Why are we concerned about social/income outcomes here?
I can raise my income by 100% by moving to NYC or DC while simultaneously degrading my quality of life by 50%.
I'm not, but it seems to be important to Bostonian for some reason.
I can't speak for NYC except by reputation, but I have spent some time around DC, and based on my experience I'd say you're probably lowballing that 50%.
My commute is 10 minutes.
And that's in heavy traffic.
I can walk my kids to school (and normally do) and I also have no snow.
I grew up in PA and spent time in both NYC and DC growing up (in fact, I specifically avoided working in BigLaw there), so I know for a fact that I'm not lowballing it.
I really don't like cold weather.