I aimed for a monthly budget of between 1500-1700/mo in order to save some money during this time as well. Definitely doable even though the area is expensive. Started living in Rockville with three roommates and paid 675/mo + utilities. Second year I lived in DC with four roommates and paid 925/mo. + utilities. I cook a lot and don't really eat out and spent about 275-300/mo. on food. Other expense entirely up to you, pre-pandemic maybe 100ish/mo. on nights out/alcohol. Miscellaneous transportation, clothing, fun things, etc. probably 300-400ish/mo.
You can live in the suburbs cheaply, especially with roommates. You can also make DC work, so options abound. If you are taking metro to work, just be somewhat near the red line either in MD (Bethesda to be right by NIH campus, or a bit further out like Rockville) or DC (somewhere in NW like Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, etc.) and you'll be fine. Check out the Club PCR listserv for potential leases and roommate searches:
Club_PCR - Google Groups
General advice: unless you know living with others doesn't work for you, live with other young people. Good to have built in relationships and people to do things with. Take advantage of the training office and all their resources (
Home - Office of Intramural Training & Education at the National Institutes of Health). Ask PI/other people in lab for their recommendations on areas to explore/restaurants, etc. Live a life outside of the lab!! They pay barely anything, so put in the hours relevant to that, and don't feel like you owe your life to the NIH. Build your life, don't just chalk this up to a 1-2 year stopgap period. Invest in friends and relationships (including those who don't work at the NIH/in science! get to know all sorts of people. DC is truly the best place to do that since you get political/policy people, business, art, etc.). Build roots in the area. It will pay dividends for your happiness at the time, and give you an idea of the life you can have when moving to new places as you go to school, residency etc.
