DC suburbs themselves aren't more expensive than SF or the Valley though in general, speaking as a recent DC transplant to the Valley. You can find a 1000 sqft

DC suburbs themselves aren't more expensive than SF or the Valley though in general, speaking as a recent DC transplant to the Valley. You can find a 1000 sqft 1 bedroom apartment just outside of DC and a few inside DC for about $2000 a month. Go a little further to even Fairfax and you can get a 2 bedroom one for even $1600 if you look carefully. While I haven't lived in the Valley long enough, I'm currently paying about $2100 a month for just 700 sqft, and other places are even worse around here. And income may be higher in some respects, but that is pretty much exclusively in the government sector or law.