So I have a possible job offer in Rockville, MD. The pay is 34k/year. Honestly can I afford to live there? What’s the training like out there? I’d be moving from Greensboro, NC
edit: not married yet but that’s in the plans. No kids. Would be working in Rockville and if possible would love to ride to work. Have an active dog so I’m not sure about rental houses yet.
Married? Kids? Have a lot of stuff?
Prefer to bike to work? Drive to work? Ok with taking the Metro? Maybe a bus?
You could probably find an apartment near to downtown Rockville (which is where you’ll be?) to share with 1-3 people and be extremely close.
You could live in the southern part of Montgomery County, or up north in or even outside the County, and get a little more for your money.
You could also try living south in DC in some cheaper areas that are more walkable, and riding the metro.
yeah guess I forgot a lot of things. I edited up there
I promise I’m not plugging a real estate agent to make money or anything, but I used a guy 2+ years ago to sell a place who I loved. He’s professional, but a warrior when he’s on your side. So if you go the purchase route, feel free to let me know and I’ll send you his info.
With the dog that complicates things a bit (big, small? Labrador sized?) but I think you could find some options. Rockville is a mini-urban environment in the middle of suburbs as part of the DC area (some would say sprawl). Given that your a tri warrior 
I think you could easily put yourself into a manageable distance for biking to work, while simultaneously putting you at a cheaper rent/lease/mortgage price. Buying would be problematic I think, but maaaybe an option. A 1 or 2 BR condo could do the trick, maybe a townhouse.
DC is pretty close to a good number of races, the Reston Tri fills up really quickly. The Eastern Shore of MD hosts a few tri and du races that are good.
I live in Norther Virginia (grew up in MD though) but I don’t know the MoCo trails well. But you can take trails from downtown DC up into PA and waaaay out west in VA. PG County actually has some of the best bike/run trails in the entire country but (enter my biased opinion as I grew up there, 4th generation) gets a bad wrap because it is compared to 3 or 4 of the best Counties in the country in almost any indicator. PG County schools aren’t great, but compared to any normal random county in the US are decent.
You can Metro from Rockville to anywhere you’d want to go in DC, into NoVA and other parts of MoCo and PG County.
I’m highly biased as I’m DC born (literally) and bred. I love it here, hate it when people say bad things.
At your stated salary I think you can definitely make a go of it. There are hundreds of Congressional staffers who work for that amount or less, and interns do it for nearly free every summer.
Swift: Hate to be a downer, but although I think you CAN afford to live there, I’m not sure you would ENJOY trying to afford living there. What I mean by that is on $34k/year, it is an expensive place to live, and you will have to make some major adjustments to afford it. I lived in Germantown, MD (north of Rockville) for a few years while I worked in Rockville (off Shady Grove Rd). It’s progressive, TONS of stuff to do, close to just about anything you would ever want to do (beaches, downtowns, etc), but after my wife quit her job after our first baby, we lived off one salary (mine) which was about what you’ll be making, and it was very difficult. Although you are single, don’t have kids, you can buy the cheap ass dog food, and if you find some roommates, great. I love visiting there, wouldn’t move back there unless it was for a TON more money.
The decision we made was, there are jobs EVERYWHERE…just need to be flexible. Found one making MORE money in Indiana, with HALF the cost of living as the DC area, less congestion, FRIENDLIER people, milder weather, etc. 3 hours from Chicago, 4 hours from skiiing, or 5 seconds from stars in the sky at night with very little smog, no background light and noise to pollute my air, and a softer, gentler approach to life. You just have to be patient.
Thanks for the honest answer. One of the stipulations my girlfriend had with moving was that we be financially ok. She has a steady job here in High Point but I’ve just been working part time at the local running shop and at races having a hard time finding anything full time. I just can’t imagine moving up there and paying double-triple what we pay in rent now.
I also want to make sure our aussie/border mix has plenty of room (trails, parks) to run like she does here.
I lived in Rockville 12 years ago. I made about what you will be making, lived in a 1 bedroom apartment, ate relatively frugally, had no car payment, and had about $600 left over every month.
The only way I can imagine doing that now (given inflation) would be if you moved into a really ghetto apartment. Rockville is a very high cost of living area.
You’ll probably need roommates.