$100k salary, packing up from Portland

change
Providence, RI cityscape

instead of portland

Providence

ri · metro 1.7M

a dispatch from

providence

RI

41.82°N

71.42°W

Providence is what a college town looks like wearing a former industrial capital's old leather jacket. Brown and RISD pour creatives in by the thousand, Federal Hill has been feeding them red sauce since forever, and on summer nights WaterFire literally lights bonfires up and down the river. It's cheap enough that Boston refugees actually stay. The state capitol has the fourth-largest self-supporting marble dome in the world, and you'll be told within an hour of arrival.

metro1.7M

01 · the verdict

the verdict

$116

the monthly cost of moving past Portland

Almost a wash on cost. The case for Providence is about what you'd do there, not what you'd save.
landable, recorded on the providence entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$2,127/mo

19% more expensive than Portland(vs $1,781/mo)

02state income tax

5.99%

$230/mo less in state tax than Portland

vs 8.75% in Portland

03after rent

$5,707/mo

$116 less than Portland

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

04a house here

$528k

6% cheaper than Portland

vs $562k in Portland

05metro size

1.7M

vs 2.5M in Portland

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

159

pleasant days a year, in providence.

Portland edges ahead with 178 pleasant days. A real winter, not a brutal one: 35 days under 20°, vs 2 in Portland.

But the calendar thins out: Portland stays 5.9× busier.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

63/100

28% lower than Portland

vs 87/100 in Portland

Closest outdoor draw: Acushnet Cedar Swamp State Reservation, 23.8 mi.

·walk score®

96/100

4% lower than Portland

vs 100/100 in Portland

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

17

70% fewer than Portland

vs 57 nonstops in Portland

04 · see also

in the same ballpark as providence:

compare providence with: