$100k salary, packing up from San Diego

change
Asheville, NC cityscape

instead of san diego

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

$1,552

below San Diego's monthly cost

Move to Asheville and the monthly math gets easier. San Diego's rent is the headline; Asheville's is a footnote.
landable, recorded on the asheville entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,738/mo

40% cheaper than San Diego(vs $2,890/mo)

02state income tax

4.5%

$400/mo less in state tax than San Diego

vs 9.3% in San Diego

03after rent

$6,220/mo

$1,552 more than San Diego

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

04a house here

$430k

57% cheaper than San Diego

vs $1010k in San Diego

05metro size

417k

vs 3.3M in San Diego

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

201

pleasant days a year, in asheville.

San Diego gets 332 pleasant days a year, so you'd be trading some sunshine.

But the calendar thins out: San Diego stays 5.0× busier.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

66/100

12% lower than San Diego

vs 75/100 in San Diego

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

·walk score®

63/100

36% lower than San Diego

vs 99/100 in San Diego

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

8

85% fewer than San Diego

vs 55 nonstops in San Diego

04 · see also

neighbors of asheville on the map of tradeoffs:

compare asheville with: