[rayiner]

I wouldn’t do it. I grew up in northern Virginia and work in DC and lived there for a time. DC was nice 10-15 years ago when it offered some of the amenities of a big city at a much lower price point. Today there’s not much to recommend. It’s almost New York prices now but the restaurant and entertainment scene is a shadow of those places. Your apartment building will probably be full of political staffers and lawyers and think tank wonks. And the tech scene, insofar as it exists, is mainly out in Northern Virginia.

Also, the pandemic hit DC really hard. DC is heavily reliant on commuters. It has one of the largest daytime-nighttime population changes in the country. But those government and knowledge workers are never coming back into the office at the same scale as before. Metro ridership has cratered, putting it in a budget crisis even when substantially reduced service levels. And lots of bars and restaurants that had built up over the last decade have closed down.

I will say, DC has some very charming and walkable neighborhoods. The area between DuPont Circle and Logan Circle is very cute, in a 1970s sort of way.

[steviesands]

As someone who moved from DC proper to NYC, DC is nowhere near NYC in terms of expenses. In 14th St or Logan circle you can get a brand new 2BR for the price of an old tiny, dilapidated 1BR in an equivalent area in NYC. You can likely even get a 3BR older row house for the same price as a 1BR in Manhattan or prime Brooklyn.

Not to mention, in NYC it's very difficult to buy a home as they are ~30-40% more expensive than renting, with high maintenance fees. For example, a 2BR in Upper East or West side (not near central park) will be ~6-9k a month with ~3k a month in taxes/maintenance.

The (made up) cocktail price index is also illustrative and in NYC one cocktail is ~$17-20 and DC is ~$11-14.

[mixmastamyk]

If workers are not coming back to DC, prices should ease.