Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: My husband and I both work- live in DC, crappy school area but lucked out on charters for both kids, make about 150k EACH, and do not have a great big back yard or lots of sq ft in our 800k home. We have a very easy commute to our jobs, like what we do, and have lots of family in the area. But I always said, if we could make anything close to our income now (and by close, I mean 60%) of it - or if my husband could make his income somewhere else (he is in tech, and gets 30% of his income for clearances, we should go. Here is the thing, other places would not have the same culture and city life we love, but we would have larger yards,less stress, and most importantly less assholes like 20:50.

I speak from experience -- don't underestimate the value of a "very easy commute" to jobs that you like, and lots of family close by. It's hard to imagine a big yard making up for losing that.

I'm one of those people who happily pays through the nose to live near Metro in a walkable neighborhood (shops, restaurants, etc) full of decent but smaller houses/lots, because it makes commuting and life in general so much better for me. Yeah, I could have a mansion out in the sticks, but that wouldn't make me happy.

So back to the OP -- it's a question of priorities, and everyone's are different, and there's no right or wrong here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many people make well into the six figures. A typical house in Arlington with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths (one of which is in the basement) will be around $700k.
I can assure you that your quality of life is MUCH better in the midwest.

Commute and hours worked are better. Your cultural opportunities and opportunities to be friends with a diverse, very intelligent, very successful group of people? Lower QOL in the midwest.

Do you actually believe this? If so, you are fucking clueless. Guess what? There is diversity and culture in Midwestern cities. Yes, it's true! Take it from someone who spent the bulk of the first 30 years of their life in one of those cities. Good grief - the coasts do not have a lock on diversity, intelligence, culture, or success. Asinine bullshit like this is why some us can't stand many, many people we meet here.

I got the impression that the OP was from a small midwest town and not somewhere like Chicago or Cleveland.

Anonymous wrote: My husband and I both work- live in DC, crappy school area but lucked out on charters for both kids, make about 150k EACH, and do not have a great big back yard or lots of sq ft in our 800k home. We have a very easy commute to our jobs, like what we do, and have lots of family in the area. But I always said, if we could make anything close to our income now (and by close, I mean 60%) of it - or if my husband could make his income somewhere else (he is in tech, and gets 30% of his income for clearances, we should go. Here is the thing, other places would not have the same culture and city life we love, but we would have larger yards,less stress, and most importantly less assholes like 20:50.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you interested in living in the city itself or a suburb?

OP - I grew up in the midwest. I'm in my mid-30s recently married and no kids (yet). I make a lot of money, I've travelled a ton over the past 15 years, have been able to eat at amazing restaurants, drink at cool bars, go to museums, talks, parks, and have a lot of really awesome vacation spots within driving distance. On top of that, I've been able to meet really interesting people from a variety of places and in a variety of careers and have an amazingly cool and diverse group of friends. In contrast, my friends who stayed in the midwest have all been married 10 years, are friends with the same people we went to high school with, haven't seen the world, all have the same type of job/are stay at home moms, have kids in elementary school, don't really do anything on the weekends, and are quite frankly boring (and many of them have told me that they are bored). So despite the high cost of living here, I feel that I live a great life in DC that I could not get in the boring midwest.

As for salaries, most people in DC are NOT "wonks" as you say or lobbyists. Yes, we have an overabundence of lawyers and consultants here, but we also have a lot of people who get crappy staffer, non-profit or Fed salaries, too.

LMAO. Since you're on DCUM, I'm assuming you want children one day pp. When your first DC turns 1, don't forget to come back and tell us how exciting your life is then.

My kid is 2. We're constantly doing exciting activities around the city, visiting museums, and having a great time. So yes, it's possible to have a kid and take advantage of the city and *gasp* even have an exciting life.

I take my child to parks and museusms (didn't know that was exclusive to DC). But comparing a DINK lifestyle to a parent's lifestyle is apples and oranges and has no business in a "which city is better conversation".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you interested in living in the city itself or a suburb?

OP - I grew up in the midwest. I'm in my mid-30s recently married and no kids (yet). I make a lot of money, I've travelled a ton over the past 15 years, have been able to eat at amazing restaurants, drink at cool bars, go to museums, talks, parks, and have a lot of really awesome vacation spots within driving distance. On top of that, I've been able to meet really interesting people from a variety of places and in a variety of careers and have an amazingly cool and diverse group of friends. In contrast, my friends who stayed in the midwest have all been married 10 years, are friends with the same people we went to high school with, haven't seen the world, all have the same type of job/are stay at home moms, have kids in elementary school, don't really do anything on the weekends, and are quite frankly boring (and many of them have told me that they are bored). So despite the high cost of living here, I feel that I live a great life in DC that I could not get in the boring midwest.

As for salaries, most people in DC are NOT "wonks" as you say or lobbyists. Yes, we have an overabundence of lawyers and consultants here, but we also have a lot of people who get crappy staffer, non-profit or Fed salaries, too.

LMAO. Since you're on DCUM, I'm assuming you want children one day pp. When your first DC turns 1, don't forget to come back and tell us how exciting your life is then.

My kid is 2. We're constantly doing exciting activities around the city, visiting museums, and having a great time. So yes, it's possible to have a kid and take advantage of the city and *gasp* even have an exciting life.

I take my child to parks and museusms (didn't know that was exclusive to DC). But comparing a DINK lifestyle to a parent's lifestyle is apples and oranges and has no business in a "which city is better conversation".

How often do you go to museums with your child (assuming you're the op who lives in the midwest)? And how many are there in your city?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you interested in living in the city itself or a suburb?

Like several of the other posters, I grew up here (in a NoVA suburb), so the crazy COL always seemed normal to me. I moved into DC after college and lived the dirt poor nonprofit worker lifestyle. I love living in the city, and my now-DH and I decided early on that it was worth the trade offs. He makes about $125K. I was only making about $45K (again, nonprofit), and I became a SAHM after we had a child. You really have to know what sort of trade offs you are willing to make? We live in a 2 bedroom, 1,000 SF condo. We don't have a yard, but on the other hand there are tons of kids and parks around us, and with less than a 5 minute walk to the metro (and we only have 1 car), we pretty much consider the whole city to be our backyard. Even without the metro we can walk to the zoo, library, grocery shopping, 5 or 6 playgrounds and parks, and about 200 restaurants. Our condo is not fancy and our local school is average, but we love our fun, walkable neighborhood, and DS spends his days having fun at museums, parks, the zoo, etc. By DC standards we don't make a lot of money, but we love our lifestyle.

What is comes down to, OP, is what sort of lifestyle do you and your family want? What are your non-negotiables? What are you willing to sacrifice?

Btw, don't listen to the snarkers who hate living here. No place is perfect of course, but DC is a great place to live if you are looking for that lifestyle.

Sounds nice, but still waiting for you to name something we don't have, and for a quarter of the price. The salary bump is not close to the differential. I would understand if our HHI were going to quadruple, or even double, but it won't, so I am genuinely trying to understand what makes this worthwhile. Some of you must be in jobs that simply don't exist, or not in adequate numbers, elsewhere - but if you're not a wonk or a lobbyist, why?

Okay, so now OP is getting snarky!!

OP - I grew up in the midwest. I'm in my mid-30s recently married and no kids (yet). I make a lot of money, I've travelled a ton over the past 15 years, have been able to eat at amazing restaurants, drink at cool bars, go to museums, talks, parks, and have a lot of really awesome vacation spots within driving distance. On top of that, I've been able to meet really interesting people from a variety of places and in a variety of careers and have an amazingly cool and diverse group of friends. In contrast, my friends who stayed in the midwest have all been married 10 years, are friends with the same people we went to high school with, haven't seen the world, all have the same type of job/are stay at home moms, have kids in elementary school, don't really do anything on the weekends, and are quite frankly boring (and many of them have told me that they are bored). So despite the high cost of living here, I feel that I live a great life in DC that I could not get in the boring midwest.

As for salaries, most people in DC are NOT "wonks" as you say or lobbyists. Yes, we have an overabundence of lawyers and consultants here, but we also have a lot of people who get crappy staffer, non-profit or Fed salaries, too.

LMAO. Since you're on DCUM, I'm assuming you want children one day pp. When your first DC turns 1, don't forget to come back and tell us how exciting your life is then.

My kid is 2. We're constantly doing exciting activities around the city, visiting museums, and having a great time. So yes, it's possible to have a kid and take advantage of the city and *gasp* even have an exciting life.

Eh, your kid is 2. When your kids reach elementary school, your free time will revolve around their schedule.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many people make well into the six figures. A typical house in Arlington with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths (one of which is in the basement) will be around $700k.
I can assure you that your quality of life is MUCH better in the midwest.

Commute and hours worked are better. Your cultural opportunities and opportunities to be friends with a diverse, very intelligent, very successful group of people? Lower QOL in the midwest.

Do you actually believe this? If so, you are fucking clueless. Guess what? There is diversity and culture in Midwestern cities. Yes, it's true! Take it from someone who spent the bulk of the first 30 years of their life in one of those cities. Good grief - the coasts do not have a lock on diversity, intelligence, culture, or success. Asinine bullshit like this is why some us can't stand many, many people we meet here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you interested in living in the city itself or a suburb?

Like several of the other posters, I grew up here (in a NoVA suburb), so the crazy COL always seemed normal to me. I moved into DC after college and lived the dirt poor nonprofit worker lifestyle. I love living in the city, and my now-DH and I decided early on that it was worth the trade offs. He makes about $125K. I was only making about $45K (again, nonprofit), and I became a SAHM after we had a child. You really have to know what sort of trade offs you are willing to make? We live in a 2 bedroom, 1,000 SF condo. We don't have a yard, but on the other hand there are tons of kids and parks around us, and with less than a 5 minute walk to the metro (and we only have 1 car), we pretty much consider the whole city to be our backyard. Even without the metro we can walk to the zoo, library, grocery shopping, 5 or 6 playgrounds and parks, and about 200 restaurants. Our condo is not fancy and our local school is average, but we love our fun, walkable neighborhood, and DS spends his days having fun at museums, parks, the zoo, etc. By DC standards we don't make a lot of money, but we love our lifestyle.

What is comes down to, OP, is what sort of lifestyle do you and your family want? What are your non-negotiables? What are you willing to sacrifice?

Btw, don't listen to the snarkers who hate living here. No place is perfect of course, but DC is a great place to live if you are looking for that lifestyle.

Sounds nice, but still waiting for you to name something we don't have, and for a quarter of the price. The salary bump is not close to the differential. I would understand if our HHI were going to quadruple, or even double, but it won't, so I am genuinely trying to understand what makes this worthwhile. Some of you must be in jobs that simply don't exist, or not in adequate numbers, elsewhere - but if you're not a wonk or a lobbyist, why?

Okay, so now OP is getting snarky!!

OP - I grew up in the midwest. I'm in my mid-30s recently married and no kids (yet). I make a lot of money, I've travelled a ton over the past 15 years, have been able to eat at amazing restaurants, drink at cool bars, go to museums, talks, parks, and have a lot of really awesome vacation spots within driving distance. On top of that, I've been able to meet really interesting people from a variety of places and in a variety of careers and have an amazingly cool and diverse group of friends. In contrast, my friends who stayed in the midwest have all been married 10 years, are friends with the same people we went to high school with, haven't seen the world, all have the same type of job/are stay at home moms, have kids in elementary school, don't really do anything on the weekends, and are quite frankly boring (and many of them have told me that they are bored). So despite the high cost of living here, I feel that I live a great life in DC that I could not get in the boring midwest.

As for salaries, most people in DC are NOT "wonks" as you say or lobbyists. Yes, we have an overabundence of lawyers and consultants here, but we also have a lot of people who get crappy staffer, non-profit or Fed salaries, too.

LMAO. Since you're on DCUM, I'm assuming you want children one day pp. When your first DC turns 1, don't forget to come back and tell us how exciting your life is then.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you interested in living in the city itself or a suburb?

OP - I grew up in the midwest. I'm in my mid-30s recently married and no kids (yet). I make a lot of money, I've travelled a ton over the past 15 years, have been able to eat at amazing restaurants, drink at cool bars, go to museums, talks, parks, and have a lot of really awesome vacation spots within driving distance. On top of that, I've been able to meet really interesting people from a variety of places and in a variety of careers and have an amazingly cool and diverse group of friends. In contrast, my friends who stayed in the midwest have all been married 10 years, are friends with the same people we went to high school with, haven't seen the world, all have the same type of job/are stay at home moms, have kids in elementary school, don't really do anything on the weekends, and are quite frankly boring (and many of them have told me that they are bored). So despite the high cost of living here, I feel that I live a great life in DC that I could not get in the boring midwest.

As for salaries, most people in DC are NOT "wonks" as you say or lobbyists. Yes, we have an overabundence of lawyers and consultants here, but we also have a lot of people who get crappy staffer, non-profit or Fed salaries, too.

LMAO. Since you're on DCUM, I'm assuming you want children one day pp. When your first DC turns 1, don't forget to come back and tell us how exciting your life is then.

My kid is 2. We're constantly doing exciting activities around the city, visiting museums, and having a great time. So yes, it's possible to have a kid and take advantage of the city and *gasp* even have an exciting life.

I take my child to parks and museusms (didn't know that was exclusive to DC). But comparing a DINK lifestyle to a parent's lifestyle is apples and oranges and has no business in a "which city is better conversation".

How often do you go to museums with your child (assuming you're the op who lives in the midwest)? And how many are there in your city?

Again? You people are retarded. I am originally from Cincinnati and there are 4-5 major museums and plenty of small, storefront art gallery shops. The Cincinnati Art Museum is free and the Contemporary Arts Center is the ONLY major architectural building in the US designed by a woman (Zaha Hadid). The University of Cincinnati has more buildings designed my major architects than any other campus in the entire country. The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park won the regional Tony a few years ago. We have a ballet, an opera, and a highly-regarded symphony. Findlay Market is like a smaller version of Eastern Market. There is a thriving music and theater scene. It's not DC or NY, but people there don't give a fuck. We have beautiful parks, major Fortune 500 companies, etc etc etc. The restaurant scene is lousy but what are you gonna do? No place is perfect.

I think I've talked myself into moving back. I am sick to fucking death of morons like you.

Yeah! Got rid of another one! Next!

Guess what? People in the Midwest (and South, and desert SW, and plains states) don't give a FUCK about you either. They think you are a pretentious asshole, and posts like yours just prove them right.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you interested in living in the city itself or a suburb?

Like several of the other posters, I grew up here (in a NoVA suburb), so the crazy COL always seemed normal to me. I moved into DC after college and lived the dirt poor nonprofit worker lifestyle. I love living in the city, and my now-DH and I decided early on that it was worth the trade offs. He makes about $125K. I was only making about $45K (again, nonprofit), and I became a SAHM after we had a child. You really have to know what sort of trade offs you are willing to make? We live in a 2 bedroom, 1,000 SF condo. We don't have a yard, but on the other hand there are tons of kids and parks around us, and with less than a 5 minute walk to the metro (and we only have 1 car), we pretty much consider the whole city to be our backyard. Even without the metro we can walk to the zoo, library, grocery shopping, 5 or 6 playgrounds and parks, and about 200 restaurants. Our condo is not fancy and our local school is average, but we love our fun, walkable neighborhood, and DS spends his days having fun at museums, parks, the zoo, etc. By DC standards we don't make a lot of money, but we love our lifestyle.

What is comes down to, OP, is what sort of lifestyle do you and your family want? What are your non-negotiables? What are you willing to sacrifice?

Btw, don't listen to the snarkers who hate living here. No place is perfect of course, but DC is a great place to live if you are looking for that lifestyle.

Sounds nice, but still waiting for you to name something we don't have, and for a quarter of the price. The salary bump is not close to the differential. I would understand if our HHI were going to quadruple, or even double, but it won't, so I am genuinely trying to understand what makes this worthwhile. Some of you must be in jobs that simply don't exist, or not in adequate numbers, elsewhere - but if you're not a wonk or a lobbyist, why?

Okay, so now OP is getting snarky!!

OP - I grew up in the midwest. I'm in my mid-30s recently married and no kids (yet). I make a lot of money, I've travelled a ton over the past 15 years, have been able to eat at amazing restaurants, drink at cool bars, go to museums, talks, parks, and have a lot of really awesome vacation spots within driving distance. On top of that, I've been able to meet really interesting people from a variety of places and in a variety of careers and have an amazingly cool and diverse group of friends. In contrast, my friends who stayed in the midwest have all been married 10 years, are friends with the same people we went to high school with, haven't seen the world, all have the same type of job/are stay at home moms, have kids in elementary school, don't really do anything on the weekends, and are quite frankly boring (and many of them have told me that they are bored). So despite the high cost of living here, I feel that I live a great life in DC that I could not get in the boring midwest.

As for salaries, most people in DC are NOT "wonks" as you say or lobbyists. Yes, we have an overabundence of lawyers and consultants here, but we also have a lot of people who get crappy staffer, non-profit or Fed salaries, too.

LMAO. Since you're on DCUM, I'm assuming you want children one day pp. When your first DC turns 1, don't forget to come back and tell us how exciting your life is then.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you interested in living in the city itself or a suburb?

OP - I grew up in the midwest. I'm in my mid-30s recently married and no kids (yet). I make a lot of money, I've travelled a ton over the past 15 years, have been able to eat at amazing restaurants, drink at cool bars, go to museums, talks, parks, and have a lot of really awesome vacation spots within driving distance. On top of that, I've been able to meet really interesting people from a variety of places and in a variety of careers and have an amazingly cool and diverse group of friends. In contrast, my friends who stayed in the midwest have all been married 10 years, are friends with the same people we went to high school with, haven't seen the world, all have the same type of job/are stay at home moms, have kids in elementary school, don't really do anything on the weekends, and are quite frankly boring (and many of them have told me that they are bored). So despite the high cost of living here, I feel that I live a great life in DC that I could not get in the boring midwest.

As for salaries, most people in DC are NOT "wonks" as you say or lobbyists. Yes, we have an overabundence of lawyers and consultants here, but we also have a lot of people who get crappy staffer, non-profit or Fed salaries, too.

LMAO. Since you're on DCUM, I'm assuming you want children one day pp. When your first DC turns 1, don't forget to come back and tell us how exciting your life is then.

My kid is 2. We're constantly doing exciting activities around the city, visiting museums, and having a great time. So yes, it's possible to have a kid and take advantage of the city and *gasp* even have an exciting life.

I take my child to parks and museusms (didn't know that was exclusive to DC). But comparing a DINK lifestyle to a parent's lifestyle is apples and oranges and has no business in a "which city is better conversation".

How often do you go to museums with your child (assuming you're the op who lives in the midwest)? And how many are there in your city?

Again? You people are retarded. I am originally from Cincinnati and there are 4-5 major museums and plenty of small, storefront art gallery shops. The Cincinnati Art Museum is free and the Contemporary Arts Center is the ONLY major architectural building in the US designed by a woman (Zaha Hadid). The University of Cincinnati has more buildings designed my major architects than any other campus in the entire country. The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park won the regional Tony a few years ago. We have a ballet, an opera, and a highly-regarded symphony. Findlay Market is like a smaller version of Eastern Market. There is a thriving music and theater scene. It's not DC or NY, but people there don't give a fuck. We have beautiful parks, major Fortune 500 companies, etc etc etc. The restaurant scene is lousy but what are you gonna do? No place is perfect.

I think I've talked myself into moving back. I am sick to fucking death of morons like you.

Yeah! Got rid of another one! Next!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you interested in living in the city itself or a suburb?

OP - I grew up in the midwest. I'm in my mid-30s recently married and no kids (yet). I make a lot of money, I've travelled a ton over the past 15 years, have been able to eat at amazing restaurants, drink at cool bars, go to museums, talks, parks, and have a lot of really awesome vacation spots within driving distance. On top of that, I've been able to meet really interesting people from a variety of places and in a variety of careers and have an amazingly cool and diverse group of friends. In contrast, my friends who stayed in the midwest have all been married 10 years, are friends with the same people we went to high school with, haven't seen the world, all have the same type of job/are stay at home moms, have kids in elementary school, don't really do anything on the weekends, and are quite frankly boring (and many of them have told me that they are bored). So despite the high cost of living here, I feel that I live a great life in DC that I could not get in the boring midwest.

As for salaries, most people in DC are NOT "wonks" as you say or lobbyists. Yes, we have an overabundence of lawyers and consultants here, but we also have a lot of people who get crappy staffer, non-profit or Fed salaries, too.

LMAO. Since you're on DCUM, I'm assuming you want children one day pp. When your first DC turns 1, don't forget to come back and tell us how exciting your life is then.

My kid is 2. We're constantly doing exciting activities around the city, visiting museums, and having a great time. So yes, it's possible to have a kid and take advantage of the city and *gasp* even have an exciting life.

I take my child to parks and museusms (didn't know that was exclusive to DC). But comparing a DINK lifestyle to a parent's lifestyle is apples and oranges and has no business in a "which city is better conversation".

How often do you go to museums with your child (assuming you're the op who lives in the midwest)? And how many are there in your city?

Again? You people are retarded. I am originally from Cincinnati and there are 4-5 major museums and plenty of small, storefront art gallery shops. The Cincinnati Art Museum is free and the Contemporary Arts Center is the ONLY major architectural building in the US designed by a woman (Zaha Hadid). The University of Cincinnati has more buildings designed my major architects than any other campus in the entire country. The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park won the regional Tony a few years ago. We have a ballet, an opera, and a highly-regarded symphony. Findlay Market is like a smaller version of Eastern Market. There is a thriving music and theater scene. It's not DC or NY, but people there don't give a fuck. We have beautiful parks, major Fortune 500 companies, etc etc etc. The restaurant scene is lousy but what are you gonna do? No place is perfect.

I think I've talked myself into moving back. I am sick to fucking death of morons like you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you interested in living in the city itself or a suburb?

OP - I grew up in the midwest. I'm in my mid-30s recently married and no kids (yet). I make a lot of money, I've travelled a ton over the past 15 years, have been able to eat at amazing restaurants, drink at cool bars, go to museums, talks, parks, and have a lot of really awesome vacation spots within driving distance. On top of that, I've been able to meet really interesting people from a variety of places and in a variety of careers and have an amazingly cool and diverse group of friends. In contrast, my friends who stayed in the midwest have all been married 10 years, are friends with the same people we went to high school with, haven't seen the world, all have the same type of job/are stay at home moms, have kids in elementary school, don't really do anything on the weekends, and are quite frankly boring (and many of them have told me that they are bored). So despite the high cost of living here, I feel that I live a great life in DC that I could not get in the boring midwest.

As for salaries, most people in DC are NOT "wonks" as you say or lobbyists. Yes, we have an overabundence of lawyers and consultants here, but we also have a lot of people who get crappy staffer, non-profit or Fed salaries, too.

LMAO. Since you're on DCUM, I'm assuming you want children one day pp. When your first DC turns 1, don't forget to come back and tell us how exciting your life is then.

My kid is 2. We're constantly doing exciting activities around the city, visiting museums, and having a great time. So yes, it's possible to have a kid and take advantage of the city and *gasp* even have an exciting life.

I take my child to parks and museusms (didn't know that was exclusive to DC). But comparing a DINK lifestyle to a parent's lifestyle is apples and oranges and has no business in a "which city is better conversation".

How often do you go to museums with your child (assuming you're the op who lives in the midwest)? And how many are there in your city?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you interested in living in the city itself or a suburb?

OP - I grew up in the midwest. I'm in my mid-30s recently married and no kids (yet). I make a lot of money, I've travelled a ton over the past 15 years, have been able to eat at amazing restaurants, drink at cool bars, go to museums, talks, parks, and have a lot of really awesome vacation spots within driving distance. On top of that, I've been able to meet really interesting people from a variety of places and in a variety of careers and have an amazingly cool and diverse group of friends. In contrast, my friends who stayed in the midwest have all been married 10 years, are friends with the same people we went to high school with, haven't seen the world, all have the same type of job/are stay at home moms, have kids in elementary school, don't really do anything on the weekends, and are quite frankly boring (and many of them have told me that they are bored). So despite the high cost of living here, I feel that I live a great life in DC that I could not get in the boring midwest.

As for salaries, most people in DC are NOT "wonks" as you say or lobbyists. Yes, we have an overabundence of lawyers and consultants here, but we also have a lot of people who get crappy staffer, non-profit or Fed salaries, too.

LMAO. Since you're on DCUM, I'm assuming you want children one day pp. When your first DC turns 1, don't forget to come back and tell us how exciting your life is then.

My kid is 2. We're constantly doing exciting activities around the city, visiting museums, and having a great time. So yes, it's possible to have a kid and take advantage of the city and *gasp* even have an exciting life.

I take my child to parks and museusms (didn't know that was exclusive to DC). But comparing a DINK lifestyle to a parent's lifestyle is apples and oranges and has no business in a "which city is better conversation".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you interested in living in the city itself or a suburb?

OP - I grew up in the midwest. I'm in my mid-30s recently married and no kids (yet). I make a lot of money, I've travelled a ton over the past 15 years, have been able to eat at amazing restaurants, drink at cool bars, go to museums, talks, parks, and have a lot of really awesome vacation spots within driving distance. On top of that, I've been able to meet really interesting people from a variety of places and in a variety of careers and have an amazingly cool and diverse group of friends. In contrast, my friends who stayed in the midwest have all been married 10 years, are friends with the same people we went to high school with, haven't seen the world, all have the same type of job/are stay at home moms, have kids in elementary school, don't really do anything on the weekends, and are quite frankly boring (and many of them have told me that they are bored). So despite the high cost of living here, I feel that I live a great life in DC that I could not get in the boring midwest.

As for salaries, most people in DC are NOT "wonks" as you say or lobbyists. Yes, we have an overabundence of lawyers and consultants here, but we also have a lot of people who get crappy staffer, non-profit or Fed salaries, too.

LMAO. Since you're on DCUM, I'm assuming you want children one day pp. When your first DC turns 1, don't forget to come back and tell us how exciting your life is then.

My kid is 2. We're constantly doing exciting activities around the city, visiting museums, and having a great time. So yes, it's possible to have a kid and take advantage of the city and *gasp* even have an exciting life.