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My fiance and I are looking to move to the D.C. area from Pittsburgh in June. I will be working for the government at the Census Bureau - Suitland, MD. Our combined income is projected to be around 90-100K... but I'd like to look for something I can afford with only my salary (~51K) in case he takes a few months to find a new job. He does hope to have the ability to telecommute for his old job while he looks for something within the DC area (pretty common in his company), but there's no guarantee.
This is going to be my first full-time job. Where are the best places to live for a young couple, and what sort of price range to rent (apartment or condo, doesn't matter - we have one car and a pet cat!) would be realistic for the above salaries? I am a complete newbie to the area, and I'm still not entirely sure what I should be looking for and what we could afford. I personally like a relatively comfortable, quiet, and safe place to live, but being close to a fun and young area is a plus. Easy commuting to Suitland is obviously necessary. I hear the traffic is an absolute nightmare in the D.C. area, so I'm not sure if it's best to use the metro or try driving, but I suppose it depends on where we end up living.
We'd ideally like a two-bedroom place for the extra space, but we'd also be perfectly happy with a one-bedroom. But I'm not really sure if I have much latitude in finding a 'nice' place (price-wise) with the income we're expected to earn, and still have enough money to set aside for a house down payment and other expenses. Unfortunately, I'm fairly ignorant about what is feasible and what is not with our finances, as I will be just starting out as a new careerist.
In other words, I'm a little intimidated by what I hear about the cost of living in the region, and I'm pretty lost over where to start looking and how to narrow my options. I'd like to be smart about the place we rent, but I also want to be comfortable.
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