[alistairSH]

NIH isn't in NoVA. It's across the river in Bethesda, MD.

The problem with opening remote locations is attracting people. Montgomery County, MD (where Bethesda is located) and the broader DC metro region has lots of biotech, medical, and software opportunities.

[ghaff]

And it's an even bigger issue once professional specialists have partners and families. Even elite schools in relatively remote from major population center areas have long had some trouble attracting faculty whose partners may well be inevitably underemployed if they move to the small town/city where the school is.

[dekhn]

this is called "the two body problem" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-body_problem_(career) in reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-body_problem and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-body_problem

[ghaff]

I didn't know it had a name. But having been associated with both Dartmouth and Cornell, I've definitely heard complaints about the issue.

[robwwilliams]

Disagree again. Here are some towns and smaller cities that more than rival DC.

Ann Arbor, Davis, Durham, Urbana, Princeton, New Haven, Memphis, Madison, Portland, Eugene, Nashville, Kansas City…

[svnt]

The data for much of this list of cities has changed substantially in the past two to three years. Many of these are now unaffordable for someone on $45k/year, and they do not have the employment robustness of the larger metros.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

But the traffic is a nightmare (I-270 is the Tenth Circle of Hell).

Like most high-density commute areas, homes close to work are pricey, so people have to live in the boondocks, and commute.

I know people that live in Frederick, and commute to DC.

Of course, Frederick has Ft. Detrick. That's a fun place. I think it was the model for the biolab in The Stand.

[alistairSH]

so people have to live in the boondocks

Homes are pricey, no question. But, DC is one of the more affordable top-tier cities in the US. Especially if your work is in the suburbs.

For software people, you can buy a reasonable[1] TH in Reston for around $600k and have a reasonable commute to most of the NoVA tech corridor. Or Metro downtown. Or ride your bike to many employment centers. Or, if you're really lucky, you can walk to quite a few employers in Reston (Google, MS, Ellucian, Walmart Labs, various three-letter agency IT offices, etc).

1 - mid-70s build, 3-bed, 2.5 bath, 1500-1800sqft, in a good school district and with walk/bike access to schools, grocery/pharmacy, many doctors, and Metro.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

Sigh... It's sad to see a $600K townhouse in Reston termed "reasonable."

I know a lot of folks on this site are from the Bay Area, where something like that would probably be twice that, but it's actually more expensive than around here, which is considered one of the more expensive areas to live.

It's astounding to see kids out of college, starting at more than I ever made, in my career, and yet, they can't afford to buy a house.

But I'm not one to talk. My father never made more than $40K, and had a house in Potomac, two cars, and a stay-at-home wife.

[alistairSH]

I meant the house is reasonable (good condition, nice neighborhood, workable size).

$600k is still a lot of money, but under the county average home price of $700k (which includes condos, THs, and SFHs).

[metaphor]

> But, DC is one of the more affordable top-tier cities in the US.

Is it?

This 2023 study[1] featured on Bloomberg[2] ranked DC at #7 of 76 most expensive large cities in the nation, requiring $245k gross pay to feel like $100k after normalizing taxes and cost of living.

[1] https://smartasset.com/data-studies/new-100k-how-taxes-costs...

[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-15/making-30...

[alistairSH]

I'll see if I can dig out the source, but the study I saw had COL vs incomes.

IE, DC is expensive, but also pays extremely well.

[underlipton]

People could just live in PG.

[robwwilliams]

Not relevant at all. Many locations are stronger than the DC area. Just an example of NIH inertia. There are many.