Please explain how to live here on $70k / yr

[Anonymous]

Get a roomie. Trust me.

[Anonymous]

Plenty people survive making less.

[Anonymous]

Nurses make around that or even less. My single co-workers mostly have roommates. Us married ones have husbands who usually make more money in another field, but not always. But there are nurses out there who are single and have kids....and gasp! live in the area. It never ceases to amaze how out of touch with reality some DCUMers are re: money. Don't let these ding dongs convince you that you need 300K+ to make it in this area.

[Anonymous]

OMG. People are so dramatic around here! I make 60k and live by myself in Bethesda in a nice apartment. I'm very comfortable, I have great credit and am saving for retirement and have good healthcare. I'm not taking lavish vacations, but I do take a one week family vacation every August as well as a few long weekends to NYC, Philly, Ocean City, etc through the year. Most of the people on here would think I'm poor, but I'm really very happy and feel very fortunate.

[Anonymous]

I lived in DC from 2000 to 2009 on a sub 70k salary (got married in 2009 so income and house changed).

Housing prices have definitely increased since then, but I still managed on 55k. I lived in an tiny apartment in adams morgan and walked or rode bike or bus or metro everywhere. No car or car insurance saved a lot of $. I didn't go out a lot but still did--tons of free stuff to do in DC. Didn't have expensive tastes, etc. I still managed to save 8% of my salary.

[Anonymous]

This is completely doable if you are single, and you should even have enough room to put a decent amount towards savings assuming you don't have lots of debt. Get a roommate or studio, live where you don't need to own a car and take transit/ride a bike, do a budget and stick to it (get YNAB), and don't live above your means. As in eat in, don't get cable, don't buy junk you don't need, don't go on vacations you can't afford, don't buy lots of clothes, etc. Lots of people have lived just fine on much less. Once you have kids you will realize this is actually a lot of money.

[Anonymous]

Echoing others who say live with roommates or live further out. I moved here after college and was making $35k as a GS-5 fed. Now I'm past that stage and own my own home, thankfully, but roommates were a must. $70k was when I was able to start saving more because expenses weren't eating up most of my take-home pay.

[Anonymous]

I made $35k the first year I lived in DC (2008) and I felt like I had plenty of money! No car and I lived with a roommate on the Hill and paid $900/month each, but I never felt broke. We hit up the "good" happy hours on $1 taco nights and felt rich!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$70k for a single person is a decent amount, even in the dc area.

It may be tough to support a family on that amount but it could be done too.

Agreed.

[Anonymous]

I make a few thousand less than that and have a kid in MS. We live in a basement apt in a nice neighborhood so good schools. No real vacation but occasionally we visit family or a friend invites us to the beach for a few days.

[Anonymous]

Live in the suburbs, you don't need roommates if you're in Rockville or something similar. If you must be in DC, then definitely a roommate. Inexpensive reliable car, if you must have one. Limit eating out. You'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Not too difficult if you live in the suburbs. That’s a nice income for a single young person.

[Anonymous]

In 2006 I made 60K working three jobs. Lived in a studio in an old building near Dupont Circle. Bought a 1-br condo in Trinidad that same year.

I find it mindboggling that you can't make ends meet on 70K when single.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In 2006 I made 60K working three jobs. Lived in a studio in an old building near Dupont Circle. Bought a 1-br condo in Trinidad that same year.

I find it mindboggling that you can't make ends meet on 70K when single.

I find it mindboggling that you aren't aware of changes in DC's housing market over the past twelve years, not to mention the increase in education costs leading to more student loan debt.

Nonetheless, I think it's very possible to live on $70k as a single person. Yes, you might be in a studio instead of a 1br, or not in a brand-new building, or not saving a ton for a down payment, but actually living? Absolutely doable.

[Anonymous]

SO many eye rolls.

I made 30K when I moved here, DH made between 0 and 20K for a while, then upped that to around 40K.

We rented a bus-to-metro accessible apt in Silver Spring for 1K a month. The same apartment now is around 1200. We had around 400/mo in student loans, variable credit card debt, no car payment at the time.
We went out, didn't starve, traveled, etc. Since our housing costs were so low and we didn't have kids yet, it was totally doable. I cooked a lot, but I do that anyway.