Id like to know what Im getting myself into before I go to this interview.

How much does it cost to live there and where can I live safely/cheaply at first?

If I got the job how much would I need to make to live comfortably? If I could afford to live comfortably where would I live?

How about commuting? Live in DC? Drive in DC? Drive from outside DC? Train into DC?

Hopefully this thread wont get trolled, but id especially like insight from those who live/have lived there in the past (or worked).

Thanks,

8/28/2013 4:31:10 PM

I sublet a basement apartment at Logan Circle last summer for about $1650 a month and considered taking a job there. There are obviously much better rates but that gives you some idea of prices. Everything in DC proper is expensive. Food, gas, housing, it's all expensive, it's the second most expensive city behind New York, and the housing is comparable.

Living outside the city is much cheaper, but the commute is a bitch. Even if you take the metro, it still takes an hour to get to work from a lot of places.

I know it sounds shitty to say, but if you aren't making high five figures, it's going to be rough.

8/28/2013 4:47:19 PM

Quote :

"How much does it cost to live there and where can I live safely/cheaply at first?"

Where is "there"? Like -- where is the office of the place you're interviewing?

Despite the close proximity of everything, answers change a lot whether you're in DC proper, in Northern Virginia, or in Maryland.

8/28/2013 5:02:18 PM

DC proper, or perhaps a few miles outside.

8/28/2013 5:07:36 PM

Don't fool yourself into believing its going to be much cheaper for you to live in MD or VA either. I think only NYC and Boston are more expensive. Basically, if you are living in a place where it's going to be easy to commute into DC, it's going to be expensive. And to live far enough away to see a significant break in cost of living, you're going to lose those savings in your commute.

Just do yourself a favor and get RDU prices and the amount of space that buys out of your head now.

8/28/2013 5:20:54 PM

How about a salary comparison?

$100k in Raleigh = what in DC comparatively? 60?

8/28/2013 5:24:30 PM

Quote :

"DC proper, or perhaps a few miles outside."

Again, these are very different places and while they won't greatly impact cost (because it'll be high regardless) it will impact how you plan to get where you're going.

For example:

If you work in DC and live "a few miles outside", you'll want to take the Metro in.
If you work in Arlington and live in DC, driving is reasonable, but you'll probably still want to Metro.

If you're used to $100k in Raleigh, you'd want to make no less than like $150k in DC.

[Edited on August 28, 2013 at 5:38 PM. Reason : .]

8/28/2013 5:37:41 PM

I'd say $150k

8/28/2013 5:38:11 PM

I'd say whatever you make in Raleigh and live comfortably on...you probably need to double that to live comfortable in NY/DC/Boston.

I had a buddy making about $60k+ in Charleston move to NYC for a $100k job and said he wasn't able to save a dime. Thankfully he's been promoted several times since then and is crushing it now...it was just interesting to hear him talk about scraping by while making six figures.

8/28/2013 5:42:52 PM

I looked into it one time after getting a call back about an engineering job posting I applied for. I was looking more than 50% more than what I was making for a similar job in Alabama, and we were MILES apart.

I use the salary.com relocation wizard, and in my experiences, I think its been pretty accurate.

8/28/2013 5:46:15 PM

Yeah I have lawyer buddies in NYC who make twice what I do, but live exactly the same.

This has been informative so far, thank you.

8/28/2013 5:47:05 PM

I would say try to live in the city proper if you can, or at the very least in one of the more walkable burbs where you can get to a metro station without driving. Your life will be much more miserable if you have to consistently rely on driving in the DC area.

8/28/2013 6:13:27 PM

If you're making 100k in NYC and still not saving, something is wrong with you.

8/28/2013 6:21:58 PM

Quote :

"I would say try to live in the city proper if you can, or at the very least in one of the more walkable burbs where you can get to a metro station without driving. Your life will be much more miserable if you have to consistently rely on driving in the DC area."

http://www.walkscore.com/place/eastern-market-washington-d-c

Boom. 97!

[Edited on August 28, 2013 at 6:28 PM. Reason : I love where I live.]

8/28/2013 6:27:52 PM

Quote :

"Your life will be much more miserable if you have to consistently rely on driving in the DC area."

Truer words have not been spoken.

That being said, you'll easily pay $2000+ in rent for a decent, but small place near a metro stop. Granted, being near a metro stop is awesome, so if you make $100k I think it's worth it. I'd recommend avoiding the typical DC commuting at all costs, because that shit wears you down to the core over time.

8/28/2013 7:34:57 PM

I think DC is more expensive than NYC. Boston has super high rent because there is less housing than demand.

Granted, I'm not talking about living in Manhattan, but I have friends that live in Queens (Astoria) and Brooklyn (Williamsburg) and they live comfortably with very meager salaries. You can get a decent studio in Astoria for $1,200 and I've heard of ones closer to $1,000 if you know people / get lucky. A one bedroom starts at $1,400. My friend in Astoria shares a very nice, large apartment with roof access with two other people for $700 a month.

My friend lives in Arlington about a half mile from the Ballston metro stop and he pays $800+ for a room in a small house with three other guys. The condos near the metro stop are around $2,000 for an older one. When I was interviewing for jobs in DC he told me to take no less than $65,000 and that was a big stretch. He keeps his car there but he never commutes for work.

Another thing I'll add is that DC is a very, very money driven culture. It's not like NYC where you have people from all walks of life just trying to make it in the city. Everyone there is a professional and it's a highly educated area.

Not trying to start a pissing contest, but I think you can get by with less money in NYC than you can in DC.

[Edited on August 29, 2013 at 12:06 PM. Reason : .]

8/29/2013 12:04:38 PM

Quote :

"Everyone there is a professional and it's a highly educated area."

You've never ventured east of the Anacostia, have you?

8/29/2013 12:13:49 PM

That'll be gentrified within the next 10-15 years.

8/29/2013 12:49:52 PM

walking distance to a metro station (<0.5 mi) will cost significantly more than somewhere not within walking distance

I live in Rose Hill/Franconia and pay about $1300/month for a 1BR, and that's actually a good deal

8/29/2013 9:07:07 PM

LOL @ DC and NYC rents

Average cost for an apartment in San Francisco is $2700/month. And that's in an average area.

You want a 'nice apartment' that's not from the 1960s? One with a W/D or a dishwasher? You'd better look near the ball park where it's $3500 for a 1BR

A crappy studio in the Tenderloin- a drug infested warzone of homeless and junkies- will set you back $1500/month.

http://priceonomics.com/the-san-francisco-rent-explosion/

ridiculous

8/29/2013 11:43:06 PM

san francisco is on a whole different level. It rivals paris in cost.

My friend moved from there to Manhattan because Manhattan was so cheap.

8/29/2013 11:55:45 PM

haha that's crazy. and you can get an apartment in the best building in downtown Raleigh for $1,800 (PNC). or get pretty close to an executive home in the suburbs for that.

8/30/2013 10:58:22 AM

Yeah, but then you have to live in Raleigh.

8/30/2013 2:44:24 PM

What about the various suburbs?

What about Langley? Can I live there for under $1500?

Can I live in someone's basement?

8/30/2013 7:17:46 PM

what's your experience level? engineer straight out of college should be about 65k here. As a young professional you probably want to live in dc as some have said or in Arlington like clarendon,ballston,court house, etc..


^don't think you want to live in Mclean unless your work is in langley or something. Mclean is expensive too and not so good for social activities. Try looking at the Arlington neighborhoods I mentioned. You can find a place to share for the figure you threw out.. well not under.

[Edited on August 30, 2013 at 9:17 PM. Reason : .]

8/30/2013 9:12:07 PM

Damn Stein you live near Eastern Market? There's a slim chance I might be moving to DC and looking for a place (slim). I'd love to live in that area... and not just because Eastern Market is fun.

8/30/2013 9:28:28 PM

*double poast fail*

[Edited on August 30, 2013 at 9:29 PM. Reason : f]

8/30/2013 9:28:59 PM

My girlfriend and I have a 775-sqft 1BR apt in Cleveland Park (less than a mile north of the National Zoo on Connecticut Ave) for $1750/month, and it's less than two blocks from a metro station.

I work for an ad agency in McLean, and on good traffic days (like coming home today), my commute is 25-30 min. On bad traffic days, it can be an hour. Or I can take the metro/bus for an hour and not worry about traffic.

I typically spend $250ish/month on gas for that commute.

I also had a 650-sqft, 1BR apt in Gaithersburg, Md., for $1320/month. It was a longer drive to McLean, and it was an hour metro ride downtown ($15/day to ride metro and park). So yeah, you make up for the savings in housing on the commute.

Alternatively, I rented the basement in a house near the National Cathedral for $900/month. It was a huge basement, but it was a group house with two other people. And I rented the basement in a row house in Columbia Heights for $750/month. They worked for me at the time, but they were, predictably, not as nice.

All depends on what you can tolerate and what your budget is.

Feel free to PM if you have other questions.

8/30/2013 9:35:23 PM

Quote :

"Damn Stein you live near Eastern Market? "

I live on 11th and Pennsylvania SE, so ~4 blocks from Eastern Market/Eastern Market metro.

To give another idea of costs, my girlfriend and I rent a 1,400 square foot English basement-esque apartment for $3,000 a month. I work in Ballston and metro there -- takes ~25 minutes stop to stop and about $6 a day round trip since I generally travel on off-peak times.

[Edited on August 31, 2013 at 12:29 PM. Reason : .]

8/31/2013 12:26:48 PM

go to Craigslist and rent a room out of a house. 5 years plus for me....in nova takes a hr to get to work..

[Edited on September 1, 2013 at 7:47 PM. Reason : r]

9/1/2013 7:46:07 PM

go to Craigslist and rent a room out of a house. 5 years plus for me....

9/1/2013 7:46:07 PM

Craigslist for the win.

I found my Columbia Heights house and Cathedral Heights house on CL.

9/1/2013 8:42:04 PM

I'm interning in Tyson's Corner as a data analyst and I think I want to live in DC if I can land a job. How much should I ask for when interviewing if I have a 1 year experience and an MS?

9/1/2013 9:08:12 PM

You only have 1 year of experience?

What technologies have you used?

9/1/2013 10:23:13 PM

Quote :

"I'm interning in Tyson's Corner as a data analyst and I think I want to live in DC if I can land a job. "

Real talk: you don't want to do this.

9/1/2013 11:49:00 PM

when does the Metro extension to Tyson's finish?

that commute would be horrible otherwise


[Edited on September 2, 2013 at 12:08 AM. Reason : .]

9/2/2013 12:05:29 AM

Allegedly early 2014, following Orange/Blue from East Falls Church through DC along Blue and Orange.

9/2/2013 12:35:47 AM

Personally, I'd MUCH rather live in DC and commute to Tyson's via Metro than to live near Tyson's. Yuck

9/2/2013 12:50:23 AM

Yeah that's what I do. My ad agency is at Tyson's Galleria. The metro station there is allegedly a few months from opening. We'll see.

I live in Cleveland Park, and I really don't mind the commute. It takes me 35 min or so to drive in each morning. Or I can metro to West Falls Church and take a bus. That takes about an hour, but I can sit and read, so I don't mind doing that every so often.

9/2/2013 10:10:07 AM

i work in Herndon and would hate to live up here. worst drivers in america

9/3/2013 10:27:34 AM