DC Housing Forum

[bdubs]

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is that if you live in Virginia, taxes will be much lower. I believe DC's income tax rate tops out at 8.5% whereas Virginia's is around 5.75%. Depending on the location of your firm, the commute can be cut down to around 25 minutes if you live within a block or two of the metro.

DC has a more progressive tax rate system, whereas Virginia effectively taxes most of your income at the highest rate. Those who make less than $200,000 are likely to see their additional transportation costs make up most of the income tax difference. Virginia taxes personal property including cars, in addition to income. DC parking garages are also stupidly expensive and almost everyone who lives in VA winds up driving into the office at least a few times a month (when you work excessive hours things like getting home quickly tend to take on greater value to you).

+1 to U Street/Dupont

PS- Neighborhoods in DC don't have definite boundaries, so when someone says "Dupont" it could mean a fairly wide area. Use a map.

[Wahoo1L]

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is that if you live in Virginia, taxes will be much lower. I believe DC's income tax rate tops out at 8.5% whereas Virginia's is around 5.75%. Depending on the location of your firm, the commute can be cut down to around 25 minutes if you live within a block or two of the metro.

DC has a more progressive tax rate system, whereas Virginia effectively taxes most of your income at the highest rate. Those who make less than $200,000 are likely to see their additional transportation costs make up most of the income tax difference. Virginia taxes personal property including cars, in addition to income. DC parking garages are also stupidly expensive and almost everyone who lives in VA winds up driving into the office at least a few times a month (when you work excessive hours things like getting home quickly tend to take on greater value to you).

+1 to U Street/Dupont

PS- Neighborhoods in DC don't have definite boundaries, so when someone says "Dupont" it could mean a fairly wide area. Use a map.

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. Based on a quick analysis, it looks like a DC resident would pay approximately $12,400 in income tax if they made $160,000. By contrast, an Arlington resident with the same income and a car worth $10,000 would pay $8,900 in income tax and around $300 in personal property tax. This puts the Virginia resident ahead by quite a bit. The commute from the Clarendon/Rosslyn area is just as short, if not shorter, for many DC firms. all of the areas on the Orange line have Whole Foods, CVS, bars, dry cleaning, restaurants, etc. within walking distance if you don't want a car.

If you do drive to work then you're probably right that parking will eat up a few more dollars but I kind of doubt it offsets the tax disparity.

[bdubs]

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is that if you live in Virginia, taxes will be much lower. I believe DC's income tax rate tops out at 8.5% whereas Virginia's is around 5.75%. Depending on the location of your firm, the commute can be cut down to around 25 minutes if you live within a block or two of the metro.

DC has a more progressive tax rate system, whereas Virginia effectively taxes most of your income at the highest rate. Those who make less than $200,000 are likely to see their additional transportation costs make up most of the income tax difference. Virginia taxes personal property including cars, in addition to income. DC parking garages are also stupidly expensive and almost everyone who lives in VA winds up driving into the office at least a few times a month (when you work excessive hours things like getting home quickly tend to take on greater value to you).

+1 to U Street/Dupont

PS- Neighborhoods in DC don't have definite boundaries, so when someone says "Dupont" it could mean a fairly wide area. Use a map.

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. Based on a quick analysis, it looks like a DC resident would pay approximately $12,400 in income tax if they made $160,000. By contrast, an Arlington resident with the same income and a car worth $10,000 would pay $8,900 in income tax and around $300 in personal property tax. This puts the Virginia resident ahead by quite a bit. The commute from the Clarendon/Rosslyn area is just as short, if not shorter, for many DC firms. all of the areas on the Orange line have Whole Foods, CVS, bars, dry cleaning, restaurants, etc. within walking distance if you don't want a car.

If you do drive to work then you're probably right that parking will eat up a few more dollars but I kind of doubt it offsets the tax disparity.

I didn't say all of the difference, just most of it. My calculations were also based on living somewhere within walking distance to my office, so no metro/bus costs save ~$1,000 per year. $2,000 isn't that big of deal when you make $160,000

Parking in the garage of my downtown office building was $250 per month, or $15 per day.

[sky7]

1. Rent a sweet row house in Old Town, Alexandria close to King Street. I know several DC associates doing it.
2. When people give you crap about not living in "the district", smugly reply that you live in "the commonwealth".
3. Enjoy your lower taxes and statehood.
4. ????
5. Profit.

1. Live in Dupont, Logan, 14 St. Corridor, etc
2. When people give you crap about paying high rent, smugly reply "rent control bitches"
3. Enjoy walking to work, groceries, dry cleaning, CVS, bars, restaurants, and pretty much everything else you need within 4 block radius.
4. ???
5. PROFIT!

Credited. However, you don't get to enjoy the "old money swag", as I like to call it, if you aren't a resident of Old Town or Georgetown.

[Anonymous User]

I lived in DC for 2 yrs...working on K st ...living in adams morgan.

Just remember you will probably be taking a cab home most evenings. It's just the morning commute that you need to plan for. Buses are fine. I took circulator or 42/43. No one I know who lives&works in DC takes the metro to work. The bus is cheaper and better. The metro isn't faster since you have to walk to the stop, (at some stops..i.e. red line) go down escalators for 3 minutes to just get to the tracks, and then, go up some escalators again and then walk the distance to your office. This is all assuming you are not switching lines. The metro is designed for long-haul commutes from Virginia and Maryland. If you are living and working in/near to downtown DC (i.e. living in dupont, adams morgan, georgetown, chinatown, logan circle, u street), the places you are going to want to go will be in a very small geographic area. Even if the metro would take you somewhere closeby (i.e. going from metro center to dupont circle), you will need to wait and its expensive. I actually don't really care about the cost, I would have taken the metro if it was more convenient. I just threw it in there cause its true and others may be doing some sort of financial cost/benefit analysis or something.

And if you're thinking about non-work transportation... well, do not plan on taking the metro when you are going out on weekends. It runs very infrequently and you will have to be careful about making sure not to miss the last train. It's really easy to get cabs in DC. Also... same point as before, you will probably need to walk before and after the metro. And for general weekend stuff, half the time there is some protest or charity walk or something going on and you can barely get into the station its so crowded.

If I was moving back to DC I would probably move to the logan circle area. And I would have a car, but you would not really need one there. I would just want one cause I am from the general area and would drive to see my family. It's a great location because it is close Dupont and U street, and also close to the downtown area where most offices are. Can walk to work if its nice out, if its not nice out, you can easily take the circulator which is $1 each way. It's been a cool area for awhile but is getting cooler in my opinion. New, interesting, bars/restaurants,etc. yuppie vibe as opposed to just-graduated-from-college.

You will see a lot of listings for nice new apartments in Columbia Heights. Wouldn't recommend that area. I looked there, I had friends who lived there, let's just say I am glad I did not live there too. Way too much traffic (foot and vehicle) from the Target/Best Buy and metro, and people loitering around. Not too many restaurant/bar choices. Also the green/yellow line doesn't go anywhere that good, and like I said before, switching lines sucks.

Oh and be careful about Georgetown. It gets realllly touristy on weekends, parking is the worst, prices are very expensive, and unless you are working in foggy bottom its kind of farther away from everything else. But again like I said you will be taking a lot of cabs so not a real big deal.

The Virginia thing is a personal decision. I think DC has a lot more interesting people/places/things. You'd want a car in Virginia. I don't know a lot about living in Maryland but if you do it I would suggest downtown Bethesda. Anything else has a suburban slant. Do not be fooled by downtown Silver Spring. It might sound cool but it actually has some crime and the vibe there is more people-from-suburbs-come-for-dinner than young-people-live-here thing. I know someone who made that mistake and he moved to DC once his lease was up.

good luck! I miss DC , its the best

[dbt]

I lived in Chinatown this past summer. I didn't get all over the city so I don't know every neighborhood well, but if you want to be relatively close to most firms and in a nice, active area, seems like Chinatown/Penn Quarter, DuPont, and Adams Morgan are the places to be.