Can you live on $80,000 a year in Northern VA (Arlington: rent, credit card)

[bjohn209]

I posted here not too long ago saying that I was interviewing for a federal job in DC and that I would like to live in NoVA if I were lucky enough to get the job. I was offered the job at a GS-12 with a salary of $80,000. (This was after some negotiation--the initial offer was lower.)

I really want to take the job. It would be a very good career opportunity for me, and there would be opportunity for advancement within a year to a GS-13 with a good pay raise, but I want to make sure that I (and my family) could make it on $80,000 a year in the DC area right now. I would be coming from the western US where the cost of living is substantially lower. (One cost of living comparison website I visited estimated that NOVA was 25% more expensive than my current neck of the woods.)

Is there anyone out there with similar experience? Will things work on $80,000? Does anyone have ideas about where to live on this income? Positive and negative opinions welcome. Thanks in advance.

[Denton56]

I know single people, in their 20's, who do fine on salaries in the $80's. If their gf/bf/spouse makes that much too, they do great. But I'm not so sure about a family. It depends on if you have the money for a down payment on a house, if your wife works, how many kids you have, what your housing expectations are, how much commuting you are willing to do, etc.

[bjohn209]

Originally Posted by Denton56

I know single people, in their 20's, who do fine on salaries in the $80's. If their gf/bf/spouse makes that much too, they do great. But I'm not so sure about a family. It depends on if you have the money for a down payment on a house, if your wife works, how many kids you have, what your housing expectations are, how much commuting you are willing to do, etc.

Good questions:

1) We have the down payment for a house and are imagining paying $300,000, hopefully for a SFH, though a townhome might need to be a transitional option.
2) My wife doesn't work.
3) 2 young kids--a 3-year-old and a nearly one-year-old.
4) Would accept the trade-off of living further out--say in Prince Willam County.

[robbobobbo]

Yes, definitely. But a $300,000 home will mean living further out, as you recognize. If it were me, I'd live closer to the job and look at townhouses or duplexes and put off the SFH for now. Especially if you think your career advancement possibilities are good.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by bjohn209

Good questions:

1) We have the down payment for a house and are imagining paying $300,000, hopefully for a SFH, though a townhome might need to be a transitional option.
2) My wife doesn't work.
3) 2 young kids--a 3-year-old and a nearly one-year-old.
4) Would accept the trade-off of living further out--say in Prince Willam County.

Keep in mind that generally speaking, the lower cost of the homes/area, the lower the test scores.

Areas around NoVA are more expensive for a reason, and they include better schools, closer to jobs, closer to retail, closer to DC, and closer to public transportation.

I'm sure the schools would be fine overall, but just not as good as the more expensive areas.

These points though, pretty much translate across any suburban area around a big city in any state.

If you buy in PW County, and since you will be working in DC, for sure, you will be hating life during the commute.

[Denton56]

Remember too, Government salaries top out at around $150,000. That's not a huge salary for a family in this area, but you can definitely do ok, especially if you are further out from town, Prince William or Loudoun Counties. But the commute is a bear.

I am assuming that your job is not a political appointment, schedule C, or whatever it's called now. If it is an appointment, you serve at the pleasure of the President. When he goes, most likely you will go too. But an appointment can open other doors in Washington.

[Trae713]

I hear that the Maryland suburbs of DC are usually cheaper, though the schools may not be as good. Depends on where you buy.

[MacUser85]

First, congrats on the new opportunity. You must be very excited.

$80,000 is tough for a family of four in this area. Things to think about are what are your expenses like now. Do you have lots of credit card or auto debt? Student loans? Or are you debt free and live on a budget. Your written budget becomes your Bible here as that is how you can succeed here financially. (Works in other cities too....)

I really hesitate to suggest moving here and ending up in Prince William County. It's just so far! It's hard to do that daily commute to and from DC (1 hr 15 mins each way on a good day) and still have time to visit with your wife and kids after work each day. Is being home for dinner, story time for the kids, etc., a priority for you? If so, I think you really need to look at a map and stay close to the Beltway, if not inside it.

How about renting for a year just to get used to life here and see what's what? Your kids are young enough that schools are not in the equation....yet. But yes, beware of schools in lower income areas. As the previous poster stated, there is a reason why homes feeding into James Madison HS in Vienna or Yorktown HS in Arlington are so expensive.

Best of luck to you and we'll all try and answer any add'l questions you come up with.

[ChristineVA]

I'll chime in from PWC!

Sure, I'd rather be living in Fairfax. Having said that, the commute is not THAT awful. Now, if you want to be a single driver and go to work at 8:30 in the morning, it will be a bear. You will find that in PWC there is all kinds of "commuting" going on. There are slug lines (which IMO are the best form of getting to work). These will get you into DC in about 35 minutes from the commuter lot. There are OmniRide busses, there is the VRE train, and there are hundreds of carpool and vanpool options. All subsidized if you work for the government, so your commute is almost "free." You must be prepared that if you are going to live WAY out in PWC (24-30 miles from DC depending on where you live), you will have to make some concessions on how you choose to get to work. My concession (because I have kids), is that I leave my house at 5:20 a.m. and work from 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. This way I get my car at the office if I need to leave for an emergency and I also get home at a decent hour to have a life with my kids! I get home in 40 minutes and it is a breeze. Takes some getting used to though. Since your wife is at home with the kids and you don't have two working adults struggling to do the daycare routine, you are going to have a lot more flexiblity with your commute.

There is some very affordable housing in PWC right now but you do have to be careful as we also have our share of low-income areas that the other affluent counties don't have much of. Yes, because we have more "diversity" in this county with regards to income and ethnicity, test scores are affected. This is not so much the fault of the school system or that the school system is doing something wrong. It is a reflection of the school population. One of our high schools in this county has an incredibly high dropout rate and this is due to the adverse conditions some of these kids face economically.

So when looking for a home in PWC, you do need to be aware of the neighborhood you pick. I would say that 95% of the elementary schools here are excellent. The western side of the county probably has the edge for schools because they are not as diverse, but you commuting options are WAY down out that way because it is just not as developed there. You could definitely have some really long rides there.

As for making it here on $80,000. I do know people that do it. I think it can be done (in PWC though) as long as you guys are frugal. There are many single family households here and I *know* that the breadwinner isn't pulling down a lot of cash. But they do live very frugally.

Good luck with your decision. It is a great opportunity, career-wise, to work in DC.

[ajzjmsmom]

I want to chime in and say that everyone here is real big into test scores for the schools, but after having researched NOVA for the last year I know that even their worst schools are ten times better than alot of the "best schools" in other parts of the country.

As I have mentioned before my hubby has a friend that lives out in Woodbridge and rides the commuter bus into DC everyday and says the commute is not that bad.

I would agree with renting for the first year, rent in PWC and see how you like the commute.