That's true, however DC & Northern VA specifically are actually pretty expensive to live in. In fact, I would argue that they're not great places for a lot of d

That's true, however DC & Northern VA specifically are actually pretty expensive to live in. In fact, I would argue that they're not great places for a lot of devs, because the cost of living is high but you also don't get much in return for that COL - it's high because people in the region have basically guaranteed jobs between all the gov't and contracting jobs. Plus, all that gov't and contracting stuff is what the software jobs are. So sure, you can be gainfully employed writing AbstractFactoryFactories in some gigantic consulting firm. But overall, you're really paying for the job security of people in very different fields than you, and you will spend your off-hours surrounded by lawyers and gov't employees. I don't recommend it, but YMMV of course.