LGBTQ+ tax & cost-of-living guide: DC

DC's income tax is progressive up to 10.75% — meaningfully higher than Virginia's 5.75% or Maryland's 5.75% + local piggyback (which often lands around 8–9% combined). For dual-income households living and working across the DMV, jurisdiction choice for residence and work has real tax consequences, and it interacts with reciprocity rules that most generic advisors don't model.

The bigger long-term issue for successful DC households is the DC estate tax. The exemption is roughly $4.53M per person (indexed), well below the federal $15M, and there is no portability to the surviving spouse. A federal employee with a mature TSP, a biglaw partner with capital and deferred comp, or a K Street principal with an appreciated Cap Hill rowhouse can cross that line faster than expected — and without bypass-trust planning, the first-death exemption is lost.

Property-tax rates in DC itself are relatively moderate (Class 1 residential ~0.85%), but Northern Virginia and Montgomery County stack higher effective rates plus local income tax. Choice of jurisdiction inside the DMV materially changes the after-tax cost of living for LGBTQ+ households, and the tradeoffs (schools, commute, jurisdiction-specific LGBTQ+ protections) are worth naming rather than assuming.

Rather than a generic cost-of-living index, this guide focuses on the levers that matter for LGBTQ+ households: state income tax, property tax, state estate/inheritance tax, and the legal and benefits overlay specific to same-sex couples and families. When you're ready to translate any of it into a plan, the DC city page is the right next step.