What income is needed to live the american dream - close in DC area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and I’ll add- this is still a generous budget because sometimes you just don’t do all of the above, all at once. Some years it’s staycations or day trips. Maybe you do a little less in the kids 529s sometimes. Maybe you drive a paid off beater for awhile. Lots of ways to flex on this. Housing and childcare are tough. Big line item that can be hard to compromise on. Contrary to DCUMs most prolific posters, it is possible to find a house for 700k within a 45 minute drive. Just not a 6k square foot new build in Arlington.

45 minute drive in rush hour with good schools?

Yep- try 20902 (close to Wheaton), or 20910 or parts of PG County, like another poster mentioned. Of course, you will be attending schools with Black and brown children. It will be ok though, I promise.

0% chance those are 45 min or less in rush hour to downtown. You’re looking at 55 minutes each way.

I live <10 miles to downtown DC, and it usually takes me an hour if I leave at 8. Sometimes more, usually less on Fridays.

5-10 min drive + walk to wheaton metro; 35 min on red line to metro center. Very standard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of this isn’t going to be relevant- housing bubble will have to break at some point. After the orange man, we will see the cost of housing and housing materials decrease. Yes, this means less equity, but it also means a better life for the younger people.

Unfortunately the tariffs will drive up the cost of living substantially. American's have come to expect cheap goods and our economy depends on it. People want 10 pairs of pants at $40 not 2 pairs at $250 like 100 years ago. It's fiction to think people want to go back to a world where every day items are super expensive but "higher quality and made in the USA".

I’d rather have 2 pairs of well made pants than 10 pairs that shred the minute you wash them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of this isn’t going to be relevant- housing bubble will have to break at some point. After the orange man, we will see the cost of housing and housing materials decrease. Yes, this means less equity, but it also means a better life for the younger people.

Unfortunately the tariffs will drive up the cost of living substantially. American's have come to expect cheap goods and our economy depends on it. People want 10 pairs of pants at $40 not 2 pairs at $250 like 100 years ago. It's fiction to think people want to go back to a world where every day items are super expensive but "higher quality and made in the USA".

Clothing used to be good quality. Also washing machines used to be more gentle on clothes and they didn’t get worn out so quickly. Fashion used to emphasize more of a classic style so people didn’t feel out of style so quickly.
Those 10 pairs of pants are cheap because they have been sown together by children in a third world country and will also fall apart quickly because the thread that was used for sewing was super cheap.

Sure, but that's not what the market wants. The middle class doesn't want to save up their paychecks to buy basic stuff like pants.

How do you know? I would much rather buy once and not have to buy for another 5-10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and I’ll add- this is still a generous budget because sometimes you just don’t do all of the above, all at once. Some years it’s staycations or day trips. Maybe you do a little less in the kids 529s sometimes. Maybe you drive a paid off beater for awhile. Lots of ways to flex on this. Housing and childcare are tough. Big line item that can be hard to compromise on. Contrary to DCUMs most prolific posters, it is possible to find a house for 700k within a 45 minute drive. Just not a 6k square foot new build in Arlington.

45 minute drive in rush hour with good schools?

Yep- try 20902 (close to Wheaton), or 20910 or parts of PG County, like another poster mentioned. Of course, you will be attending schools with Black and brown children. It will be ok though, I promise.

0% chance those are 45 min or less in rush hour to downtown. You’re looking at 55 minutes each way.

I live <10 miles to downtown DC, and it usually takes me an hour if I leave at 8. Sometimes more, usually less on Fridays.

5-10 min drive + walk to wheaton metro; 35 min on red line to metro center. Very standard

I looked at the houses actually for sale under 750k in that zip code. Closest one is an 8 min walk. Most are a lot further (next closest is a 24 min walk). The close one is still a 50 minutes commute downtown unless your office is directly on top of the metro station.

I’m not saying a 50 minute commute is atypical. I do that or longer. But OP is asking for <45 minutes.

[Anonymous]

I had 2 boys. I bought clothes for one boy, and never had to buy anything for the younger one because all the clothes lasted. Today that isn’t possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had 2 boys. I bought clothes for one boy, and never had to buy anything for the younger one because all the clothes lasted. Today that isn’t possible.

You can still get high quality clothes but they cost more. You can buy the low quality clothes dirt cheap so you can afford to buy twice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of this isn’t going to be relevant- housing bubble will have to break at some point. After the orange man, we will see the cost of housing and housing materials decrease. Yes, this means less equity, but it also means a better life for the younger people.

Unfortunately the tariffs will drive up the cost of living substantially. American's have come to expect cheap goods and our economy depends on it. People want 10 pairs of pants at $40 not 2 pairs at $250 like 100 years ago. It's fiction to think people want to go back to a world where every day items are super expensive but "higher quality and made in the USA".

Clothing used to be good quality. Also washing machines used to be more gentle on clothes and they didn’t get worn out so quickly. Fashion used to emphasize more of a classic style so people didn’t feel out of style so quickly.
Those 10 pairs of pants are cheap because they have been sown together by children in a third world country and will also fall apart quickly because the thread that was used for sewing was super cheap.

Sure, but that's not what the market wants. The middle class doesn't want to save up their paychecks to buy basic stuff like pants.

How do you know? I would much rather buy once and not have to buy for another 5-10 years.

Because $250 pants do exist and people still choose to buy the cheap stuff. The market has spoken about what people prioritize. If people wanted high cost/high quality then Shein wouldn't have taken over.

The middle class dream is not what it once was in the 1950s. It's going to be very difficult to reset everyone's expectations back 100 years. People don't realize what they voted for... Gatsby lifestyle at the top and a massive regression in lifestyle in the middle. Smaller houses, less things, relative high cost of everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much do you need to make for the following:

- Single family home within a 45 minute commute of downtown DC
- 2 cars
- Save for retirement at age 65
- Pay for college, 2-3 kids
- 1 week domestic family vacation every year
- No financial stress about all the regular, and unplanned, maintenance, repairs, etc

Our HHI is approx 360k. I think 450k HHI is what you need for the above.

[Anonymous]

All depends on downpayment. My new neighbor on homes.com I can see they put down 1.3 million on a 1.8 million home. Some credit unions can get a 5.25 5 year ARM so 500k at 5.25 is not bad.

Now imagine they put down only 300k and had a fixed rate 1.5 million mortgage at 5.75,

Some of new neighbors are trading up, crypto money, stock appreciation, help from mom and Dad so on 250k the live the life of a richer person

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$250k

So PG county?

Uh…yeah? What’s wrong with living the American dream in PG? It’s got its problems but your housing costs will be 50 percent of what they are in VA. And if you don’t like the schools there’s a lot of good Catholic school options or private school options that are significantly less than trying to do that in NOVA.

We have neighbors that make 100-150k that are living the American dream just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$250k

So PG county?

Life in PG is pretty great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had 2 boys. I bought clothes for one boy, and never had to buy anything for the younger one because all the clothes lasted. Today that isn’t possible.

My kids rarely wore out clothing. And, I buy cheaper clothing. Teach your kids to take care of their stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and I’ll add- this is still a generous budget because sometimes you just don’t do all of the above, all at once. Some years it’s staycations or day trips. Maybe you do a little less in the kids 529s sometimes. Maybe you drive a paid off beater for awhile. Lots of ways to flex on this. Housing and childcare are tough. Big line item that can be hard to compromise on. Contrary to DCUMs most prolific posters, it is possible to find a house for 700k within a 45 minute drive. Just not a 6k square foot new build in Arlington.

45 minute drive in rush hour with good schools?

Yep- try 20902 (close to Wheaton), or 20910 or parts of PG County, like another poster mentioned. Of course, you will be attending schools with Black and brown children. It will be ok though, I promise.

0% chance those are 45 min or less in rush hour to downtown. You’re looking at 55 minutes each way.

I live <10 miles to downtown DC, and it usually takes me an hour if I leave at 8. Sometimes more, usually less on Fridays.

I'm not familiar with MD, but in VA there are several commuter busses that go straight into DC. I am in Chantilly and can be downtown in 35-45 min. There are other busses that come from Loudoun Co and Manassas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much do you need to make for the following:

- Single family home within a 45 minute commute of downtown DC
- 2 cars
- Save for retirement at age 65
- Pay for college, 2-3 kids
- 1 week domestic family vacation every year
- No financial stress about all the regular, and unplanned, maintenance, repairs, etc

Our HHI is approx 360k. I think 450k HHI is what you need for the above.

I would love to hear how you came up with that. Are you talking about cash flowing college expenses or what?

What's your highest line item in this scenario?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and I’ll add- this is still a generous budget because sometimes you just don’t do all of the above, all at once. Some years it’s staycations or day trips. Maybe you do a little less in the kids 529s sometimes. Maybe you drive a paid off beater for awhile. Lots of ways to flex on this. Housing and childcare are tough. Big line item that can be hard to compromise on. Contrary to DCUMs most prolific posters, it is possible to find a house for 700k within a 45 minute drive. Just not a 6k square foot new build in Arlington.

45 minute drive in rush hour with good schools?

Yep- try 20902 (close to Wheaton), or 20910 or parts of PG County, like another poster mentioned. Of course, you will be attending schools with Black and brown children. It will be ok though, I promise.

0% chance those are 45 min or less in rush hour to downtown. You’re looking at 55 minutes each way.

I live <10 miles to downtown DC, and it usually takes me an hour if I leave at 8. Sometimes more, usually less on Fridays.

I'm not familiar with MD, but in VA there are several commuter busses that go straight into DC. I am in Chantilly and can be downtown in 35-45 min. There are other busses that come from Loudoun Co and Manassas.

You are not getting from Chantilly to downtown DC on a bus in under 45 minutes at rush hour. Zero percent chance. I live near Old Town, and it regularly takes me an hour at rush hour to get to downtown by car. Less than 25 minutes no traffic, though.