$100k salary, packing up from Riverside

change
Providence, RI cityscape

swapping out of riverside

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

$642

below Riverside's monthly cost

The gap is real. Providence costs noticeably less than Riverside, every month.
landable, recorded on the providence entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$2,127/mo

15% cheaper than Riverside(vs $2,493/mo)

02state income tax

5.99%

$276/mo less in state tax than Riverside

vs 9.3% in Riverside

03after rent

$5,707/mo

$642 more than Riverside

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

04a house here

$528k

11% cheaper than Riverside

vs $595k in Riverside

05metro size

1.7M

vs 4.7M in Riverside

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

159

pleasant days a year, in providence.

Riverside gets 249 pleasant days a year, so you'd be trading some sunshine. A real winter, not a brutal one: 35 days under 20°, vs 0 in Riverside.

A real upgrade on things to do: 3.5× Riverside's pace.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

63/100

9% lower than Riverside

vs 69/100 in Riverside

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

·walk score®

96/100

4% higher than Riverside

vs 92/100 in Riverside

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

17

21% more than Riverside

vs 14 nonstops in Riverside

04 · see also

neighbors of providence on the map of tradeoffs:

compare providence with: