WAMU article -families need $88615 to get by in the DC Metro area

[Anonymous]

Well when I took 10 weeks of leave without pay to have my baby and my husband's hours were cut to a fraction of full time later that same year - we made about half of what you're saying is necessary to live in the DC metro area and we didn't have thousands in savings to tide us over. It was hard, but we didn't go on public assistance and we somehow managed to pay for childcare, our car, our rent, and our groceries. We live in the burbs but not the boonies. I know it's hard for people to imagine how a family of 3 can live off $40k a year in this area, but I just have to say - people do manage.

[Anonymous]

Ok this spreadsheet is really misleading, but yes you can find a two bedroom for $1400 - Lloyd Apartments in Del Rey has good reviews so I think that estimate is fair. Alternatively, if you own a condo, it's reasonable that this could be your mortgage. But, for the others -

1) Childcare bill of $1700? Are both the kids under 3? If so, I'll give that to you but if even one of them is 5+, then I think this is inflated. Not everyone uses expensive centers in the heart of DC. A lot of us use licensed in-home providers.
2) Healthcare bill of $1577/month?! Does anyone actually spend this much? We spend about $300/month for the whole family and I realize not everyone gets as good a deal as we do, but even with double the premium, it wouldn't come anywhere near this article's estimate.
3) $607 on transport? Our car payments + gas + insurance is < $350/month. Does WaMu assume everyone pays $300/month in parking? Or maybe they assume you're paying for your SmartTrip out of pocket - but the vaste majority of DC residents don't.

I won't slam the food estimate but we spend that much buying organic and eating a lot of meat - we definitely are not going low-cost on our food. I'm sure a family on a tight budget could get by with less.

[Anonymous]

I agree the 1, 700 a month daycare would be scraping by but this situation would only be temporary 5 years or so. Also, this assumes both parents work. If not, they wouldn't have the daycare cost. Also, they might have family support for daycare or one might work off hours. I would think this would be a worse case scenario. Just like a lotcof news headlines just something to get your attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why we are moving and it sucks! I was born here and my DH and I are finishing school, and trying to be a family. We both can't work 80+ hours a week.

We went apartment hunting in our new town in a neighborhood with the best schools in the area. We are getting a new 2 bedroom apartment with a new kitchen, walk in closets and 2 bathrooms for $915 a month!!

Our pay is going to be cut a little bit but not nearly enough to make up the difference in housing prices. When they gave us the price of the apartment my DH and I burst out laughing.

Where?? I might want to move there too!

Basically anywhere smaller. Suburbs of Atlanta. Richmond. Florida panhandle. Most of Georgia. Shanendoah valley. Whatever

So basically you have to move to the South. No way.