Reply to s/o Is there a city in the U.S. that caters to kids?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The problem with this area is that it's just too damn expensive for middle class families. [/quote]

No real argument there (I'm almost-moved-to-Austin poster).  The cost of living hurts some, but it is possible to carve out a decent life here - you just have to make trade offs.  We're making about the Fairfax median income as a two-income family, and we have very few options for single family homes.  There is NOTHING close in, unless you want to do condo and TH living forever - yeah, no thanks.  However, even living 20 miles from the city like we do in Western Fairfax, we have a pretty decent life.  It isn't an upscale neighborhood, but it is full of middle class families who want a good life for their kids.  We can get to the city if we need to, but Fairfax County has LOTS of great amenities for kiddos, so you don't have to go downtown for entertainment - it's just nice to know it is there.

If my husband were in a field that was less specialized, we probably wouldn't stay here because it does hurt when you really are stuck with the housing costs taking such a huge bite out of your budget.  Our mortgage is about 30% of our monthly take home, but it just is and we deal with it because we have to.  His career just doesn't exist elsewhere.

Now, making less than $100K HHI is even more limiting, so if that is what you mean by middle class (which is what it is in other parts of the country), then I truly do understand the pain.  My PT job cut me back to less than half my normal hours over the summer, so we were budgeting on my husband's $90K at-the-time salary, so it made things REALLY tight.  Had to be much more frugal, and cut our usual monthly savings for a few months.  You do need to be much more conscious of where your money is going, but again, it can be done, it just is more of a challenge.
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