The REAL Cost of Living in NoVA/Greater DC

[OrangeFish]

Originally Posted by va_lucky

Yes, tell us please if you'd like. Not here to criticize...just learn. Thanks

Check her other posts and you can figure it out yourself.

[va_lucky]

No spoon feed me.

Originally Posted by OrangeFish

Check her other posts and you can figure it out yourself.

[OrangeFish]

Originally Posted by va_lucky

No spoon feed me.

Lansdale, Pennsylvania

[vicnice]

The tax system is faulty and COL should absolutly play a part. Despite all of the propoganda that is pushed out by politicians, the tax system penalizes high income workers. Its also apparent in the thread (and has already been mentioned) that understandings of the tax code are all over the map.

Living in DC is tough because the income is high, but the housing cost is equally high, and as has been noted you are pinched by AMT, and other taxes which erode takehome income. Its really a problem, but of course if you watch the news "Oh you are rich, so an extra 30K wont hurt you or your family"

Total lack of empathy and understanding of finance IMO.

[rabscuttle385]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

but the stability of employment is hard to find anywhere else

For now. Keep in mind that this area has an unhealthy economic dependence on Federal spending. If that spending ever stops increasing...or stagnates...this area will experience problems.

[va_lucky]

Thanks

Originally Posted by OrangeFish

Lansdale, Pennsylvania

[stpickrell]

Originally Posted by rabscuttle385

For now. Keep in mind that this area has an unhealthy economic dependence on Federal spending. If that spending ever stops increasing...or stagnates...this area will experience problems.

OTOH, people still have to have something to move out to.

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by Fern435

Most people in NoVA/DC/MD would probably *not* be able to secure another job with the same or higher income to a different part of the country (like Oklahoma or Maine). If it were obvious that the same opportunities for high-paying jobs were available in other regions of the US, we'd probably see fewer people living in/moving to NoVA/DC.

Although this may be true to a large number of people, the implication that people only live here for a higher income is not. It might come as a surprise to someone who disliked the area intensely and left, but quite a few people want to live here and take a pay cut to do so.

For example, because of the economics of the field of medicine, many physicians would make a lot more money in less desirable areas than they do in NoVA. Yet they choose to forego higher income to live here. Some folks would rather be mildly wealthy in a very affluent, desirable area than be rich in a poor area. (I count myself in that category -- although my income would be the same no matter where I go, my tax liability is slightly higher here than in some other states.)

Of course, the opposite is true for some folks who have to, just have to, live in an area where they have bigger homes than their neighbors. I know at least one doctor who grew up here in NoVA, but live elsewhere because, in his own words, "I don't want to live next to people who make half of my income, but bought homes 15 years earlier."