$100k salary, packing up from Columbia

change
Asheville, NC cityscape

instead of columbia

Asheville

nc · metro 417k

a dispatch from

asheville

NC

35.58°N

82.55°W

Asheville is what happens when a mountain town and an art school have a baby and raise it on craft beer. Downtown packs more breweries per capita than almost anywhere in America, plus buskers on every corner and Art Deco buildings the Depression accidentally preserved (the city went broke before it could tear them down). The Biltmore, America's largest private home, looms on the edge of town like a stone-carved flex. Remote workers keep showing up, which is how you know.

metro417k

01 · the verdict

the verdict

$21

the monthly cost of moving past Columbia

A small premium for Asheville. Worth it only if the rest of the city earns it back.
landable, recorded on the asheville entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,738/mo

12% more expensive than Columbia(vs $1,551/mo)

02state income tax

4.5%

$167/mo less in state tax than Columbia

vs 6.5% in Columbia

03after rent

$6,220/mo

$21 less than Columbia

gross of federal tax. a comparison, not a paycheck.

04a house here

$430k

69% more expensive than Columbia

vs $255k in Columbia

05metro size

417k

vs 857k in Columbia

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

201

pleasant days a year, in asheville.

Columbia keeps to 189 pleasant days a year.

1.8× the events of Columbia, and the calendar shows it.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

66/100

20% higher than Columbia

vs 55/100 in Columbia

Closest outdoor draw: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 74.8 mi.

·walk score®

63/100

26% lower than Columbia

vs 85/100 in Columbia

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

8

20% fewer than Columbia

vs 10 nonstops in Columbia

04 · see also

neighbors of asheville on the map of tradeoffs:

compare asheville with: