Washington D.C. is third on the list with an average monthly bill expense of $2,767 per household, which is 46% higher than the national average.

Moved here after living in Manhattan for 8 years. DC rent is much cheaper but other living costs such as groceries are comparable. Random but haircut and gym are actually much more expensive here...

Ok DC is stupid expensive, but how tf is it above NYC

Because it’s actually not that bad if you aren’t in Manhattan.

Because NYC is more then manhattan

I mean yea, but even the average rent in Harlem is like $2700..

That’s Manhattan….. Also NYC is much less car dependent because of superior public transit.

Harlem is in Manhattan.

Depends on where you are, really. A ton of Queens and even parts of Brooklyn are downright suburban feeling and don't have particularly great transit.

Alright here’s the average rent for Brooklyn and Queens, some not Manhattan boroughs for you. There’s also plenty of people in DC without a car. Btw, that “superior public transit” you’re talking about is the best for people living in Manhattan, not the outside boroughs.

https://www.rentcafe.com/average-rent-market-trends/us/ny/brooklyn/

https://www.rentcafe.com/average-rent-market-trends/us/ny/queens/

DC is not car dependent at all.

Food too

In comparison to NYC? Yeah it is

https://www.governing.com/archive/car-ownership-numbers-of-vehicles-by-city-map.html

Haircut cost me like $25 at great clips. Gyms idk I use my apartment gym but there are places to get cheap haircuts you just can’t look in the gentrified areas like navy yards or you’re going to pay for getting your haircut there

Is it that much worse in Silver Spring and Alexandria than say Queens and Brooklyn?

Because it's based on what people spend rather than what things cost. DC may not be more expensive than NYC, but it is more spendy. People in DC tend to live in bigger apartments for example.

DC is a food desert.

NYC has mom and pop restaurants and small boutique grocery stores. Hell there’s $1 pizza/enchilada/taco/etc every other block.

You can’t find that in DC. The number of fast food restaurants are dwindling and outside the sole Wal-Mart in DC (I don’t count the one all the way in Ft. Totten) there’s no source for cheap groceries either.

Everything here is a $25 deconstructed burger or a Whole Foods with a $7 bottle of almond milk.

I don’t know how anyone making below $50k in this city even survive if they live in the District.

Seriously rent/mortgage is like less than 1/2 of NYC or even Jersey City. I’m moving to Jersey city in 3 weeks and paying double I paid to own a place in DC (brand new construction).

These studies are always so wrong when I look at the numbers haha.

I'm originally from NY. It makes paying rent here seem way less painful, its not comparable (and same with even just finding a place to live).

Where DC sucks compared to NY is going out. In NYC, theres bars every 2 feet, all competing with one another and trying to lure you in. You can find absurdly cheap drinks without really trying. I recently paid like $3 for basic mixed drinks in Manhattan. You can also find absurdly cheap food (dollar slices, random drunk food in general) without trying.

If I'm going out in DC, dinner is never that cheap, and the same go for drinks. Sure its a luxury to go out for these things, but people often don't consider this when moving here.

Out of curiosity, what do you think is driving that lack in DC?

You know that for people who live near fort Totten it's not 'all the way' away. You can't just discount part of the city because it isn't near you.

Also there are 3 Walmarts in the city

Another semi related thing noteworthy between DC and NYC, is that businesses that should die, because they have no passion for the food they are making fie quickly in NYC. Here in the district it seems that shit food doesn't guarantee restaurant failure.

Silver Spring and Alexandria aren't isn't included in this calculation for DC, but Queens and Brooklyn are included for NYC, though

EDIT: Turns out Alexandria is part of the DC Core Based Statistical Area. I stand (half) corrected.

There's also the Bronx and Staten Island. NYC is a very big city.

This is comparing DC proper to NYC proper. Remember folks NYC proper is not just Manhattan. NYC contains 5 boroughs. NYC is 7 times larger than DC in terms of land area and 12 times larger in terms of population. There is no way DC is cheaper more expensive than Manhattan, but i can believe that DC is on average cheaper more expensive than the Bronx, Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan averaged together.

Diego's for a haircut! Great cut, price and experience. Coffee placs next door is solid, and it's next to Kramer's bookstore. I used to make a morning out of it when I lived there.

Queens and Brooklyn are in NYC. Alexandria isn’t in DC

Gentrification and lack of incentive for small business owners to open up anything that doesn’t attract high income customers.

I also strongly suspect that NIMBYISM is also at play when it comes to approving liquor licenses or commercial real estate. People here are smart enough to realize that 7-11, McDonald’s or any cheap food attracts the ‘wrong’ type of people to their neighborhood.

I think meant there’s no way Manhattan is cheaper than DC

Yes thanks

I always confuse the H St location with Georgia Ave, oh well.

I’m judging accessibility of groceries from the center of the city and relative cost of transportation. Fort Totten may be close to you but for a majority of the city it’s as close to them as it’s close to Navy Yard or Anacostia.

Fort Totten’s Walmart is basically in Maryland. It’s like less then a quarter of a mile from the state line. That’s why it’s the very last stop in DC on the Yellow Line.

From Downtown DC, that’s a half hour drive if there’s no traffic. Which is never.

Metro from Downtown isn’t any better at 25-35 mins depending delays and wait time.

God knows how long the bus would take.

Good luck convincing George Washington students or folks in SW/SE to hike all the way up there.

That’s like telling people in Manhattan to go shop for food in Queens or Hoboken, NJ.

I’m blessed to live one block from a Whole Foods and I’m even more blessed to be able to afford it but people who are poor (and usually of color) have to pay 💰 in Metro/gas/Uber/time off just to get some damn affordable food.

BUT this is all besides the point. Wal-Mart should not be the sole source of affordable food for lower income families in the nation’s capital besides the odd McDonald’s or the odd 7-11.

Why are there 5 Whole Foods in the city spread out throughout the city and easily accessible for most residents and only 3 Wal-Marts where 1 is a hop skip away from the state line?

Density. Bodegas survive in NYC because 1K people live above or on the same block as them.

In DC there are so few areas with that density that all the retail there goes to national chains that can afford huge rents and want a flagship DC store.

Yeah if you ignore imaginary lines on a map, they are functionally similar.

I didn´t have a car when I lived there either and it was no problem

Density, but also just time. NYC has been a huge city for centuries, and a lot of those cheap mom and pop shops have been there for ages. A good number of them even own their stores free and clear, which helps keep the monthly costs low.

DC has not been a bustling city for nearly as long. We didn't even break the top 10 cities/metro areas (by population) until like the 1950's. So we've had less time to establish a good working class food culture.

Also, the food culture that was established was mostly destroyed during the MLK riots in the 1960s. H st and U st used to be bustling African American commercial hubs that could have been the basis for great mom and pop shops if the strips hadn't been burned down and then neglected.

Then, like 20 years later you have the crack epidemic, "murder capital of the US" and all of the other issues that lead to 90s-00s suburban flight. Then in the 10s and 20s you have gentrification and now COVID.

There's unfortunately a lot of events that have kneecapped DC's food scene before it was really able to get started.

I’m confused as to why you think the fort totten Walmart is far for low income DC families. Do you think DC’s low income families live on Navy Yard and Downtown?

The prevailing opinion among many DC residents that anything outside of their immediate NW neighborhood is “far” is so annoying. I’ve had people tell me that Takoma or Brookland is too far for them 😑

Car ownership does not equal car dependent. It is a proxy, but there is nuance.

For instance, DC has a much higher median income than NYC. More people can easily afford cars that they do not use.

Of course, if you compare Manhattan to all of DC, Manhattan is more transit friendly and less car dependent. However, if you compare all of NYC to DC, it is very comparable or DC even wins.cthere are giant portions of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and especially Staten island that are fully car dependent. In DC it is just the very rich parts of NW and the low income areas EOTR that are car dependent.

I didn’t say it was far for low-income families. I said it was far for most of DC residents.

Again, missing the point. Wal-Mart shouldn’t be the only source of affordable groceries.

I thought that New York has a massive number of rent controlled places compared to DC; so that would offset people like you.

That also wouldn't be true. Not everyone lives in Shaw or Columbia Heights or Downtown.

I'll agree that DC lacks enough groceries stores but what do you consider affordable? Giant, Safeway, Aldi, Lidl exist.

No Silver Spring and Alexandria are included. The study uses the Census Dept's metro areas:

> (cities demarcated by the US Census Bureau’s Core Based Statistical Areas).

Here are some maps: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core-based_statistical_area

> Why are there 5 Whole Foods in the city spread out throughout the city and easily accessible for most residents and only 3 Wal-Marts

Are you somehow under the impression that Walmart and Whole Foods are literally the only places to get groceries?

Safeway, Giant, Harris Teeter, Aldi, Lidl, Trader Joe's, Wegman's, all exist, along with one-offs like Bestworld. There are over 70 full-service grocery stores in DC, don't act like it's Walmart, Whole Foods, or nothing.

I find it ironic that because Wal-Mart is close to YOU it must be equally accessible to everyone else. It’s not. It’s literally in the upper most corner of the city and 3 miles from the center of the city. It would be quicker for someone at the center of DC to go to Arlington depending on the time of day.

I have a Whole Foods around the corner from me. If it was the only grocery store in DC that somehow sold affordable food, I wouldn’t be narcissistic enough to assume it’s fair distance to everyone else.

And Giant and Safeway are NOT cheap groceries.

You obviously have never been poor and it shows.

You think Giant and Harris Teeter is affordable food? Trader Joe’s?!

Okay, that’s alot of white privilege showing…

Fair, but according to the data here: https://www.doxo.com/insights/the-united-states-of-bill-pay-50-largest-u-s-cities-household-spend-report-2022/

After looking at incomes here, DC is one of the affordable places. In DC, people only spend 36.0% of average income on bills. In Los Angeles they spend 57% of average income on bills.

Of the top 50 metro areas, only 2 are more affordable by this metric. Only Minneapolis/St Paul and Omaha are cheaper.

You have a weird projection and extremely subpar reading comprehension skills so I'm going to stop replying to you. And in case you don't know, most DC residents don't live in the center of the city.

You think there's no affordable food to be found at those regular-ass grocery stores? You didn't see Aldi or Lidl in my list (or more likely completely ignored them because it didn't line up with your moronic narrative)

Okay, that's a lot of idiocy showing...

Those aren’t affordable either, honey bun.

Yes I agree. There IS a lot of idiocy and ignorance showing here on top of the usual white privilege you got going on there.

But according to you most of DC lives in Brightwood at the very corner of DC 5 blocks away from Maryland?

Okay, gurl. 🤨

Do you know how to read a map? Most cartographers judge accessibility by the center of the center and by ease of transportation. That’s why the Metro Center is near the CENTER of the city and not Fort Totten.

The only projection is from you. You somehow offended over my comment about Fort Totten and your insecurity with living in that area prompted you to make a irrelevant comment.

yep, its not really the rent/mortgage that kills you in DC, its all the day to day costs of living especially food and alcohol.

like it is fucking bonkers how much just a cup of coffee costs in the city now. everything in DC is so fucking expensive and not particularly high quality compared to NY

> Those aren’t affordable either, honey bun.

I would love to see your exhaustive research that shows you've compared all of those stores and Walmart is the ONLY affordable one.

Don't forget to include the specific products in your market basket, the median incomes of the areas the stores are located in, and your methodology for deducing the threshold for affordability.

I can't wait to see what you come back with and I DEFINITELY don't expect it to be the equivalent of a crumpled sheet of construction paper with WHITE PRIVILEGE scrawled in crayon.

You realize DC is pretty small right? Huge portions of the city are incredibly close to another state.

Also why do you keep mentioning whole foods? There are maybe what 8 Giants, probably the same amount of Safeways, 4/5 Harris teeters, lidl, wegmans, 5? Traders Joe's? Etc

It's pretty clear you don't leave your neighborhood often

Bc there is no reason for them to go there when everything they need is in their neighborhood

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Even if I agreed with your assessment that because it's in a corner of the city it's inaccessible (which I don't) the h street location is in the geographic center of the city.

Though by your own logic because it's in the center of the DC it's actually hard for most people to reach.

I get that but there's much more to DC and the DC metro area then the gentrified core.

Alexandria is part of the Core Based Statistical Area for DC, you're right, but Silver Spring is part of Silver Spring-Frederick-Rockville.

If you ignore imaginary lines on a map, you're no longer comparing the things that are being compared in this article.

Not sure how I feel about Great Clips haha but maybe I'll check it out.

Don't waste your time arguing with this person lol. You'll have a more productive time arguing with a wall. At least that way you won't lose any brain cells.

Well don’t be having a high costs taste then complaining about the costs. Go live out in the sticks if you want to do that.

I haven’t had a bad haircut from then. (I wouldn’t trust them to do color though)

I recently paid $70 for two cups of coffee, pancakes, a slice of carrot cake, and a cup cake at vegan place. Restaurants now charging this 20% service fee on top of the 20% tip when waiters don’t even take orders, tell specials, bring food, or a bill. I do it all on my phone through and app, which I suppose is what that 20% service charge pays for. I’m all for tipping 20% or more, but charging me an extra 20% is just ridiculous.

founding farmers comes to mind…

Average drink in Manhattan/brooklyn is $20-$25 where as in DC it’s around $14-$16, you can’t just point outliers. I am sure happy hour and bottomless drinks are cheaper in DC as well.

On top of that add Uber, in DC especially most nw you can just walk, it’s $50 uber from west village to east village on an average night.

DC aint cheap, but cant get close to nyc

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Excellent example of successful mediocrity.

Rent is still unaffordable for us plebs with families though, pretty much no matter where you look.

Not anymore, anyways.