Hypothetically, if I were moving to the DC area

stephm0188 · January 2010

What family friendly areas would I want to consider moving to? What areas would I want to avoid?

tmp-354536812503300 · January 2010

move to North Beach!!!!

Gina418 · January 2010

My ILs live in Bethesda MD - seems like a wonderful place but it also seems very pricey.

Lucky_Dragonfly · January 2010

Bethesda and Gaithesburg are nice. as well as Silver Spring. Frederick is about 30min northwest of the city and is more of a rural country feeling.

lisaroo · January 2010

We lived in Old Town Alexandria and absolutely loved it!! Very family oriented, safe, pretty, great amenities. Pricey, but really nice. If we got an offer to move back there that was financially reasonable, I would in a heartbeat.

sunnygyrl · January 2010

Hypothetically, I think it would depend on where the job would be. DC traffic can be hellacious. I personally love Western Fairfax County. But, my DH has a 90 minute commute if he drives in.

violetvirgo · January 2010

dh and i have a ton of friends that live in the alexandria and fairfax area if you're looking in the burbs. i also have a very good friend who lives in the city and the capitol building is his his view, but i'm not sure how family friendly it is...

JARbaby · January 2010

Def Montgomery County which includes Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Silver Spring. Frederick is near me, I live in Clarksburg (North Mont. Co) and work in Potomac. I have also lived in Silver Spring and Germantown which is just north of Gaithersburg, south of Clarksburg.

The traffic is a little better than NoVa and COL is a little cheaper. Plus NoVa public schools are getting a huge budget cut. MoCo. Not so bad.

If I were to live in NoVa it would be Ashburn but only if I worked in NoVa, I would not commute to DC from there.

We love Old Town Alexandria, we go to church there and had our wedding there. I like the Fort Hunt area of Alexandria.

If you work and live in MoCo you get a tax break too!

*KatieH* · January 2010

We live on the MD side of the DC area I have heard it's cheaper then the VA side but I am not sure. Either way if/when you move here I suggest you see how far you are from the nearest Metro stop and take that into the city rather then drive since that commute is not fun at all! There is obviously a ton to do in the area, you will be near Annapolis, Baltimore, a couple beaches, etc.

sunnygyrl · January 2010

Oh, stay away from Fredericksburg, VA if you will be commuting to the city. A friend of mine has had 5 HOUR long commutes to get home. Mind numbing!

JARbaby · January 2010

sunnygyrl:
Oh, stay away from Fredericksburg, VA if you will be commuting to the city. A friend of mine has had 5 HOUR long commutes to get home. Mind numbing!

AGREE! The "Mixing Bowl" where 495 and 95 meet south of DC, I can't imagine choosing to move to that area or anywhere that required me to drive that every single day.

Amymarie13 · January 2010

YOu're not asking the right question. If you are moving to the DC area, the ONLY question is...where can i afford to live? Once you figure that out, then you can ask your question

But there are lots of family friendly areas here. when are you thinking of moving?

C.squared · January 2010

It really depends on where you'd be working. I live in the MD suburbs and work in DC and my commute SUCKS! It's at least 1.25 hours each way, but some days much more. If you can take Metro, that helps a little.

yoko589 · January 2010

When DH was in the Navy, we lived in Germantown. He worked at the Naval hospital in bethesda. Bethesda is very pricey as is alot of Montgomery county. The further away from DC you get the cheap, in general. The commute to Bethesda was not bad and I worked in Rockville. That wasn't bad at all and everything was there.

secuccaro · January 2010

sunnygyrl:
Hypothetically, I think it would depend on where the job would be. DC traffic can be hellacious. I personally love Western Fairfax County. But, my DH has a 90 minute commute if he drives in.

That's where I live! In Centreville, VA. To the op - most of the safter, family friendly areas do tend to be pricier, unfortunately. Fairfax Co. is great and so is Loudoun Co - but the commute to DC is bad. I personally would stay away from Arlington or Alexandria, where there is a fair amount of street crime -- the COL is also astronomical.

Toosdai · January 2010

I'd move right next to me, of course. Duh.

Seriously though - you HAVE to know where you are going to work and go from there. So if you give us a hypothetical work location, we can give you hypothetical living locations.

Traffic here sucks monkey balls in ways that you can never imagine until you are sitting in it and have to pee.

Carifly · January 2010

I think it totally depends on where you're working. We live in Arlington Va & love it- very close to downtown (15 min commute), we can walk to the metro so we only need 1 car, and lots of things to do. However, we live in a very small expensive house, so there are always tradeoffs. Commutes can end up being so long, so you have to be careful to consider that...

cleeksock · January 2010

well, the house next door to me is for sale.... :P

it depends where the job is. if stephen is going to work in DC, i'd look in montgomery county. nova is really nice, but the COL is a bit more than MD and the traffic is even more hellacious.

Carifly · January 2010

secuccaro:

I personally would stay away from Arlington or Alexandria, where there is a fair amount of street crime -- the COL is also astronomical.

Seriously? I agree with the COL, but the street crime is really not an issue. There are just as many problems in Ffx as in Arlington & Alex. Crime really isn't something you need to be worried about, except perhaps on a neighborhood level, and that is true of every locality.

stephm0188 · January 2010

I'm not exactly sure where the job location is... all I know is that it's in DC somewhere. (I knoiw, its a big place!) Right now we're just trying to figure out if living there is something we really want before he goes any further with the process. I do know that he mentioned he'd take the metro in rather than driving.

TakYelgif · January 2010

I am in the wear the job is camp. There aren't to many areas in the Metro DC region that aren't family friendly. DH and I both work in Fairfax so we live in Fairfax. I highly reccomend settling near the job as traffic in this area is crazy!

It pretty much does not matter where you settle price wise everything is going to be pricey unless you settle out in the far western suburbs which I do not reccommend because of the commute.

secuccaro · January 2010

Carifly:
secuccaro:

I personally would stay away from Arlington or Alexandria, where there is a fair amount of street crime -- the COL is also astronomical.

Seriously? I agree with the COL, but the street crime is really not an issue. There are just as many problems in Ffx as in Arlington & Alex. Crime really isn't something you need to be worried about, except perhaps on a neighborhood level, and that is true of every locality.

That was my experience, yes. Street crime was an issue in our neighborhoods in Arlington and Alexandria.

JARbaby · January 2010

Carifly:
secuccaro:

I personally would stay away from Arlington or Alexandria, where there is a fair amount of street crime -- the COL is also astronomical.
Seriously? I agree with the COL, but the street crime is really not an issue. There are just as many problems in Ffx as in Arlington & Alex. Crime really isn't something you need to be worried about, except perhaps on a neighborhood level, and that is true of every locality.

FFX has one of the biggest MS-13 gang issues in the country. My Criminal Psych prof works with some of the kids in FFX along side of the police. Scary stuff. So bad that they are strongly advised to not wear certain colors in certain areas of the cty. Def advise against the FFX cty public schools until they get this mess cleaned up!

ETA, I have a nice 20 mile commute. Take me 45m to go and 30 to get home. Not much traffic at all.

CFO · January 2010

Loudoun County is awesome. Ashburn has some beautiful, affordable communities. And if youre in the tech industry, it doesn't get hotter than the Dulles Corridore.

eep9906 · January 2010

I'd say North Arlington. Arlington is expensive but it's safe, close to the DC, the schools are excellent, there's a lot to do, and there are tons of public transportation options, the metro runs right through it, well under it.

I'd also consider the Alexandria section of Fairfax County. That's where I grew up and would move back there in a heart beat.

Carifly · January 2010

secuccaro:
Carifly:
secuccaro:

I personally would stay away from Arlington or Alexandria, where there is a fair amount of street crime -- the COL is also astronomical.

Seriously? I agree with the COL, but the street crime is really not an issue. There are just as many problems in Ffx as in Arlington & Alex. Crime really isn't something you need to be worried about, except perhaps on a neighborhood level, and that is true of every locality.

That was my experience, yes. Street crime was an issue in our neighborhoods in Arlington and Alexandria.

I think that was indicitive of where you lived on Arlington or Alexandria- not the entire county/city. There are good areas and bad areas in every jurisdiction.

femmeftle9 · January 2010

Fairfax or Loudoun County VA are nice. It depends on what exactly you are looking for before I can give a more refined answer.

ETA: I live 20+ miles away from the nearest metro station (though that is changing since they are building a line down the Dulles corridor), but Loudoun County has a transit system to take commuters in/out of DC each day. I've used it before, & the buses are nice, charter buses.

I also drive into DC each day. If I can get out of my house between 5-5:30am, my commute is 45 mins. If I'm late, it can take me between an hour and 15 mins to an hour & half.

I personally love Loudoun County & it's worth the drive to me and I love my neighborhood.

Loudoun County Public Schools also have an excellent reputation.

Sorry I'm babbling, if you describe more of what you are looking for, I can probably give you a better answer. Also what part of DC would your DH work in? That may also make a difference in my answer.

Skipperg82 · January 2010

SFL

Monkeybuttwhat · January 2010

The traffic is so awful you really need to know exactly where the jobs will be before picking.

If it was me I would avoid Prince George's County. My mom's house sold for a half a mil there but there were freaking drug dealers living next door and shooting going on. So you could spend a fortune and live somewhere unsafe.

She moved to the Annapolis area. The commute is longer but not as bad as other places.

Ijamsville is really nice and rural. I like that area (Fredrick area) the commute isn't awful. You can hit the metro. It is just so darn expensive down there.

I love Germantown but man $$$

*KatieH* · January 2010

Monkeybuttwhat:
The traffic is so awful you really need to know exactly where the jobs will be before picking.
If it was me I would avoid Prince George's County. My mom's house sold for a half a mil there but there were freaking drug dealers living next door and shooting going on. So you could spend a fortune and live somewhere unsafe.
She moved to the Annapolis area. The commute is longer but not as bad as other places.
Ijamsville is really nice and rural. I like that area (Fredrick area) the commute isn't awful. You can hit the metro. It is just so darn expensive down there.
I love Germantown but man $$$

we live in PGC it's perfectly safe I think it's like every city/area you will have your safer neighborhoods and your not so safe neighborhoods.

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Hypothetically, if I were moving to the DC area

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