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Clearly you haven't ridden the "It's a Small World" ride. Cultures from around the world are represented! It's like being in a real city right there in the heart of Orlando!
Federal employees and Federal contractor make decent livings, but few are buying million dollar homes.
Well actually, GS payscales in some agencies are high enough nowadays to allow couples to own million dollar homes. They may have to work long hours, but that's going to be true with most jobs in general.
Last edited by BigCityDreamer; 06-25-2010 at 07:29 AM..
Well actually, GS payscales in some agencies are high enough nowadays to allow couples to own million dollar homes.
Such a scenario would essentially require both indivuduals to be at the highest GSA grade (15-10), which in the DC area means an annual salary of $155,500. (http://www.opm.gov/oca/10tables/pdf/saltbl.pdf) Of the millions of government employees, precious few ever ascend to that level on the GSA payscale.
Keep in mind that individuals obtaining a GSA grade of 15-10 are those who are among the preeminent practitioners in their field (you can find the qualifications for obtaining a GS-15 grade here: United States Code: Title 5,5104. Basis for grading positions | LII / Legal Information Institute). These are individuals who could likely earn anywhere from 3-5x that salary working in the private sector. Now, they're certainly not living in poverty, but there are comparably few government employees making nearly that significant a salary.
No, DC is not worth the cost of living. NYC, yes. SF, yes. LA maybe. DC no way.
A lot of people with the money are voting with their pocketbooks that it is worth the cost of living. The people I know who have moved here from the New York City area love the quality of life and affordable real estate.
A lot of people with the money are voting with their pocketbooks that it is worth the cost of living. The people I know who have moved here from the New York City area love the quality of life and affordable real estate.
You know I had this big, long diatribe written but then I decided..... meh....it isn't going to change anyone's minds and it is probably more private info then I want to put out on the internet.
So for simplicity's sake.... count me and my husband as two of those people. We never in a million, trillion years could of had the same thing in NYC that we do have in DC. Yes, we had something different when we lived in NYC but that is it - it was just different not necessarily better.
It goes the same for many other cities, too. We could never have the same lifestyle in Tulsa, KC, Dallas, Houston, Orlando, SF, Seattle, and the list goes on because for the most part it just does not exist in those places.
We pay for a certain type of lifestyle here and I am perfectly happy with my choice.
They only thing that I do complain about a bit is that I wish it was easier/less expensive for people to become small business owners... but NYC was just as/probably more expensive in that regard.
You know I had this big, long diatribe written but then I decided..... meh....it isn't going to change anyone's minds and it is probably more private info then I want to put out on the internet.
So for simplicity's sake.... count me and my husband as two of those people. We never in a million, trillion years could of had the same thing in NYC that we do have in DC. Yes, we had something different when we lived in NYC but that is it - it was just different not necessarily better.
It goes the same for many other cities, too. We could never have the same lifestyle in Tulsa, KC, Dallas, Houston, Orlando, SF, Seattle, and the list goes on because for the most part it just does not exist in those places.
We pay for a certain type of lifestyle here and I am perfectly happy with my choice.
They only thing that I do complain about a bit is that I wish it was easier/less expensive for people to become small business owners... but NYC was just as/probably more expensive in that regard.
I love New York City. It's a one of a kind place. I love living in the District more than I would love living in Manhattan.
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