I lived and taught in PWCS for several years, and left about 7 years ago. I originally started out in Central VA then moved to PWCS, so the $12k+ increase in pay seemed significant, but yeah, the increase in CoL was significant. I had a roommate for my first few years. I had coworkers who lived in Stafford because the rent was cheaper, but they dealt with some pretty bad traffic along 95 and Route 1. I lived along Route 1 in South Woodbridge for about 18 months before I’d had enough of the traffic and moved to Lake Ridge. Had I not left the county, I would’ve eventually moved to Nokesville or maybe Bristow because I loved how rural they seemed, but honestly I don’t know why it’s like now. I liked working for PCWS, but I would have preferred Fairfax. Be aware, PWCS’s salary scale does not currently award you salary based on your years of service. I think this is due to the step freeze they about 10 years back. They didn’t allow us to advance steps for about 2 years, basically freezing our pay. So new teacher hires now actually start a few steps below. (Because teachers could just leave the county, work in a neighboring county for a year, and then return to PWCS and be several steps higher). Hopefully the desperation for teachers now will change that, but who knows.