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Old 01-01-2008, 05:40 AM
 
504 posts, read 1,213,089 times
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I applied for some Fed positions in Denver and noticed that the Fed salary for Denver is slightly higher than NoVA's. Denver is more expensive than NoVA?? I thought it should be cheaper, at least in housing?
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Old 01-01-2008, 07:42 AM
 
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I can't comment on cost of living differences between NoVA and Denver. However, since the locality pay was implemented in the early 90s, the DC metro area was combined with other areas as a way of "artificially lowering" it. The locality pay covers Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-PA-VA-WV Combined Statistical Area, plus the Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, the York-Hanover-Gettysburg, PA Combined Statistical Area, and King George County, VA.
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Old 01-01-2008, 07:53 AM
j1n
 
Location: Southeast of the Northwest Territories
1,245 posts, read 4,661,476 times
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hey lqda4,
not sure where, exactly, you are looking at in nova; but if the us average is "100", the overall cost of living in denver would be 105, and reston comes in at 133. housing...denver is 99, reston is a whopping 178.
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Old 01-01-2008, 08:55 AM
 
504 posts, read 1,213,089 times
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J1n,

I use these tables for comparison. As you can see, Denver rates are slightly higher.
NoVA/DC/MD
http://www.opm.gov/oca/07tables/html/dcb.asp

Denver
http://www.opm.gov/oca/07tables/html/den.asp

Main page for 2007 (General Schedules)
http://www.opm.gov/oca/07tables/indexGS.asp
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Old 01-01-2008, 07:04 PM
 
Location: In exile, plotting my coup
2,408 posts, read 14,397,267 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lqda4 View Post
I applied for some Fed positions in Denver and noticed that the Fed salary for Denver is slightly higher than NoVA's. Denver is more expensive than NoVA?? I thought it should be cheaper, at least in housing?
Denver is cheaper, so I'm surprised that the pay is higher. Financially-speaking, Denver would be the wiser choice. There may be other factors to take into account however. There are some advantages the DC area has over Denver, but cost of living is not one of them.
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Old 01-01-2008, 07:54 PM
 
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I live in Reston and it is very expensive to own a home in this area. Aside from the housing, the area is very affordable - expect to pay over four bucks for a beer anywhere you go!
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Old 01-02-2008, 08:39 AM
 
14 posts, read 30,777 times
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Default Costs

Housing is the only difference. In a comparable neighborhood the Denver house would be about 20% less. The school system in Fairfax county, where I live, is better financed than the school system in Denver.
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Old 01-02-2008, 02:01 PM
 
19,198 posts, read 31,485,000 times
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Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, where 1996=100, the actual CPI (all items) for the DC metro area was 135.15 in Nov 2007. In the Denver/Boulder/Greeley area, it was 129.79...
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Old 01-02-2008, 07:55 PM
 
Location: Fredericksburg, VA
743 posts, read 3,901,928 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mlv311 View Post
... and King George County, VA.
Now that seems random...
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Old 07-03-2009, 11:30 PM
 
Location: Virginia
1,938 posts, read 7,127,522 times
Reputation: 879
We are in CO now and are heading to VA in a couple of weeks. We are bit surprised with COL out there. Here, we own and pay for a 5 bedroom 2 bath home for about 1100 a month, great schools. I see that's wishfull thinking there. AND add salt to the wound, the locality pay here is higher than here?!
I know this is an old post, but adding this helped me vent. Thanks for reading and now blowing me off.
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