$100k salary, packing up from Seattle

change
Providence, RI cityscape

from seattle

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

$433

more each month than Seattle ran you

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

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$2,127/mo

3% cheaper than Seattle(vs $2,193/mo)

02state income tax

5.99%

$499/mo more in state tax than Seattle

vs 0% in Seattle

03after rent

$5,707/mo

$433 less than Seattle

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

04a house here

$528k

33% cheaper than Seattle

vs $791k in Seattle

05metro size

1.7M

vs 4.0M in Seattle

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

159

pleasant days a year, in providence.

Seattle has the edge here, logging 182 pleasant days a year. Cold snaps are part of the year: 35 days below 20° here, 0 in Seattle.

But the calendar thins out: Seattle stays 12.1× busier.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

63/100

32% lower than Seattle

vs 93/100 in Seattle

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

·walk score®

96/100

2% lower than Seattle

vs 98/100 in Seattle

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

17

81% fewer than Seattle

vs 90 nonstops in Seattle

04 · see also

same energy as providence, different zip code:

compare providence with: