(Updated at 1:15 p.m.) It’s not cheap to live in one of the best places for millennials.
That’s according to figures from the Economic Policy Institute, which has come out with an interactive calculator to determine how much it costs individuals and families to comfortably live in Arlington and other U.S. counties.
For a couple with two children in Arlington, it costs about $9,493 per month to live comfortably, according to EPI, or just over $113,915 per year.
The highest monthly costs were attributed to housing, at an average of $2,040 per month — for a “modest” but “sanitary” two-bedroom apartment — but childcare costs in the county were just behind it at $1,801 per month.
Couples without children can make a lot less while still living comfortably in Arlington. Annual pay of $67,840 is what it takes for two people to live here comfortably, without kids, childcare costs and the requisite additional bedrooms.
Single Arlingtonians, though, have to make $56,221 annually to live comfortably — only $11,619 less than a couple does.
Across the Potomac, a D.C. family with two kids needs to bring in $123,975 a year, according to the EPI analysis, while the same family in Manassas City can get by comfortably on $96,314.
Notably, EPI’s methodology didn’t mention any consideration for student loans. There is, however, is a category for “other necessities.”
File photo. Hat tip to James Breiling.