NYTimes: College educated workers are leaving DC due to high housing costs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These stats are from pandemic era. We are back to in person work. When older college educated leave for single family homes and schools, new college graduates move in. Obviously, rich can afford housing and private schools so these aren't deciding factors for them, careers progress and business opportunities are.

No we’re not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Money does not help you if you are stuck inside a metro rail train with a psycho who wants to hurt strangers with a weapon for no good reason

You can afford to buy a car or ride Uber.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These stats are from pandemic era. We are back to in person work. When older college educated leave for single family homes and schools, new college graduates move in. Obviously, rich can afford housing and private schools so these aren't deciding factors for them, careers progress and business opportunities are.

No we’re not.

A lot of jobs are in-person, hybrid or will be. If not your current job then your next job or spouse's job would need commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These stats are from pandemic era. We are back to in person work. When older college educated leave for single family homes and schools, new college graduates move in. Obviously, rich can afford housing and private schools so these aren't deciding factors for them, careers progress and business opportunities are.

No we’re not.

A lot of jobs are in-person, hybrid or will be. If not your current job then your next job or spouse's job would need commute.

You do realize remote work existed before Covid, right? It’s not a new phenomenon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left dc and it was the best decision we made. Our kids go to a strong public in our new, small city. The mental load here is so much less - less competitive professionally and academically, cost of living is about 60% less than dc, there is little traffic. We have everything we need, albeit no world class museums or a multitude of fine dining restaurants, but we don’t miss those things that much. We have calm, normal neighbors who do normal things and take normal vacations. My kids aren’t in a pressure cooker school yet still seems to be learning a ton and doing great on standardized testing. Their college options are better coming from here than close in DMV. We have room to breathe. We moved about 4 years ago and our house has appreciated about 50%.

Congratulations on the mediocrity.

DP. Why hate on someone who doesn’t like being in DC? I live here and there’s nothing truly remarkable about living here. Housing options suck and are expensive (yet the homes themselves are built so poorly), traffic, and it’s a ratrace. What’s so remarkable about DC?

History, museums, arts, architecture, and tons of interesting people with interesting jobs. Sure, you can get sucked into some crappy scene here. If what you want is some place that is cheaper, easier to drive around, and with fewer high achieving people to make you feel insecure, that's fine, but it sounds pretty mediocre.

LOL

There’s nothing interesting about being a government worker. At all.

Seriously if you want interesting high achieving people with interesting jobs go to NYC. Or a tech hub.

You have obviously never lived in NYC or a "tech hub" if you think that. I've lived in both NYC and SF. NYC is full of finance and finance-related people -- ultra boring. Unless you are talking the artsy types who now live in outer reaches of Brooklyn and Queens, NYC is not about interesting jobs anymore. It is about money. And don't even get me started on the tech hub....

Well I guess you didn’t grow up there, as I did and lived there for 15 more years as an adult, bc if you had you would have many cool high achieving friends with interesting jobs in medicine, law, the arts, not for profit, business world and on and on. Obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just cheaper housing. It’s better schools, less crime and fewer homeless people.

Not to mention rural, towns and suburbs have caught up in terms of dining, gyms and other amenities. You no longer need to live in a city for access to these things.

Yeah the Smithsonian is opening in rural towns and cities nationwide.

I'm a diehard DC native but underfunding of the Smithsonian plus the investment that other museums in smaller cities have done is leveling the playing field. we moved to a smaller midwestern city, hopefully its only for a little while- i want to move back to DC- butttt I've been shocked at how good the various museums, conservatory/symphony and gardens actually are. We did just get a sweet green and there is no pret a manger or blue mercury- we have to drive to a larger city for that - something I whine about to my spouse ALL the time so not having the ability to just pick up perfume while I am TJ's on 14th is something I miss A LOT.. is the inconvenience enough for me to not have a sub $500k Edwardian house walkable to my kids schools, bikable to pretty much everything else we need and saving enough to buy a summer cabin and go on 3-4 major vacations a year plus private school, hit retirement goals plus 529? we are from a 'diverse' background which is also a factor but when I compare everything we have here and what we would trade to move back to DC, despite my nagging feeling of homesickness, its a really tough choice. I am still on teh fence b.c I grew up in DC and my immediate family is there but day to day life is better and if I lived in a suburb- American suburbs are really indistuigashable. There is zero difference in living in a suburb in Raleigh, St. Louis or DC. as you move west, it changes bc of teh landscape and Phoenix, boulder etc are different but this side of the Mississippi the suburbs are all the same.

Where are you? Don’t worry your house will appreciate a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left dc and it was the best decision we made. Our kids go to a strong public in our new, small city. The mental load here is so much less - less competitive professionally and academically, cost of living is about 60% less than dc, there is little traffic. We have everything we need, albeit no world class museums or a multitude of fine dining restaurants, but we don’t miss those things that much. We have calm, normal neighbors who do normal things and take normal vacations. My kids aren’t in a pressure cooker school yet still seems to be learning a ton and doing great on standardized testing. Their college options are better coming from here than close in DMV. We have room to breathe. We moved about 4 years ago and our house has appreciated about 50%.

Congratulations on the mediocrity.

DP. Why hate on someone who doesn’t like being in DC? I live here and there’s nothing truly remarkable about living here. Housing options suck and are expensive (yet the homes themselves are built so poorly), traffic, and it’s a ratrace. What’s so remarkable about DC?

History, museums, arts, architecture, and tons of interesting people with interesting jobs. Sure, you can get sucked into some crappy scene here. If what you want is some place that is cheaper, easier to drive around, and with fewer high achieving people to make you feel insecure, that's fine, but it sounds pretty mediocre.

And Chicago, Philly and Boston have the same.

You can’t beat Boston though for proximity to beach AND skiing. And Maine!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just cheaper housing. It’s better schools, less crime and fewer homeless people.

Not to mention rural, towns and suburbs have caught up in terms of dining, gyms and other amenities. You no longer need to live in a city for access to these things.

Yeah the Smithsonian is opening in rural towns and cities nationwide.

I'm a diehard DC native but underfunding of the Smithsonian plus the investment that other museums in smaller cities have done is leveling the playing field. we moved to a smaller midwestern city, hopefully its only for a little while- i want to move back to DC- butttt I've been shocked at how good the various museums, conservatory/symphony and gardens actually are. We did just get a sweet green and there is no pret a manger or blue mercury- we have to drive to a larger city for that - something I whine about to my spouse ALL the time so not having the ability to just pick up perfume while I am TJ's on 14th is something I miss A LOT.. is the inconvenience enough for me to not have a sub $500k Edwardian house walkable to my kids schools, bikable to pretty much everything else we need and saving enough to buy a summer cabin and go on 3-4 major vacations a year plus private school, hit retirement goals plus 529? we are from a 'diverse' background which is also a factor but when I compare everything we have here and what we would trade to move back to DC, despite my nagging feeling of homesickness, its a really tough choice. I am still on teh fence b.c I grew up in DC and my immediate family is there but day to day life is better and if I lived in a suburb- American suburbs are really indistuigashable. There is zero difference in living in a suburb in Raleigh, St. Louis or DC. as you move west, it changes bc of teh landscape and Phoenix, boulder etc are different but this side of the Mississippi the suburbs are all the same.

Where are you? Don’t worry your house will appreciate a lot.

Seriously though, where are you? I'm curious too. These cities are definitely not all the same, and not just because of landscape. But it sounds like you found a good one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left dc and it was the best decision we made. Our kids go to a strong public in our new, small city. The mental load here is so much less - less competitive professionally and academically, cost of living is about 60% less than dc, there is little traffic. We have everything we need, albeit no world class museums or a multitude of fine dining restaurants, but we don’t miss those things that much. We have calm, normal neighbors who do normal things and take normal vacations. My kids aren’t in a pressure cooker school yet still seems to be learning a ton and doing great on standardized testing. Their college options are better coming from here than close in DMV. We have room to breathe. We moved about 4 years ago and our house has appreciated about 50%.

Congratulations on the mediocrity.

DP. Why hate on someone who doesn’t like being in DC? I live here and there’s nothing truly remarkable about living here. Housing options suck and are expensive (yet the homes themselves are built so poorly), traffic, and it’s a ratrace. What’s so remarkable about DC?

History, museums, arts, architecture, and tons of interesting people with interesting jobs. Sure, you can get sucked into some crappy scene here. If what you want is some place that is cheaper, easier to drive around, and with fewer high achieving people to make you feel insecure, that's fine, but it sounds pretty mediocre.

And Chicago, Philly and Boston have the same.

Wait until the PP’s young adult kids want to live in Philly in Northern Liberties, Fishtown or Point Breeze. There are even high rise luxury apartments going up in Kensington. They will have a heart attack from their pearl-clutching.

Row houses in south Philly are over $1M now and many are nicer than DC row houses.

[Anonymous]

The simple truth is this: if you guaranteed every federal worker stationed in DC that they didn't have to come into a physical office for at least the next 10 years, this area would become a ghost town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left dc and it was the best decision we made. Our kids go to a strong public in our new, small city. The mental load here is so much less - less competitive professionally and academically, cost of living is about 60% less than dc, there is little traffic. We have everything we need, albeit no world class museums or a multitude of fine dining restaurants, but we don’t miss those things that much. We have calm, normal neighbors who do normal things and take normal vacations. My kids aren’t in a pressure cooker school yet still seems to be learning a ton and doing great on standardized testing. Their college options are better coming from here than close in DMV. We have room to breathe. We moved about 4 years ago and our house has appreciated about 50%.

Congratulations on the mediocrity.

DP. Why hate on someone who doesn’t like being in DC? I live here and there’s nothing truly remarkable about living here. Housing options suck and are expensive (yet the homes themselves are built so poorly), traffic, and it’s a ratrace. What’s so remarkable about DC?

History, museums, arts, architecture, and tons of interesting people with interesting jobs. Sure, you can get sucked into some crappy scene here. If what you want is some place that is cheaper, easier to drive around, and with fewer high achieving people to make you feel insecure, that's fine, but it sounds pretty mediocre.

And Chicago, Philly and Boston have the same.

You can’t beat Boston though for proximity to beach AND skiing. And Maine!

Who in gods name wants to go to a beach north of VA beach? Only the poor or insane!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The simple truth is this: if you guaranteed every federal worker stationed in DC that they didn't have to come into a physical office for at least the next 10 years, this area would become a ghost town.

As it should. It’s not an especially great place to live apart from highly educated people and walkable neighborhoods. The weather sucks and it’s not close to anything pretty, a lot of the housing is crap and there’s so much basement flooding. Only one real sports team, lots of transients, lots of a-holes, and there are entire industries that don’t have good opportunities here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just cheaper housing. It’s better schools, less crime and fewer homeless people.

Not to mention rural, towns and suburbs have caught up in terms of dining, gyms and other amenities. You no longer need to live in a city for access to these things.

No. I live in a rural town and there is none of the following here or within 90 minutes of me: stores such as Lululemon, Apple, Athleta, Nordstrom, Coach and also Whole Foods, Equinox, Lifetime Fitness, Trader Joe’s, Soulcycle, Justsalad, Sweetgreen and Cava.

Every single one of these things that isn’t edible is available more conveniently online, and my smaller town has a better organic market and much better artisanal restaurants than Sweetgreen and Cava lol.

What smaller town can support an organic market?? This most be a vacation destination. Real rural towns don’t have organic markets, they have a section in Walmart. .

This is just untrue. I lived in a very rural town that had an organic co-op.

You should get out once in a while.

Outside of New England It a resort town? Name the state

I've lived in North Carolina and Wisconsin- this is true of both. I still would never willingly move to any one these states permanently though.

I've lived in NC. Maybe in the west there are some towns (not small cities like Asheville or Boone) with tourist and artist attraction that have organic markets. But otherwise NO, you're lucky to have something other than a dollar store! Can't speak to Wisconsin. I grew up in rural New York (hundreds of people). Local playhouse I'm summer but otherwise no performing arts, no university/4 year college, no organic markets (but some farm stands), no Starbucks. But there is Walmart!!

[Anonymous]

Look at the data, they aren't mostly moving to small towns, they are moving to booming cities; Atlanta, Houston, Denver. Cities that are more affordable than DC (though not cheap)

[Anonymous]

Sorry you grew up in a crap town but there are places like Saratoga, Lake Placid, Ithaca and all along the Hudson Valley and Columbia County that are pretty and cute.