Not making 6 figures!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A teacher in Moco tops out at 103,634 for a 10 month position. You are looking at the wrong pay scale. The teacher scale (MCEA) is on the second page of that link.

I was looking at the hourly rate conversion, based on 2088 hours-SEIU local 500 rates.

[Anonymous]

I live in a 1,900 square foot house with a 1 car garage that is 50 years old. It cost $700,000. See why six figures doesn't go very far here?

What do I get for my $700,000 small house? A pleasant low crime area within reasonably short commuting time to work and a high quality local public elementary school.

That stuff might be easy to find in Richmond, but it is extremely scarce in DC and a lot of people are willing and have the ability to pay big bucks for it.

Easy solution would be for me to move where you are, but if I did, I probably couldn't find a job with my skills that would pay even half of what I get paid in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in a 1,900 square foot house with a 1 car garage that is 50 years old. It cost $700,000. See why six figures doesn't go very far here?

What do I get for my $700,000 small house? A pleasant low crime area within reasonably short commuting time to work and a high quality local public elementary school.

That stuff might be easy to find in Richmond, but it is extremely scarce in DC and a lot of people are willing and have the ability to pay big bucks for it.

Easy solution would be for me to move where you are, but if I did, I probably couldn't find a job with my skills that would pay even half of what I get paid in DC.

Which is why teaching/police work are great! You can live in so many places.

[Anonymous]

Teaching, Police Officer, Firefighter, nurse. Jobs that can be done just about anywhere.

My husband's defense/security contract work = HERE and basically nowhere else if you actually want job security.

And he just broke 6 figures this past year at 35. I work PT and maybe bring in $30K a year? Working FT, I might bring in $60K or so, even with 2 degrees, as I prefer non-profit work.

We looked into moving - came super close to moving to TX. Decided it wasn't worth it if he didn't have a lot of good options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a 1,900 square foot house with a 1 car garage that is 50 years old. It cost $700,000. See why six figures doesn't go very far here?

What do I get for my $700,000 small house? A pleasant low crime area within reasonably short commuting time to work and a high quality local public elementary school.

That stuff might be easy to find in Richmond, but it is extremely scarce in DC and a lot of people are willing and have the ability to pay big bucks for it.

Easy solution would be for me to move where you are, but if I did, I probably couldn't find a job with my skills that would pay even half of what I get paid in DC.

Which is why teaching/police work are great! You can live in so many places.

In our house, DH works in a universal field where he could work anywhere around the country. However, at his 10-month position (at a school but not a teacher) he makes almost 2x more than his friends in the same position for 12 months back in our home town. I am specialized, hence the reason we live in the DC area. I make 6 figures and our families think we are loaded, but I couldn't make anywhere near that if we moved out of this area. It's hard to explain to family and friends that we aren't as loaded as they think once the cost of our mortgage and childcare are accounted for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teaching, Police Officer, Firefighter, nurse. Jobs that can be done just about anywhere.

My husband's defense/security contract work = HERE and basically nowhere else if you actually want job security.

And he just broke 6 figures this past year at 35. I work PT and maybe bring in $30K a year? Working FT, I might bring in $60K or so, even with 2 degrees, as I prefer non-profit work.

We looked into moving - came super close to moving to TX. Decided it wasn't worth it if he didn't have a lot of good options.

oops, forgot to finish. We live in a 4 BR 2200 sf home that cost us $455K 2 years ago in West Fairfax (recently appraised for $520K). Luckily had some money from a previous TH that appreciated in order to buy up.

We could actually move south on 95 to get closer to my husband's job and pay less, but even he said he would be unhappy down there. We like where we are - close to tons of amenities in this area of the county. Nice walkable neighborhood with schools, library and a decent shopping center within walking distance. We rarely have to go more than 5 miles from our house for much of anything (except my husband's job - which is quite a trip).

[Anonymous]

I don't think the larger salaries really help with the MUCH higher COL, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher in Moco tops out at 103,634 for a 10 month position. You are looking at the wrong pay scale. The teacher scale (MCEA) is on the second page of that link.

I was looking at the hourly rate conversion, based on 2088 hours-SEIU local 500 rates.

Right--but teachers are on salary and use the MCEA pay scale, it doesn't matter how many hours they work. Now I also saw that the 90k for Richmond was based on 12 months not 10 months so if a teacher in MCPS with an MA + 60 graduate credits and 25 years of service works 12 months then they get 20% more than the 10 month pay scale ~ 124k. There are other positions within MCPS that use the SEIU rates.

[Anonymous]

how much does a paraeducator earn in MCPS on average?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP are you living in DC? I would be surprised to hear a DC teacher and DC firefighter not making 6 figures combined...

I think many people on this board bought houses when they were cheaper, but it's getting hard to buy now. A 2800 sq ft house can easily start at 700k, easily.

My 1500 sq ft house now costs $850,000. Glad I'm old and bought it before the boom.

[Anonymous]

OP,

We're just barely six salaries, mostly because I'm only part time. We're here and can't move though based on husband's fed job. Small house in non-expensive suburn. We manage to save for retirement and a bit for college. Some vacations but mostly to visit family. We're lucky that family live in somewhat interesting places. There are those of us around, salaries are slightly higher and normally don't spend that much time talking about finances on this board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP,

We're just barely six salaries, mostly because I'm only part time. We're here and can't move though based on husband's fed job. Small house in non-expensive suburn. We manage to save for retirement and a bit for college. Some vacations but mostly to visit family. We're lucky that family live in somewhat interesting places. There are those of us around, salaries are slightly higher and normally don't spend that much time talking about finances on this board.

I wish. I am forced to visit middle of texas once a year and I hate every single minute of it. That place is a hole, and now it's a ridiculously expensive hole to get to. It used to cost us $200 RT ticket - now it's more like $600/ticket. If we ever add a 2nd child, we're just going to have to tell them we're not coming anymore - we can't effing afford it.

[Anonymous]

Teacher salaries in Fairfax Cty and MoCo were shockingly low to me coming from NY. I would have taken a $25k paycut to stay a teacher so I went back to the corporate world where I am still making 10k less than I did when I was a teacher in NY.
To answer your original question, OP, about where people with lower salaries live, we are paying an exorbitant amount of rent on a townhouse in Tyson's. The best deals we can find are in Loudon (I.e., Leesburg) but the commute is killer. I know an FCPS teacher who drives in from West Virginia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

We're just barely six salaries, mostly because I'm only part time. We're here and can't move though based on husband's fed job. Small house in non-expensive suburn. We manage to save for retirement and a bit for college. Some vacations but mostly to visit family. We're lucky that family live in somewhat interesting places. There are those of us around, salaries are slightly higher and normally don't spend that much time talking about finances on this board.

I wish. I am forced to visit middle of texas once a year and I hate every single minute of it. That place is a hole, and now it's a ridiculously expensive hole to get to. It used to cost us $200 RT ticket - now it's more like $600/ticket. If we ever add a 2nd child, we're just going to have to tell them we're not coming anymore - we can't effing afford it.

We know.

You hate your inlaws in San Antonio. The only place you think is worth visiting there is Alamo Heights.

Broaden your world and explore that city. It is rich in culture and heritage. There is so much more to that city than the Riverwalk. If you only knew...

[Anonymous]

We used to live in the DMA on a $250k salary. We lived in the burbs in an outdated, tiny house that still cost $600k. It wasn't a terrible house, just not much for the money. For perspective, my brother lives in a larger, nicer house that cost $170k in another city. After housing and taxes, my brother has more disposable income than we do. So I felt our quality of life was comparable to someone who makes under $100k in most places.