Working and Living in Washington DC or Richmond, VA???

Question

Hi all

I want to work for a company that has offices in both Richmond and Washington. Can you tell me why would be better to go for the Richmond office and not the DC one, if at all?

Tnanks

Answer 1

The DC metro area is way larger than the Richmond metro area. There are more clubs, more restaurants, more museums than the Richmond area. Musicians are more likely to play in the DC Metro area.

However, unless you make at least 6 digits, you will live from paycheck to paycheck. The cost of living is ridiculous. Most of my friends in that area tend to live at least an hour or more from where they work.

Richmond is not bad. I live in Richmond and I enjoy it. It has a lot slower pace. It is not boring! It has it's jewels. Shockoe Bottom and Shockoe Slip are nice places to find clubs and restaurants. The cost of living is way cheaper than in DC. (But, it's still a bit more than if you were living outside of an urban area.)

Most people moving down to Richmond will first get an apartment in the Fan or the West End of Henrico County. While these are not necessarily the cheapest, they are the closest to the social and night life.

What ever is in DC is in Richmond, just not in as large or as varied. Actually, I think that Rare Olde Times (an Irish pub owned by someone from Ireland) and Penny Lane Pub (English pub owned by someone from the UK) are better than anything I have seen up in the DC area.

If you are planning on owning a car, DC is not for you. The traffic is horrible. Sure, Richmond has it's traffic jams, but they are always at the same times in the same locations. If you know your way around Richmond, you just avoid the traffic jams. In DC. the entire place just locks up on both the morning and evening rush hour.

Me, I prefer Richmond. The DC metro area is nice to visit, but I have no desire to live there. Whichever decision you make, I wish you good luck!

Answer 2

Fredricksburg would be considered the closest area between Richmond and DC. As stated, there is a train from Fredricksburg into DC. On that note, you can also catch a train from Richmond into DC. (I believe that the train from Richmond also does a pick up about 20 minutes north in Ashland.) Caroline county has a lot of "bedroom communities" for DC, and it would be fairly easy to commute into Richmond from there. Fredricksburg would be a better choice due to the fact that their public transportation system focuses on DC. Rather than take a car take the FRED to the train station and roll on in. If you want to move outside of Fredricksburg (Spotsylvania and Stafford counties) then you may have to drive to the train station, or just drive into DC. If you are in Caroline county, there is no public transportation. Traffic in the DC metro area is considered one of the worst in the United States. While Richmond traffic can be bad with rush hour and congestion, it is nothing like up in DC. Again, you would have to drive to the train station as Richmond's GRTC is idiotic. I hope that this helped. Good luck!

Answer 3

Aside from cost of living related issues, what kind of life style do you like to have? City versus suburb? If you have family Richmond might be more suitable, and if you are single DC might be more lively.

Best wishes.

Answer 4

Richmond, it's not as expensive as DC. I live in VA and it's not that bad, besides DC isn't very big so it may be hard to find housing.