Help I am from Texas and my husband got a job offer in Washington D.C. What is a good suburb or small town in Washington. Is the cost of living there high?
2007-03-01 01:38:30 · 12 answers · asked by serendipityfinite 1 in Travel ➔ United States ➔ Washington, D.C.
Montgomery County,Maryland is a great place. It has a great school system(they were recently ranked in the top 15 in the nation!) It is very expensive especially in Potomac,Bethesda, and Chevy Chase. Rockville,Gaithersburg,and Germantown are some suburbs farther out that have a family feel with the amenities of a big suburb. In Gaithersburg there is a community called the Kentlands. There are neo-classic design houses with white picket fences for around $1 million. Everything is designed to be within walking distance of downtown Kentlands, which has hundreds of shops, restaurants, and a movie theater. If you can't afford the high prices for the houses there are town houses and condos in Kentlands too. All this is about 30 min away from DC(w/o traffic) If you really small town feel I suggest Middleburg,Virginia. A small little town in the hilly country side in Loudon County. (Loudon County is the weathiest county in the country) There are a lot of families and horse people in Middleburg. Overall, DC is a very expensive place, but you get what you pay for and around DC there are a lot of very nice communities.
2007-03-01 07:16:30 · answer #1 · answered by Paul 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The costs that are higher in the D.C. metropolitan area are housing and cost of commuting by car. Be very careful in picking a place to live - D.C. is highest cost and Virginia has the best public schools.
Commuting distances can be very great - it is not uncommon for some to travel in excess of 20 miles each way. Commuting time varies greatly - 20 miles on a good day may be 30 minutes and well over an hour on a bad day.
If you are home buyer I suggest you find some temporary accommodation for a few months so you can experience the different areas before you buy. Whether you are a buyer or renter DO NOT take anyones word on commute times - experience it yourself BEFORE you commit to a rental or purchase.
2007-03-01 06:40:03 · answer #2 · answered by kayak 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The cost of living is extremely high. Check out a real estate website to get a feel.
Depending out how much you wish to spend on housing and what type of home you are willing to settle for will determine where you live.
I would avoid anwhere in P.G. county. The schools in Prince Geroge's county are not very good and there are many sketchy areas. It may not be a good investment. Virginia is a lovely place to live, but also has a very high cost of living as well - and parts of it can be very congested. Parts of Montgomery Co. are also very nice, but very very crowded and congested. There are a lot amenities to these two areas, but a lot of people trying to take advantage of them.
Frederick County, MD is further away, but has a lower cost of living and a lot less crowded. They have good schools and it has a very nice smaller town feel (sense of community, cultural events, etc. ) http://www.fredericktourism.org/ (it can be quite a commute, but A LOT of people do it! Many take the MARC train from Frederick straight into downtown D.C.)
2007-03-02 05:25:34 · answer #3 · answered by apbanpos 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Montgomery County, Maryland such as Silver Spring, Rockville, or Wheaton are good places. Montgomery County schools are among the best in the country. No personal property tax like in Virginia but Montgomery County has an income tax. Sort of equals out.
Very high cost of living compared to most places. A decent house in the area is going to be around $500,000. Check with Remax or Century 21 realtors for prices.
Do not live in Prince George County. Dangerous!! Do not live in DC. Dangerous!!!
2007-03-01 10:34:44 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is one of the most expensive cities in the country, especially for housing. So unfortunately you will probably have sticker shock. Also the traffic is pretty bad and if you want to live in a "small town" you'd have to go pretty far out. But I would try Montgomery County, Maryland (maybe Kensington area) or Fairfax County, Virginia. I grew up in Montgomery County so I'm more familiar with it. Again, it's pretty expensive but has great local services - one of the best school districts in the country and it's very safe and nice. I agree with the person above me - avoid Prince George's County or most of the inner-city (Northwest DC is ok but if you want a "small town" then it might not be for you).
2007-03-01 10:39:26 · answer #5 · answered by Mike R 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The cost of living is much higher in Washington DC and immediate suburbs than in Dallas, Houston, etc. Washington DC does have tremendous amount to offer in return and a very cool place to live if you like to go out and do things.
Some really nice suburbs I would suggest looking into are Alexandria, Fairfax, Reston and Arlington..
2007-03-01 01:48:34 · answer #6 · answered by Wise one 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
For the cost of living difference, I recommend looking at CNN Money's Cost of Living Calculator (http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html). The prices are much higher here, and the commute time can be very long, depending on how far live from work. I recommend Montgomery County, MD if you are working in northern DC or the VA counties in the earlier posting if the job is in southern DC.
2007-03-01 02:43:36 · answer #7 · answered by Jessica B 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Stay out of and away from Prince Georges County, Md. Montgomery County, Md., is said to be the richest county in Maryland and it's expensive to live there. If your income is high enough find a place in Bethesda or Chevy Chase, Md. They're both safe and nice areas to live in. The area called, 'Georgetown' in D.C. is extremely expensive to live in and Northwest D.C. close to the Maryland border is not bad, but Southeast, Southwest and Northeast D.C. are not desirable places to live. Silver Spring, Md, is not as expensive to live in as Bethesda and Chevy Chase. Crystal City is also of high prestige, like Georgetown, and is likely very expensive to live in. Adams-Morgan is a nice place to visit, but not a place you want to live in. Other fair chooses for living are Arlington and Alexandria. Virginia has a yearly car tax and lower car insurance rates than Maryland. For good drivers car insurance is almost 50% less than in Maryland. In Maryland cars are not required to be inspected on a yearly basis like in Virginia.
2007-03-01 15:23:23 · answer #8 · answered by cartiphilus 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
try fairfax county in virginia, its nice.prefererably reston,fairfax,ashburn, falls church.
commute to dc is 30 to 40 minutes depending upon where in DC you work.
apartments cost around 1000 to 1300 for a single bedroom, might sound expensive,but lower than that the community might not be good.
2007-03-01 01:50:56 · answer #9 · answered by anuneha31 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the cost of living is very high but it is great investments. i would recommend northern VA (like fairfax county) they have great schools and other stuff. its a great place to raise a family. me and my family lives here and we love it and will never move!!
2007-03-02 02:29:27 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋