$100k salary, packing up from Seattle

change
Asheville, NC cityscape

if you left seattle

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

$80

less monthly outlay than Seattle

Asheville and Seattle land close on cost. The reasons to move are about how you'd live, not what you'd save.
landable, recorded on the asheville entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,738/mo

21% cheaper than Seattle(vs $2,193/mo)

02state income tax

4.5%

$375/mo more in state tax than Seattle

vs 0% in Seattle

03after rent

$6,220/mo

$80 more than Seattle

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

04a house here

$430k

46% cheaper than Seattle

vs $791k in Seattle

05metro size

417k

vs 4.0M in Seattle

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

201

pleasant days a year, in asheville.

Seattle keeps to 182 pleasant days a year.

But the calendar thins out: Seattle stays 7.3× busier.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

66/100

29% lower than Seattle

vs 93/100 in Seattle

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

·walk score®

63/100

36% lower than Seattle

vs 98/100 in Seattle

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

8

91% fewer than Seattle

vs 90 nonstops in Seattle

04 · see also

cities that play in asheville's register:

compare asheville with: