| Topic Name: |
Reston office analyst offer |
| Message Name: |
Not meant to discourage |
| Date Posted: |
02/21/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
Salaries aren't adjusted for the market unit you work in. Government consulting salaries will be the same as Resources consulting salaries, etc.
Costs in DC (except for living space) is about the same as most of your largish cities, but not near as high as NYC, Chicago, LA, etc. Gas in DC itself is a bit more expensive than alot of places, but gas in Northern Virginia is around the national average. Food can get expensive, but primarily only because there are so many nice places to try :-) A meal at an eatery in DC would cost about the same as a meal at an eatery in most other largish cities (though there are a pretty high number of higher-end places to go compared to the number of people we have in metro DC).
Where the cost of living in DC really hits home is the apartment/housing market. Renting is expensive, buying is astronomical, much out of whack for the size of the city. It's not NYC bad, but it's the next tier down I'd say.
Someone earlier qouted $1100 for an apartment. I'd say that's about what you'd pay for your most basic apartment. It'll be a decent place, but with nothing special about it. You probably won't find anywhere cheaper unless you look at some of the worse parts of DC. I don't know much about rent in DC itself since I live in Northern VA (Alexandria) and have never really wanted to live in DC itself. If you don't have a car, you can get by in Northern Virginia (or most of DC) by using Metro and ZipCar, but you'll end up paying more for your apartment to be near a Metro station.
I guess to directly answer your question... $46k living alone could probably be done. You'd have to make some sacrifices though and it'd probably be cutting it thin. |
| Message: |
BTW, I just reread my post and noticed how discouring it sounded. I don't mean to discourage you, just that you should consider getting a roommate :-) What a couple friends of mine have done is move here and find a place for a couple months and then find someone on Craigslist (craigslist.com) to live with, but take a bit of time to make sure they found someone they could live with well.
Also, now that I think of it I do know a couple analysts that live by themselves in DC itself. If you're set on living by yourself, you may want to take a look at studio apartments in the city. A small studio in an okay area may be able to be found for less than $1100. Though then you have to worry about parking costs if you do have a car...
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