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For me I’d choose NYC.-slightly more pay, more overall garden variety of amenities for all age and more opportunities. (Unless one’s career is involved in government/public sector/military/intelligence…etc.) Besides I prefer NYC’s energy to DC’s. DC is a beautiful city, but it lacks a certain sense of humor you’d find in NYC.
$350k and $275k aren’t that much different once you break down to monthly net pay. Both cities are humid in summer, both have high cost of living and real estate, both provide good airports, many direct flights, rich dining and vibrant art scene/local culture.-It’s really coming down to the OP’s career aspect, current goals in life and what city meets their needs the most. What city provides more cost-performance ratio and if this city is meant for short term or long term.
Everybody is different. Some value the access to the nature; to some living within an hour drive/train to the beach is imperative; some consider a high performance school district a deal breaker and some don’t care about dining but must have convenient public transportation. All valid concerns.
All of DC having crime issues is a bit dramatic. The western half is fairly safe by city standards and there are parts of the eastern half that are similar. DC public schools have been on an upward trajectory for years with schools in NW DC now on par with the better suburban options.
Lol .that's not what I said.
I said pretty much all the high crime areas are in the District or parts of PG County. Not that all of DC is high crime. I think that is a fair generalization of the area. Crime can happen anywhere and there are pockets in other areas of the MSA. But it's not like large portions of the District where you fairly regularly have shootings, muggings, car jackings.
As you notes there are lots of safe affluent streetcar suburb neighborhoods in the District. But, it's going to be hard to buy a house with a yard on $250k in places like Tennlytown or Cleveland Park. There are homes with yards that are cheaper in places like Brookland, Kingman Park or and certainly east of the river. But, you do have to weigh you tolerance for crime in those areas of DC. Some people live there with kids and love it. But I also know a lot of people who bought in parts of DC over the past 10 years who expected crime to keep trending down. Back when it was common to speak of areas as "transitional". That hasn't happened in many cases they are frustrated by the crime and quality of life stuff.
Personally, I would just recommend buying in the suburbs on $250k. Your money goes further and you don't have to worry about the hassle.
$350k can set you up well in the NYC area, and you could find a rowhouse or something similar with a small yard within your budget and a short commute to Midtown. I'm fond of Jersey City, but it's not the only option.
I voted NYC because I like NYC better, not because you would get a better quality of life or be able to rent/buy larger living quarters. NYC is like no other place in the world; you will either love or hate it. It is no comparison to DC, which is kind of like a mid-sized Midwestern city, with a lot of snooty people, the great majority of whom have mundane jobs. If you will be working in DC proper, you might want to take into account the outrageously high crime rate, which per capita is many times the crime rate in NYC.
Have you lived in either of these two cities before? If not, you should go and spend as much time in these places as possible, even if it is only for weekend visits.
Eh, I'd probably pick DC between those options and knowing nothing else about your situation. Your taxes will be higher (especially if you live in the 5 boroughs and get hit with the resident tax) which will eat away at some of that salary difference fwiw.
NYC is great obviously, in that there's a lot to do - largest job market in the world, restaurants, bars, shows, sports, etc. But it can also wear you down after a while. And commuting there is a slog from anywhere outside of Manhattan (I'm about .75 miles from my office as the crow flies, but takes me about 40-45 minutes door to door).
If you focus on Brooklyn/Queens/Jersey City/Hoboken as the urban areas immediately adjacent to Manhattan, a townhouse with a small yard will range anywhere from ~$1.5M at the extreme low end (this would likely be a shared building that needs some work, where you own the garden level) to $3M for an average standalone townhome with a yard. And obviously quickly goes up from there, depending on how big, what neighborhood, and when it was last renovated.
I'm not saying this to scare you, but you will probably quickly get to the fact that a $350K salary is likely not going to cut it for what you described (unless you're not including an equity package or something like that). You can still live very nicely on that salary obviously, but I would forget the yard and focus more on a condo with a terrace or something like that.
The above is basically why I would lean DC. You could get a small place with a yard in Arlington or NW DC that's close to some urban amenities for much less than you'd pay in the NYC area. You could of course move out to the suburbs outside of NYC and find plenty of space, but then you are not fully taking advantage of everything NYC has to offer on a regular basis.
If you're an absolute urban pioneer and only the biggest, most dense city will do, then definitely pick NYC. But imo DC has plenty of great restaurants, bars, museums, sports, etc.
Eh, I'd probably pick DC between those options and knowing nothing else about your situation. Your taxes will be higher (especially if you live in the 5 boroughs and get hit with the resident tax) which will eat away at some of that salary difference fwiw.
NYC is great obviously, in that there's a lot to do - largest job market in the world, restaurants, bars, shows, sports, etc. But it can also wear you down after a while. And commuting there is a slog from anywhere outside of Manhattan (I'm about .75 miles from my office as the crow flies, but takes me about 40-45 minutes door to door).
If you focus on Brooklyn/Queens/Jersey City/Hoboken as the urban areas immediately adjacent to Manhattan, a townhouse with a small yard will range anywhere from ~$1.5M at the extreme low end (this would likely be a shared building that needs some work, where you own the garden level) to $3M for an average standalone townhome with a yard. And obviously quickly goes up from there, depending on how big, what neighborhood, and when it was last renovated.
I'm not saying this to scare you, but you will probably quickly get to the fact that a $350K salary is likely not going to cut it for what you described (unless you're not including an equity package or something like that). You can still live very nicely on that salary obviously, but I would forget the yard and focus more on a condo with a terrace or something like that.
The above is basically why I would lean DC. You could get a small place with a yard in Arlington or NW DC that's close to some urban amenities for much less than you'd pay in the NYC area. You could of course move out to the suburbs outside of NYC and find plenty of space, but then you are not fully taking advantage of everything NYC has to offer on a regular basis.
If you're an absolute urban pioneer and only the biggest, most dense city will do, then definitely pick NYC. But imo DC has plenty of great restaurants, bars, museums, sports, etc.
Huge W to bolded. I get it, there are a lot of NYC Boosters on here who rather just answer "The one, the only, New Yok City". But it is not that easy. In real life, you either like NYC or hate NYC. Especially compared to DC, they are too different places that appeal to two different groups of people.
350k is definitely enough for NYC. But in NYC, you have to give up a lot compared to elsewhere. Like dcb said, you may be close to New York, but door to door will painfully long. Im 12 miles as a crow flies and I am 95 minutes on a good day to Wall Street. Realistically, 1 hour 50 minutes. You might have to rework your schedule to a 7 AM to 3 PM, if you live in the suburbs like NJ, LI, CT or Westchester County. Its a mad house in peak hours. I am not sure exactly where in the NYC Metro you would live, but there also drawbacks with insanely high property taxes, less than polished suburban cities and overall- general congestion due to the fact that even though Greater NYC has a lot of transit, its still an extremely car centric region.
But you might value what NYC gives, that DC can't. Like I said above, DC can't answer to the urban environment NYC has. Nor can it match the urban suburbia that you may value. If you truly value your time spent in a big city seeing shows, trying new foods and exploring new neighborhoods consistently, then definitely go with New York. If you do it maybe once a month, or what not, NYC may not be worth the price tag.
I generally find people who live around NYC who are not looking for a NYC centric lifestyle, don't typically enjoy living here. Because what NYC offers can't be found in the USA. If you like super city life, go for it! I would even say, if you are on the fence about it... still try about the NYC area. Because you will know whether you like it or not by then.
But if you are anything less than that urban pioneer(ess), NYC area without NYC, is just more expensive, dirtier, far more congested and colder than Greater DC. So that would be my go.
Those last two posts are why I suggested a situation like this above, as it is a shorter commutes and the OP can get much of what they are looking for.
Those last two posts are why I suggested a situation like this above, as it is a shorter commutes and the OP can get much of what they are looking for.
Yeah, I'm not as familiar with Fleetwood but have seen it suggested a handful of times in these parts over the years. Great alternative suggestion.
I do want to caution purely looking at the train times for commutes. Technically, my 'Path' time is 13 minutes. But to get to the 40-45 minutes that I quoted above, I need to walk to the Hoboken terminal, wait for train (up to 6 minutes of idle time), take my '13-minute' ride, exit station (3-5 minutes), and walk to office (22 minutes for me, walking briskly). So unless the OP is living at the Fleetwood station and working in Grand Central, I would imagine it's truly 1 hour 20 minutes door-to-door, if not more (obviously depending on where commute is to).
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