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Comment by dkhenry | Hacker News Reader

I just moved from Philadelphia to DC for a job, and I am still biased towards Philadelphia. The jobs I see around here seem to be slanted towards government and non profits.

The biggest problem is the absurd high cost of living, Housing prices are high for miles out of the city, and they spike along all the major forms of transportation. Unless you like sitting in traffic for hours a day you will be paying a premium for housing. Traffic is also a mess.

It has been my experience that you would be much better off in Boston, NYC, or Philadelphia ( I would check out Philly, very low cost of living and a burgeoning tech scene )

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Philly is cheap and we are getting more start ups. There are a lot of tech jobs though, but the downside (for some) is that many are in the suburbs either on the main line or in New Jersey, and I don't think that will change much until the city business problem tax is lowered.

I think the business and wage tax are putting a dampener on growth, but they haven't prevented the city from still putting on tech jobs. If you don't mind the wage tax I knew lots of people who did reverse commutes and they worked out well. I think of any city I have lived in philly is right on the cusp of being the next breakout place to be. Its a great city with amazing cultural institutions, the best food scene on the east coast, low cost of living, a lot of great educational institutions to churn out talent and a pretty good regional transit system. If they can fix their governance issues and attract some more capital willing to lead big rounds I think they could hold their own against NYC and boston

Only thing keeping me from moving into Philly is the wage tax. I think within the next year I'm just going to bite the bullet and do it.

Just negotiate that factor into whatever salary you get. I feel like firms in the city proper realize they need to add a couple thousand to compete with suburban firms

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