#16 of 66 for you
Washington, DC
Recession-resistant government and consulting pay, humid summers, real transit.
Left over monthly
$2,900
Versus Chicago
+$520/mo
+$6,240 a year
Local pay for your job
$116,324
Local wages run 24% vs national
Where the money goes
One earner filing as a household, at 1 bedrooms.
- Taxes$2,763
- Rent$1,929
- Other living costs$2,102
- Left over$2,900
Pay and tax, per year
- Gross household pay
- $116,324
- Federal income tax
- −$17,205
- Social Security and Medicare
- −$8,899
- State income tax (DC)
- −$7,047
- Take-home pay
- $83,173
- Effective tax rate
- 28.5%
Living costs, per month
- Rent, 1br
- $1,929
- Groceries
- $452
- Getting around
- $463
- Healthcare
- $508
- Utilities and internet
- $283
- Everything else
- $395
- Total spending
- $4,031
Left over each month
$9,694 gross, minus $2,763 in tax and $4,031 in living costs.
$2,900
What living here is like
- Weather
- 203 sunny days, 89°F in July, 29°F January nights
- Getting around
- One car for the household is workable
- Average commute
- 34 minutes each way
- Size
- 6.3M people
- Buying instead
- Median home $553,000 — roughly $3,561/mo with 20% down, tax and upkeep
- Taxes
- District of Columbia income tax. Sales tax 6.0%, property tax 0.56%.
How it scores against what you said matters
- Money left over
- 78
- Sun and mild weather
- 67
- Access to the outdoors
- 66
- City life and culture
- 86
- A short commute
- 20
Chicago vs Washington, line by line
Same job, same household, both tax codes applied.
Open the comparison →Also worth a look
- Seattle, WA$3,406/mo
No state income tax and high wages, offset by home prices and 150 sunny days.
- Austin, TX$3,176/mo
No income tax, but property taxes are among the steepest anywhere.
- Houston, TX$3,159/mo
The cheapest housing of any top-10 metro, paid for in property tax and humidity.
- Dallas, TX$3,044/mo
No income tax, endless new construction, and a 1.5% property tax bill.