classes since the 2008 test. Two classes that started at the same time had half of their people from the 2006 list though and another class was all paramedics.(They get hired separately and can test at any time.) So the hiring slowed down and they cancelled the rest of the classes for the year except for a medic one starting in December. However, there will eventually be another test and more classes just like any city.
The department has its problems, but so does every other FD in the country. The DCFD is arguably THE most aggressive fire department in the country. Most places in the country are now all about safety. It's not that the DCFD isn't safe as well, but they are very traditional and haven't forgot that they are firefighters. They run on the fire ground to get into the house as fast as possible. Most only walk, and many won't even go inside very often anymore. I know some of the surrounding communities have to stay outside to fight the fire if its blowing out 2 or more windows. As far as firefighting, DC has some of the best. EMS is where most of the problems come in. It's still new and there are a lot of kinks to work out. I did have an opportunity to leave. I'm still new here, but before I got hired I tested all around. I finished ranked around 80 out of about 3000 in DC and ranked 10 of about 6000 in Milwaukee. I received a call from Milwaukee FD, but decided to turn it down to stay in DC. One thing that kept me was that I love the city. There's so much to do and anything can happen out here.
Hope that helped. Let me know if you have anymore questions. I'd be glad to help.
I was fine when I made $30,000 starting out a few years ago in DC. I lived in the heart of all the action, took Metro everyday, and had a great life.
Yeah enough with the sarcasm okay about having such as a great life with easy going wealth if not at 200k (since its not a lot of money for dc) at 30k, unless of course there were 7-8 roomates who were disciplined to share expenses and do activities together in unison , then of course you should use plural not singular.
Yeah enough with the sarcasm okay about having such as a great life with easy going wealth if not at 200k (since its not a lot of money for dc) at 30k, unless of course there were 7-8 roomates who were disciplined to share expenses and do activities together in unison , then of course you should use plural not singular.
I didn't think BlueFly was being sarcastic. I lived on less than that several years ago and had an apartment to myself.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
dc firefighters
