with $100k coming in, swapping out of Hickory

change
Asheville, NC cityscape

instead of hickory

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

$304

the monthly premium over Hickory

Asheville costs meaningfully more. Whether it earns that back in the day-to-day is the actual question.
landable, recorded on the asheville entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,738/mo

21% more expensive than Hickory(vs $1,434/mo)

02state income tax

4.5%

vs 4.5% in Hickory

03after rent

$6,220/mo

$304 less than Hickory

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

04a house here

$430k

60% more expensive than Hickory

vs $268k in Hickory

05metro size

417k

vs 370k in Hickory

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

201

pleasant days a year, in asheville.

Hickory keeps to 189 pleasant days a year.

Nights and weekends fill up faster. 1.8× more on the calendar than Hickory.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

66/100

3% higher than Hickory

vs 64/100 in Hickory

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

·walk score®

63/100

10% lower than Hickory

vs 70/100 in Hickory

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

8

0% fewer than Hickory

vs 0 nonstops in Hickory

04 · see also

neighbors of asheville on the map of tradeoffs:

compare asheville with: