With increasing housing costs ,  it's becoming increasingly difficult to put aside even a little  for rainy days from your paystubs. Even though there are opportunities in myriad of professional domains, from government contracting to technology to financial services and consulting, worsening trafffic problems, and skyrocketing housing costs, both rental and homeownership costs, coupled with stagnant pay is making me think move from Washington DC Area to other cities with cheaper houses, yet decent job prospects. Raleigh/Charlotte, North Carolina, Austin and Houston, Texas are in my mind.  As I compare cost of living index, it's about 65% cheaper to live in either of these cities than what it costs in DMV area. Currenlty, I work in government contracting industry in program control/finance. 

I would like to hear Sajhayetis experience, especially the ones from Management/Finance domains about their thoughts.  Lets have some good discussion. It may help those ones who're contemplating to move in. 

 So, noone has anything to share ?

My conditions of moving:

1. Don't move to another place unless you find a full time job which you think will last for a long time.
2. You should also move to a place where there are enough jobs in your field. Basically you should be confident that if you lose your job, you will be able to easily find another job.
3. If you are a contractor then I dont think this discussion makes any sense since its difficult to find a contracting job in a particular place and you may have to keep on relocating.
4. I could not really figure out what your job is but if it is sth related to IT then houston is not a good place to relocate, dallas might be.

Thanks Mancini for your thoughts.

I think you read me wrong when it comes to my profession. I said I work in a government contracting industry in finance domain. I don't hold a  contractor job. It's a full time permanent job in a publicly traded large corporation. 

I understand moving entails risks, especially from employemnt perspectives. At times, you may not be able to find a job before you move in. However, knowing how others experienced moving to thse cities, especially those with MBA or any business degree.

 Not sure about your specific field, but Austin is a better choice in almost every ways, with the downsides being traffic, heat and pollen allergy.