What is considered a "good salary" in the DMV?

[Anonymous]

I would say a good salary in the DMV is $75k, with the caveat that a family with a SAHP would probably be more comfortable at $80k+. I know plenty of people who are living comfortable on HHI under $100k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good salary would be $500k. Cost of living is so high. I don't see how you can live comfortably on less than that.
This is the average income on this board.

Define comfortably PP?

I agree, $500k would be comfortable. At $250k, you are still pinching pennies…watching grocery budgets, making hard choices on kid activities or educational opportunities, going on more affordable vacations, buying reliable cars. 500k gives you breathing room.

Housing, housing, housing. If a couple bought their first home in the DMV more than 15 years ago, they are in a much different boat than someone buying in today.

I see two families living the same life and saving the same but one bought their first house in 2005 and makes $250k while the other family bought their first house in the DMV last year and makes $500k.

This. We bought in 2005 and our $300K HHI goes pretty far. We’re more than comfortable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is ridiculous. You need to make $500k to feel comfortable? People listen to yourselves! We make $350K a year with two kids--one in daycare and one in private elementary school and feel rich and save thousands a month outside of retirement. WTF are you people spending your money on? People on this forum have an enormous sense of entitlement and UMC tastes for only the finest most updated homes, cars, and vacations. Just look at the real estate threads and all the posts about $1.2m houses being trash. There was a recent thread about who buys $500-600k houses in mediocre schools off the eastern part of the red line. You know who? Us. And our neighbors like us who work at NIH, as government lawyers, and in the 270 tech area, etc. We all live in $600k houses. The average DCUMer is in such a bubble they are barely aware of any of this.

+1 DCUM is not real life. We make about 230k, live in a small house in Vienna VA (bought in 2009), do not pinch pennies by any stretch of the imagination, manage to save for 529, and put money away for retirement. I suppose our vacations would be considered "too middle class" for the likes of DCUM.

If you've spent any time on DCUM, your eyes were probably rolling before you even clicked on this thread. +1 that if you are not living comfortably for less than $500k, it's because you have ridiculous standards and expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To break out of Middle Class? 500K

That's absolutely not true and I bet you don't earn that so stop trying to make people feel poor if they make $300,000 a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good salary would be $500k. Cost of living is so high. I don't see how you can live comfortably on less than that.
This is the average income on this board.

Define comfortably PP?

I agree, $500k would be comfortable. At $250k, you are still pinching pennies…watching grocery budgets, making hard choices on kid activities or educational opportunities, going on more affordable vacations, buying reliable cars. 500k gives you breathing room.

At $500k you are still pinching pennies, watching for better flight deals, etc. Flying commercial for pete's sake! Standing in airport queues, lugging your luggage. Hardly comfortable!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good salary would be $500k. Cost of living is so high. I don't see how you can live comfortably on less than that.
This is the average income on this board.

Define comfortably PP?

I agree, $500k would be comfortable. At $250k, you are still pinching pennies…watching grocery budgets, making hard choices on kid activities or educational opportunities, going on more affordable vacations, buying reliable cars. 500k gives you breathing room.

When I read stuff like this, i can't figure out if it's a troll or if people are really that disconnected from real life.

The other families on our block have only one parent working a full time job. They wouldn't believe our 50+ hour a week jobs - two of them - to be "real life" either. When you work a lot more than the average person, you have a much higher HHI and financial goals.

How can people who are presumedly educated and make so much money be this obtuse? You realize that hard working does not translate into well off? In fact, unlike DCUM would have you believe, working hard and making tons of money is the exception and not the rule. And no, I am not taking about the uneducated working poor working two jobs to keep the lights on. I am talking about MC and UMC folks. People working non-profits, academia, healthcare, management. This assumption that anyone in the professional world who works hard is making 250k+ is skewed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good salary would be $500k. Cost of living is so high. I don't see how you can live comfortably on less than that.
This is the average income on this board.

Define comfortably PP?

I agree, $500k would be comfortable. At $250k, you are still pinching pennies…watching grocery budgets, making hard choices on kid activities or educational opportunities, going on more affordable vacations, buying reliable cars. 500k gives you breathing room.

When I read stuff like this, i can't figure out if it's a troll or if people are really that disconnected from real life.

The other families on our block have only one parent working a full time job. They wouldn't believe our 50+ hour a week jobs - two of them - to be "real life" either. When you work a lot more than the average person, you have a much higher HHI and financial goals.

How can people who are presumedly educated and make so much money be this obtuse? You realize that hard working does not translate into well off? In fact, unlike DCUM would have you believe, working hard and making tons of money is the exception and not the rule. And no, I am not taking about the uneducated working poor working two jobs to keep the lights on. I am talking about MC and UMC folks. People working non-profits, academia, healthcare, management. This assumption that anyone in the professional world who works hard is making 250k+ is skewed.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good salary would be $500k. Cost of living is so high. I don't see how you can live comfortably on less than that.
This is the average income on this board.

Define comfortably PP?

I agree, $500k would be comfortable. At $250k, you are still pinching pennies…watching grocery budgets, making hard choices on kid activities or educational opportunities, going on more affordable vacations, buying reliable cars. 500k gives you breathing room.

At $500k you are still pinching pennies, watching for better flight deals, etc. Flying commercial for pete's sake! Standing in airport queues, lugging your luggage. Hardly comfortable!

I can't even tell if this is sarcasm or not... I've been here too long...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good salary would be $500k. Cost of living is so high. I don't see how you can live comfortably on less than that.
This is the average income on this board.

Define comfortably PP?

I agree, $500k would be comfortable. At $250k, you are still pinching pennies…watching grocery budgets, making hard choices on kid activities or educational opportunities, going on more affordable vacations, buying reliable cars. 500k gives you breathing room.

At $500k you are still pinching pennies, watching for better flight deals, etc. Flying commercial for pete's sake! Standing in airport queues, lugging your luggage. Hardly comfortable!

I can't even tell if this is sarcasm or not... I've been here too long...

DP, the previous post describes us. We hunt for those flight deals. Always fly coach. We try not to check in any luggage unless it's included in the price, and we very very rarely pay for seat upgrades.

We pay sooooooo much in taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good salary would be $500k. Cost of living is so high. I don't see how you can live comfortably on less than that.
This is the average income on this board.

Define comfortably PP?

I agree, $500k would be comfortable. At $250k, you are still pinching pennies…watching grocery budgets, making hard choices on kid activities or educational opportunities, going on more affordable vacations, buying reliable cars. 500k gives you breathing room.

At $500k you are still pinching pennies, watching for better flight deals, etc. Flying commercial for pete's sake! Standing in airport queues, lugging your luggage. Hardly comfortable!

I can't even tell if this is sarcasm or not... I've been here too long...

DP, the previous post describes us. We hunt for those flight deals. Always fly coach. We try not to check in any luggage unless it's included in the price, and we very very rarely pay for seat upgrades.

We pay sooooooo much in taxes.

Still can't tell if this is sarcasm, but getting closer to "no".

[Anonymous]

If you’re working hard in the professional world and not making bank, that’s on you. Either work less or change to a more lucrative job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you’re working hard in the professional world and not making bank, that’s on you. Either work less or change to a more lucrative job.

I know this is very hard to comprehend but some enjoy what they do even if they do not make bank. Some professions will never "make bank" even if they change jobs. And the world needs managers, teachers, professors, mental health professionals, nurses! Not everyone can be an overpaid lawyer or government contractor PP.

[Anonymous]

Our 450k combined barely covers the basics. Sorry, but I'd say at least 700+ to be comfortably UMC and be able to splurge once in a while.

[Anonymous]

Anything at or above the top of the federal payscale is a good income in DC. So $150k+. Assume a spouse works but doesn't make quite as much and you are at $200-250k. That's good for raising an UMC family around here. I'm talking soccer practice and swim team and Costco and Not Your Average Joes and vacations to OBX good, not Le Diplomat and Columbia Country Club good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our 450k combined barely covers the basics. Sorry, but I'd say at least 700+ to be comfortably UMC and be able to splurge once in a while.

You don't has an income problem, you have a spending problem.