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Assume a family of 4, double income, and inside the beltway. Given your current lifestyle, how much do you think you and your spouse would need to make to be able to live a comfortable middle class lifestyle?
Assume a family of 4, double income, and inside the beltway. Given your current lifestyle, how much do you think you and your spouse would need to make to be able to live a comfortable middle class lifestyle?
For most families, it's not that practical to live inside the beltway. You're going to end up sacrificing in some way or another.
Heck, even many places outside the beltway are prohibitively expensive.
I just asked 3 friends (who live in Bethesda (MD), Olney (MD), and Alexandria (VA).
All 3 have families to raise.
Bethesda said $250k
Olney said $225k, but $250k if you want to be able to thrive/take nice vacations
Alexandria said $300 to $325k
I find these numbers shocking (but, then I live in Texas).
Yup..inside the beltway close to $200k, probably more. No kids, things drop quickly, $100k for a couple becomes doable. But kids really do make things much more costly. The areas with good schools are much more expensive, it is as simple as that. DC is a very easy area to live in if one is a DINK and professional.
My guess would be for a family of 2.5 kids, you would need at least 300K to live in a decent neighborhood and cover all family expenses. Perhaps you would need more, depending on your extra curriculars.
I just asked 3 friends (who live in Bethesda (MD), Olney (MD), and Alexandria (VA).
All 3 have families to raise.
Bethesda said $250k
Olney said $225k, but $250k if you want to be able to thrive/take nice vacations
Alexandria said $300 to $325k
I find these numbers shocking (but, then I live in Texas).
This is very inaccurate. Bethesda is FAR more expensive to live in than Olney for sure and probably Alexandria too.
Your friends in Olney and Alexandia don't know what they're talking about.
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