Can a family of 3 making $165k-170k afford to live in the District?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: First, please just take a look around. We have a family of six and make it on under 60k a year. Although we don't live in or around the city. We own a home, have two used cars and have a realistic grocery budget each month. Many families in the DC area DO NOT make anywhere near $170k with children and they get by just fine. I have a friend with 3 children and she does very well on a salary of 80k per year as a single mother and she's in a very nice Northern Va suburb. I wish more people would stop being so damn naive about having high salaries when the rest of us are thankful for what we have and doing just fine. UGH. Reality check needed.

A family of six with a $60K HHI is not saving for retirement or college. That's $50K right there that you don't have to bother with, because you can't. Please don't compare your family, which is concerned with daily living expenses and not long term savings and investing, to a family that makes $200K but is trying to save for retirement and college. Apples and oranges.

[Anonymous]

Op is asking about living in Ward 3, specifically in the Murch or Janney boundaries. It is possible but you would have to find one of the smaller fixer upper type places or rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: First, please just take a look around. We have a family of six and make it on under 60k a year. Although we don't live in or around the city. We own a home, have two used cars and have a realistic grocery budget each month. Many families in the DC area DO NOT make anywhere near $170k with children and they get by just fine. I have a friend with 3 children and she does very well on a salary of 80k per year as a single mother and she's in a very nice Northern Va suburb. I wish more people would stop being so damn naive about having high salaries when the rest of us are thankful for what we have and doing just fine. UGH. Reality check needed.

A family of six with a $60K HHI is not saving for retirement or college. That's $50K right there that you don't have to bother with, because you can't. Please don't compare your family, which is concerned with daily living expenses and not long term savings and investing, to a family that makes $200K but is trying to save for retirement and college. Apples and oranges.

This poster was just giving an example of what is possible. Lay off! The OP never said a word about saving for college or retirement savings. They may be only thinking about paying for housing. Do not assume everyone is a saver I have found there are more people than you think who are only concerned with daily living and not saving for the future because they can't do both.

[Anonymous]

"OP was asking about living in the Janney school district not an outlying suburb or exburb. That was a fair question giving the cost of housing in that area."

Yep, if you want to live in-bounds for Janney or Murch, you're looking at at least $3500/mo. for mortgage, property tax and insurance, assuming 20% down. So that's 42K a year for the house. Add in 50K/year for state and federal taxes, and 30K/year for childcare (aftercare and camps for child #1, daycare for child #2), and they're left with 4K/month for utilities, gas and car insurance, any life and health insurance, food, other expenses, and savings. So its doable, depending on the savings question - how much do they want to save for college, do they have money set aside for emergencies and home repairs/maintenance, etc.

[Anonymous]

"This poster was just giving an example of what is possible. Lay off! The OP never said a word about saving for college or retirement savings. They may be only thinking about paying for housing. Do not assume everyone is a saver I have found there are more people than you think who are only concerned with daily living and not saving for the future because they can't do both. "

But it's not fair for someone making HHI of $60K to say, we can live in DC on that amount, so why can't you live in DC on $170K or $200K? The answer is that the family with the higher HHI is responsible for more expenses than the $60K family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"This poster was just giving an example of what is possible. Lay off! The OP never said a word about saving for college or retirement savings. They may be only thinking about paying for housing. Do not assume everyone is a saver I have found there are more people than you think who are only concerned with daily living and not saving for the future because they can't do both. "

But it's not fair for someone making HHI of $60K to say, we can live in DC on that amount, so why can't you live in DC on $170K or $200K? The answer is that the family with the higher HHI is responsible for more expenses than the $60K family.

Why is that?

[Anonymous]

OP. Sorry for stirring a hornets nest. I just constantly hear that DC is the most expensive place in the nation. We're going to be spending about $1500 a month in daycare which I hear is on the lower side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"OP was asking about living in the Janney school district not an outlying suburb or exburb. That was a fair question giving the cost of housing in that area."

Yep, if you want to live in-bounds for Janney or Murch, you're looking at at least $3500/mo. for mortgage, property tax and insurance, assuming 20% down. So that's 42K a year for the house. Add in 50K/year for state and federal taxes, and 30K/year for childcare (aftercare and camps for child #1, daycare for child #2), and they're left with 4K/month for utilities, gas and car insurance, any life and health insurance, food, other expenses, and savings. So its doable, depending on the savings question - how much do they want to save for college, do they have money set aside for emergencies and home repairs/maintenance, etc.

We bought a townhouse in Murch and our PITI is under $3200, so it is definitely possible (20% down, refinanced recently for low mortgage rate).

We moved here from Tokyo, however, so while we think our townhouse is huge, it is small by American standards @ 1500 sq ft. Rentals for nicer 2 BDRs typically start in the low $3Ks and go up from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. Sorry for stirring a hornets nest. I just constantly hear that DC is the most expensive place in the nation. We're going to be spending about $1500 a month in daycare which I hear is on the lower side.

DC is MUCH cheaper than NYC or SF or LA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"This poster was just giving an example of what is possible. Lay off! The OP never said a word about saving for college or retirement savings. They may be only thinking about paying for housing. Do not assume everyone is a saver I have found there are more people than you think who are only concerned with daily living and not saving for the future because they can't do both. "

But it's not fair for someone making HHI of $60K to say, we can live in DC on that amount, so why can't you live in DC on $170K or $200K? The answer is that the family with the higher HHI is responsible for more expenses than the $60K family.

Why is that?

I am going to assume for a moment that you're serious. The reason is because, for example, Harvard is not giving a free ride to families with HHI over $180,000, but a child of a family with an HHI of $60,000 will attend free. The parents of a family with a $60K HHI cannot hope to retire, because they will not have enough in savings to supplement Social Security.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. Sorry for stirring a hornets nest. I just constantly hear that DC is the most expensive place in the nation. We're going to be spending about $1500 a month in daycare which I hear is on the lower side.

We spend $2800 a month on daycare.

[Anonymous]

I'm the poster that is living off of 60k with a family of six. I definetely don't live in or around the district but I know people that do on less than 100k. While this woman and some others might be making a strong six figures, we will eventually get there too. My husband and I are likely much younger than most people on this board. We're in our late 20's and have the next 40 years to earn money. My husband is finishing his graduate degree and will continue to earn more money. We don't pay daycare costs. Please also don't assume we have no college fund for our children or plan on having one. We may actually be in a better financial position than others when our kids are ready for college and if we have a HHI of 200-300k at that point but have six family members, we'll be better off than a family with a HHI of 500k with one child. College tuition is skyrocketing and it's my belief that eventually only the rich will be able to afford it. I think all of us worry about rising healthcare costs, college tuition, home prices, etc.
So, yes, OP you can do quite well on that income and renting in Georgetown shouldn't even be out of your league. Good Luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I'm the poster that is living off of 60k with a family of six. I definetely don't live in or around the district but I know people that do on less than 100k. While this woman and some others might be making a strong six figures, we will eventually get there too. My husband and I are likely much younger than most people on this board. We're in our late 20's and have the next 40 years to earn money. My husband is finishing his graduate degree and will continue to earn more money. We don't pay daycare costs. Please also don't assume we have no college fund for our children or plan on having one. We may actually be in a better financial position than others when our kids are ready for college and if we have a HHI of 200-300k at that point but have six family members, we'll be better off than a family with a HHI of 500k with one child. College tuition is skyrocketing and it's my belief that eventually only the rich will be able to afford it. I think all of us worry about rising healthcare costs, college tuition, home prices, etc.
So, yes, OP you can do quite well on that income and renting in Georgetown shouldn't even be out of your league. Good Luck.

This is completely irrelevant to the question. Obviously people live on less and many end up just fine. But, that is not at all the question. The question is whether they will have the quality of life that those who make $165-170k can generally afford.

In answer to the question, yes, but it will be tight and you will have to make compromises. You may decide that it makes more sense to just move out of the city. But, if you really want to make it work, you will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Sorry for stirring a hornets nest. I just constantly hear that DC is the most expensive place in the nation. We're going to be spending about $1500 a month in daycare which I hear is on the lower side.

DC is MUCH cheaper than NYC or SF or LA.

Have you priced homes in SF or LA recently? They used to be more expensive than DC, but the markets there have dropped a lot while the DC market just keeps bubbling upwards. DC is still cheaper than NYC, but not cheaper than SF or LA anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I'm the poster that is living off of 60k with a family of six. I definetely don't live in or around the district but I know people that do on less than 100k. While this woman and some others might be making a strong six figures, we will eventually get there too. My husband and I are likely much younger than most people on this board. We're in our late 20's and have the next 40 years to earn money. My husband is finishing his graduate degree and will continue to earn more money. We don't pay daycare costs. Please also don't assume we have no college fund for our children or plan on having one. We may actually be in a better financial position than others when our kids are ready for college and if we have a HHI of 200-300k at that point but have six family members, we'll be better off than a family with a HHI of 500k with one child. College tuition is skyrocketing and it's my belief that eventually only the rich will be able to afford it. I think all of us worry about rising healthcare costs, college tuition, home prices, etc.
So, yes, OP you can do quite well on that income and renting in Georgetown shouldn't even be out of your league. Good Luck.

You'll be surprised to find that many of the 6-figure households around here broke that ceiling in their late twenties, also from the sound of it, it's four kids. We are around a quarter mil HHI, early 30s, and for financial reasons would never even dream of four kids. We just couldn't provide the personal time and standard of life we value for ourselves and for our children for a family that size. In fact, we delayed a second child till our current child is 3-4 years old for financial security goals.

For you family size, your HHI puts you at the lower income category in Arlington, for example....you would be eligible for housing assistance etc.: http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/CPHD/housing/hpp/CPHDHousingHousing_infoIncomeRent.aspx