What would my HHI get me in the area ?
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Anonymous
| Considering a move to the dc area and I’m curious what my current HHI of $135k would feel like in the area. We live pretty comfortably now. Family of 4, kids are tweens/teens. After reading this forum, it seems like my hhi would have me considered impoverished in the dc area. Thoughts? |
Anonymous
| Nothing. Seriously. In Arlignton you’d probably qualify for food stamps. |
Anonymous
| Yes you would be scraping by esp as a family of four. |
Anonymous
|
You’d be very close to qualifying for low income housing.
https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Programs/Housing/Income-and-Rent-Limits |
Anonymous
| You would find it very hard to find a place to live and you couldn’t buy anything in a not terrible area close to DC without a very substantial down payment. Forget good schools unless you are ok being in a 2 bedroom apartment. Ones in decent buildings will be over $3k a month. |
Anonymous
When I worked in DC, I was a GS-13 and lived in a studio right at the Metro in North Bethesda. I moved away because I couldn't figure out a way for me to afford a nice suburban family lifestyle close to DC. At that time, I was wishing I could afford houses that were $400 to $600K then. Now those houses are between $1-$2M. And wages for normal people aren't significantly more than in flyover country. Last time I checked there was only 10-20% premium for my occupation. Depending on where you're moving from, and where you move to, your kids might also hate the culture. I lived in Montgomery County for 1.25 years in middle school and was ecstatic my dad switched jobs again and moved us so soon. Came from California and moved to Pittsburgh. Both were nicer places to grow up. You could maybe consider outskirts like Baltimore or Frederick. Can your spouse go back to work? |
Anonymous
| Are you the only parent working? I am divorced and make 190k. It is tight. When married, HHI was 400k and we were comfortable. |
Anonymous
| You can live in pg county but I would own a dog and a gun if you choose that route |
Anonymous
| You couldn’t live anywhere you wanted, but you’d have some options. If this is something you really want, look at places like Cheverly, Bowie, all of Calvert County. These are nice places to live but they’re virtually ignored as options by people on this site. Cheverly is extremely close to DC, Bowie a little farther.Calvert County would be a 45-minute commute to DC (or longer, depending on actual location) but doable for a hybrid work situation. |
Anonymous
| If you are moving for a job make sure they make it worth your while. Look at some calculators for the area. Companies will try to lowball people from LCOL areas who have no. idea. |
Anonymous
| As a single person you’d be fine. As a family of four it would be challenging. |
Anonymous
| It will be tough for a family of 4. Even if you don’t plan to own rents are high. We had that income about 10 years ago but we didn’t have kids and we had a low mortgage payment in an area that would cause most of DCUM to hyperventilate. It was tight and we didn’t really save much for retirement. Everything is more expensive now. |
Anonymous
| It's fine. The people on this board are just really rich. We lived in a nice townhouse in Falls Church City on this salary and had no problems keeping up with the Jones'. |
Anonymous
| Can the kids share a room? You could rent a 2 bedroom with basement in Fairlington for $2500 and I'm pretty sure Arlington schools are fine, although I don't know that specific high school. It might feel somewhat tight, but you can for sure do it. I have a boy and a girl, so I feel like we need 3 bedrooms as they grow up so that makes housing a bit more expensive. |
Anonymous
| It could be very hard to live on that in this area with that size of a family. Research housing costs — you will see. |