How many friends or family of yours have left the DC area recently due to the rising cost of living?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in moco and just did this a few months ago.

No regrets so far! Found a place where I can but unlimited spin and yoga for 129 a month and I never sit in traffic.

How very cultured of you.

Lol I don't even understand this criticism.

QED.

[Anonymous]

One couple is moving to Baltimore - with one new job there and one existing job in DC that's what makes the most sense financially. I know several dual career feds living in Frederick because one job is in DC, one is elsewhere in or around MD, and if someone has to have a horrible commute they can at least save money.

I definitely feel a bit stuck - my spouse and I both have very specialized careers with better job opportunities in DC than most places in the country (and most of the others are also major cities with high COL), but we'll never make enough for a million dollar house either. Right now saving enough for A house and being able to pay for child care for the kids we want are big enough goals. We would love to move to a smaller, cheaper city that still has culture and urban amenities but I'm not sure we will both be able to find jobs somewhere like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Life is so much more enjoyable once you leave. At least this is what I have been told.

I am the poster who posted the large list of comparative prices, most of which are cheaper elsewhere. This is not necessarily true. Some people are happier...some people are less happy. Some people will never be happy/content no matter where they are. Own your choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is one thing I don't understand about moving to a lower COL city. If you move to a "lower" COL city, aren't you still paying same/more for cars, plane tickets, gas, groceries, taxes, refrigerators, movies, clothes? Does the cheap real estate prices offset all that even with a lower salary?

1. yes, the lower real estate prices make a huge difference. We have a much nicer house (4k sf, architect designed, land) here and our mortgage is $1,100/month. You can't rent a conveniently located studio for that in DC.

2. Food is cheaper here, generally speaking. Farmer's market prices for terrific locally grown food, instead of rivaling Whole Foods in cost, are more like Aldi (cheaper than grocery stores).

3. plane tickets are more expensive, marginally but only by a bit -- we have a few discount airlines serving local airport

4. cars -- I don't know, I don't have expensive car taste but here, there seem to be more Subarus and fewer BMWs.

5. gas is cheaper -- last time I was in DC, by 60 cents per gallon. That depends on state taxes on fuel though, won't be true everywhere.

6. taxes are much less expensive for more here but that is location-dependent.

7. How often do you buy a refrigerator? but I gather that is comparable. Movies are slightly less expensive (a couple dollars) but I haven't been to a theatre movie in years. Netflix is the same and affordable in either location.

8. things like handymen/small project contracting are much less expensive. I have a guy that can do basically anything for $35 an hour, I supply parts. He's also reliable and will come right away when I have a problem. I am sure these kinds of people are available in DC but I didn't have one there. Also we have fewer rules which means reduced permitting costs. I built a large barn on my property and didn't have to have any kind of permit at all.

9. DAYCARE FEES! we have awesome child care facilities run by Early Ed centers in our university and it is, full-pay, $1200/month. My friends in DC can't find anything halfway professional and reliable for under $2k a month.

Sports/activities/camps are also cheaper here.

The salary is not that much lower for the same job -- 10-15k. We save that much just on the mortgage.

Where is this unicorns place?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is one thing I don't understand about moving to a lower COL city. If you move to a "lower" COL city, aren't you still paying same/more for cars, plane tickets, gas, groceries, taxes, refrigerators, movies, clothes? Does the cheap real estate prices offset all that even with a lower salary?

1. yes, the lower real estate prices make a huge difference. We have a much nicer house (4k sf, architect designed, land) here and our mortgage is $1,100/month. You can't rent a conveniently located studio for that in DC.

2. Food is cheaper here, generally speaking. Farmer's market prices for terrific locally grown food, instead of rivaling Whole Foods in cost, are more like Aldi (cheaper than grocery stores).

3. plane tickets are more expensive, marginally but only by a bit -- we have a few discount airlines serving local airport

4. cars -- I don't know, I don't have expensive car taste but here, there seem to be more Subarus and fewer BMWs.

5. gas is cheaper -- last time I was in DC, by 60 cents per gallon. That depends on state taxes on fuel though, won't be true everywhere.

6. taxes are much less expensive for more here but that is location-dependent.

7. How often do you buy a refrigerator? but I gather that is comparable. Movies are slightly less expensive (a couple dollars) but I haven't been to a theatre movie in years. Netflix is the same and affordable in either location.

8. things like handymen/small project contracting are much less expensive. I have a guy that can do basically anything for $35 an hour, I supply parts. He's also reliable and will come right away when I have a problem. I am sure these kinds of people are available in DC but I didn't have one there. Also we have fewer rules which means reduced permitting costs. I built a large barn on my property and didn't have to have any kind of permit at all.

9. DAYCARE FEES! we have awesome child care facilities run by Early Ed centers in our university and it is, full-pay, $1200/month. My friends in DC can't find anything halfway professional and reliable for under $2k a month.

Sports/activities/camps are also cheaper here.

The salary is not that much lower for the same job -- 10-15k. We save that much just on the mortgage.

I agree as well. It's definitely not just real estate that is expensive in this area. Even the hair salon prices are double in this area as compared to my hometown down south. Food and home renovation work are also definitely more expensive here. Living here has truly made me more of DIY person also, since my home is older and the cost of handymen here is crazy. The only thing that I haven't noticed a difference in price is on the gas.

When I initially moved here out of college 4 other friends also got jobs in the area. Three of them have left. Only one is still here primarily because her husband is from this area. I have another friend that moved here 6 months ago and is already looking to leave because of the cost of living.

Bc this is a major city/metro area, not a secondary market down south. I don't get why people don't get that and why they complain so much about it. Major metro areas are more expensive than minor metro areas/non metro areas. Is this so utterly shocking?

No. But I think many people arrive in D.C. with the idea that it is temporary, it gets a little depressing after a while; and especially when they realize it is not temporary.

Well should have studied something besides "public policy" and pursued a career other than legislative affairs or whatever. Marketable skills that aren't tied to one market give you the ability to move on when you want to -- notice how not to many doctors; lawyers; accountants; engineers; IT types complain about being stuck in DC.

Actually, the public policy majors I know are now lobbyists, and doing extremely well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is one thing I don't understand about moving to a lower COL city. If you move to a "lower" COL city, aren't you still paying same/more for cars, plane tickets, gas, groceries, taxes, refrigerators, movies, clothes? Does the cheap real estate prices offset all that even with a lower salary?

1. yes, the lower real estate prices make a huge difference. We have a much nicer house (4k sf, architect designed, land) here and our mortgage is $1,100/month. You can't rent a conveniently located studio for that in DC.

2. Food is cheaper here, generally speaking. Farmer's market prices for terrific locally grown food, instead of rivaling Whole Foods in cost, are more like Aldi (cheaper than grocery stores).

3. plane tickets are more expensive, marginally but only by a bit -- we have a few discount airlines serving local airport

4. cars -- I don't know, I don't have expensive car taste but here, there seem to be more Subarus and fewer BMWs.

5. gas is cheaper -- last time I was in DC, by 60 cents per gallon. That depends on state taxes on fuel though, won't be true everywhere.

6. taxes are much less expensive for more here but that is location-dependent.

7. How often do you buy a refrigerator? but I gather that is comparable. Movies are slightly less expensive (a couple dollars) but I haven't been to a theatre movie in years. Netflix is the same and affordable in either location.

8. things like handymen/small project contracting are much less expensive. I have a guy that can do basically anything for $35 an hour, I supply parts. He's also reliable and will come right away when I have a problem. I am sure these kinds of people are available in DC but I didn't have one there. Also we have fewer rules which means reduced permitting costs. I built a large barn on my property and didn't have to have any kind of permit at all.

9. DAYCARE FEES! we have awesome child care facilities run by Early Ed centers in our university and it is, full-pay, $1200/month. My friends in DC can't find anything halfway professional and reliable for under $2k a month.

Sports/activities/camps are also cheaper here.

The salary is not that much lower for the same job -- 10-15k. We save that much just on the mortgage.

I agree as well. It's definitely not just real estate that is expensive in this area. Even the hair salon prices are double in this area as compared to my hometown down south. Food and home renovation work are also definitely more expensive here. Living here has truly made me more of DIY person also, since my home is older and the cost of handymen here is crazy. The only thing that I haven't noticed a difference in price is on the gas.

When I initially moved here out of college 4 other friends also got jobs in the area. Three of them have left. Only one is still here primarily because her husband is from this area. I have another friend that moved here 6 months ago and is already looking to leave because of the cost of living.

Bc this is a major city/metro area, not a secondary market down south. I don't get why people don't get that and why they complain so much about it. Major metro areas are more expensive than minor metro areas/non metro areas. Is this so utterly shocking?

Its shocking because the only other place you need to drop 1 million plus on real estate is SF and Downtown NY. There are no other places in the US where real estate is that nuts.

I dunno if that's true. There are places in the DC area where you don't need to drop 1 million for real estate, but you have to compromise in school test scores, commute, and size/quality of the house. This is true in every place I have lived. I feel like when people compare neighborhoods in, say, Austin, they aren't comparing apples to apples to their wants in DC. The neighborhoods where you are close in to downtown, have excellent schools, and a house that isn't a postage stamp or a huge fixer upper tend to be around a million in a lot of cities and upper middle class inner ring suburbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is one thing I don't understand about moving to a lower COL city. If you move to a "lower" COL city, aren't you still paying same/more for cars, plane tickets, gas, groceries, taxes, refrigerators, movies, clothes? Does the cheap real estate prices offset all that even with a lower salary?

1. yes, the lower real estate prices make a huge difference. We have a much nicer house (4k sf, architect designed, land) here and our mortgage is $1,100/month. You can't rent a conveniently located studio for that in DC.

2. Food is cheaper here, generally speaking. Farmer's market prices for terrific locally grown food, instead of rivaling Whole Foods in cost, are more like Aldi (cheaper than grocery stores).

3. plane tickets are more expensive, marginally but only by a bit -- we have a few discount airlines serving local airport

4. cars -- I don't know, I don't have expensive car taste but here, there seem to be more Subarus and fewer BMWs.

5. gas is cheaper -- last time I was in DC, by 60 cents per gallon. That depends on state taxes on fuel though, won't be true everywhere.

6. taxes are much less expensive for more here but that is location-dependent.

7. How often do you buy a refrigerator? but I gather that is comparable. Movies are slightly less expensive (a couple dollars) but I haven't been to a theatre movie in years. Netflix is the same and affordable in either location.

8. things like handymen/small project contracting are much less expensive. I have a guy that can do basically anything for $35 an hour, I supply parts. He's also reliable and will come right away when I have a problem. I am sure these kinds of people are available in DC but I didn't have one there. Also we have fewer rules which means reduced permitting costs. I built a large barn on my property and didn't have to have any kind of permit at all.

9. DAYCARE FEES! we have awesome child care facilities run by Early Ed centers in our university and it is, full-pay, $1200/month. My friends in DC can't find anything halfway professional and reliable for under $2k a month.

Sports/activities/camps are also cheaper here.

The salary is not that much lower for the same job -- 10-15k. We save that much just on the mortgage.

I agree as well. It's definitely not just real estate that is expensive in this area. Even the hair salon prices are double in this area as compared to my hometown down south. Food and home renovation work are also definitely more expensive here. Living here has truly made me more of DIY person also, since my home is older and the cost of handymen here is crazy. The only thing that I haven't noticed a difference in price is on the gas.

When I initially moved here out of college 4 other friends also got jobs in the area. Three of them have left. Only one is still here primarily because her husband is from this area. I have another friend that moved here 6 months ago and is already looking to leave because of the cost of living.

Bc this is a major city/metro area, not a secondary market down south. I don't get why people don't get that and why they complain so much about it. Major metro areas are more expensive than minor metro areas/non metro areas. Is this so utterly shocking?

Its shocking because the only other place you need to drop 1 million plus on real estate is SF and Downtown NY. There are no other places in the US where real estate is that nuts.

I dunno if that's true. There are places in the DC area where you don't need to drop 1 million for real estate, but you have to compromise in school test scores, commute, and size/quality of the house. This is true in every place I have lived. I feel like when people compare neighborhoods in, say, Austin, they aren't comparing apples to apples to their wants in DC. The neighborhoods where you are close in to downtown, have excellent schools, and a house that isn't a postage stamp or a huge fixer upper tend to be around a million in a lot of cities and upper middle class inner ring suburbs.

This. In the lower COL city I'm from a house is at least a million in a good part of town and I'm not talking about a really fancy or large house. 700-800K gets you something that needs work. I realize this is less expensive than dc but not significantly. The lower COL also requires private school in these neighborhoods and a car for each adult.

Fwiw I find dc a great deal. We can use public elementary schools and public transit here. We only have one car, which we barely use. Being able to save money not buying and maintaining cars over 20 plus years will really add up. Same for not having to spend on private school tuition for our children. Also dc real estate taxes are very low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is one thing I don't understand about moving to a lower COL city. If you move to a "lower" COL city, aren't you still paying same/more for cars, plane tickets, gas, groceries, taxes, refrigerators, movies, clothes? Does the cheap real estate prices offset all that even with a lower salary?

We are looking at this now, and, for the most part, everything is cheaper. Income tax. Property tax. Private school is $15,000 a year instead of $35,000. And that's just a big ticket items. A friend moved from NJ to a lower cost area, and she says her groceries are 40% cheaper. Pretty much anything that takes human labor is going to be dramatically cheaper. Comparable restaurants are about 30% cheaper. I've checked things like boarding the dog, and that's about 30 percent cheaper. The vet is about half. Gasoline depends mostly on state tax, so that varies.

I had to laugh about pp talking about people sitting around alone in their big houses in other parts of the country because there's nothing to do. I grew up in a small town and we had a wonderful social life. My Mother's rule was that "Only boring people are ever bored." We threw parties, entertained friends, performed in the community theater, participated in community fundraisers, and we had a wonderful time. All the same big theater productions that come to the Kennedy Center came to the nearest big city (about an hour and a half away), and we'd go see those. I find it amusing that people here think that there's "nothing to do" if someone isn't orchestrating events for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is one thing I don't understand about moving to a lower COL city. If you move to a "lower" COL city, aren't you still paying same/more for cars, plane tickets, gas, groceries, taxes, refrigerators, movies, clothes? Does the cheap real estate prices offset all that even with a lower salary?

1. yes, the lower real estate prices make a huge difference. We have a much nicer house (4k sf, architect designed, land) here and our mortgage is $1,100/month. You can't rent a conveniently located studio for that in DC.

2. Food is cheaper here, generally speaking. Farmer's market prices for terrific locally grown food, instead of rivaling Whole Foods in cost, are more like Aldi (cheaper than grocery stores).

3. plane tickets are more expensive, marginally but only by a bit -- we have a few discount airlines serving local airport

4. cars -- I don't know, I don't have expensive car taste but here, there seem to be more Subarus and fewer BMWs.

5. gas is cheaper -- last time I was in DC, by 60 cents per gallon. That depends on state taxes on fuel though, won't be true everywhere.

6. taxes are much less expensive for more here but that is location-dependent.

7. How often do you buy a refrigerator? but I gather that is comparable. Movies are slightly less expensive (a couple dollars) but I haven't been to a theatre movie in years. Netflix is the same and affordable in either location.

8. things like handymen/small project contracting are much less expensive. I have a guy that can do basically anything for $35 an hour, I supply parts. He's also reliable and will come right away when I have a problem. I am sure these kinds of people are available in DC but I didn't have one there. Also we have fewer rules which means reduced permitting costs. I built a large barn on my property and didn't have to have any kind of permit at all.

9. DAYCARE FEES! we have awesome child care facilities run by Early Ed centers in our university and it is, full-pay, $1200/month. My friends in DC can't find anything halfway professional and reliable for under $2k a month.

Sports/activities/camps are also cheaper here.

The salary is not that much lower for the same job -- 10-15k. We save that much just on the mortgage.

I agree as well. It's definitely not just real estate that is expensive in this area. Even the hair salon prices are double in this area as compared to my hometown down south. Food and home renovation work are also definitely more expensive here. Living here has truly made me more of DIY person also, since my home is older and the cost of handymen here is crazy. The only thing that I haven't noticed a difference in price is on the gas.

When I initially moved here out of college 4 other friends also got jobs in the area. Three of them have left. Only one is still here primarily because her husband is from this area. I have another friend that moved here 6 months ago and is already looking to leave because of the cost of living.

Bc this is a major city/metro area, not a secondary market down south. I don't get why people don't get that and why they complain so much about it. Major metro areas are more expensive than minor metro areas/non metro areas. Is this so utterly shocking?

Its shocking because the only other place you need to drop 1 million plus on real estate is SF and Downtown NY. There are no other places in the US where real estate is that nuts.

I dunno if that's true. There are places in the DC area where you don't need to drop 1 million for real estate, but you have to compromise in school test scores, commute, and size/quality of the house. This is true in every place I have lived. I feel like when people compare neighborhoods in, say, Austin, they aren't comparing apples to apples to their wants in DC. The neighborhoods where you are close in to downtown, have excellent schools, and a house that isn't a postage stamp or a huge fixer upper tend to be around a million in a lot of cities and upper middle class inner ring suburbs.

But if you do a real apples to apples comparison, DC is still more expensive. Yes, a house in Highland Park in Dallas will be around a million or more, but that buys a bigger, nicer house than you would get in Arlington, for example. AND it's closer to downtown and has excellent schools. There's really nowhere like that in DC, and If there were, it would be way more expensive. It's like what you would have if Cleveland Park had McLean schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This area has the most ideal col to salary ratio. Only foolish people leave because of col.

Maybe, but this was not the case for us. Moved to a large metropolitan area (not east or west coast), and even though our HHI is pretty much the same, our house costs 1/2 as much as ours in Arlington. Food and childcare costs less. Transportation costs more because we use more gas and drive longer distances. We are coming out far ahead in the new city, plus quality of life is better (no metro commute, more space, nice people).

[Anonymous]

Zero. But I do know a half dozen people (including me) who moved to DC for its lower COL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This area has the most ideal col to salary ratio. Only foolish people leave because of col.

Maybe, but this was not the case for us. Moved to a large metropolitan area (not east or west coast), and even though our HHI is pretty much the same, our house costs 1/2 as much as ours in Arlington. Food and childcare costs less. Transportation costs more because we use more gas and drive longer distances. We are coming out far ahead in the new city, plus quality of life is better (no metro commute, more space, nice people).

+1

[Anonymous]

I'm moving after living here for 22 years. The profit on my home in Arlington is a reason to move now.

I'm moving out west. Homes are less expensive and the atmosphere is more laid back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is one thing I don't understand about moving to a lower COL city. If you move to a "lower" COL city, aren't you still paying same/more for cars, plane tickets, gas, groceries, taxes, refrigerators, movies, clothes? Does the cheap real estate prices offset all that even with a lower salary?

We are looking at this now, and, for the most part, everything is cheaper. Income tax. Property tax. Private school is $15,000 a year instead of $35,000. And that's just a big ticket items. A friend moved from NJ to a lower cost area, and she says her groceries are 40% cheaper. Pretty much anything that takes human labor is going to be dramatically cheaper. Comparable restaurants are about 30% cheaper. I've checked things like boarding the dog, and that's about 30 percent cheaper. The vet is about half. Gasoline depends mostly on state tax, so that varies.

I had to laugh about pp talking about people sitting around alone in their big houses in other parts of the country because there's nothing to do. I grew up in a small town and we had a wonderful social life. My Mother's rule was that "Only boring people are ever bored." We threw parties, entertained friends, performed in the community theater, participated in community fundraisers, and we had a wonderful time. All the same big theater productions that come to the Kennedy Center came to the nearest big city (about an hour and a half away), and we'd go see those. I find it amusing that people here think that there's "nothing to do" if someone isn't orchestrating events for them.

An hour and a half away just to go see some theater production ? That's almost how long it takes to fly from dca to Miami . Sounds like fun

[Anonymous]

Many many friends. Some moved back to their home states after they got married, to be closer to familiar. All the others have left for cost of living or quality of life improvements. Richmond, Seattle and Denver are popular destinations, I have several friends that relocated to those cities. They all had kids and wanted to be able to buy a house with a yard in a good school district somewhere that wouldn't have an hour long commute into work, and they wanted to pay less than 700k for it.