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Orange County is too big; I was going for counties with populations roughly between 900,000 and 1.5 million and I purposely didn't include Fairfield County since it contains Bridgeport, a prominent urban center and Connecticut's largest city. I feel like Fairfield County, CT is in a similar situation to Alameda County, CA. I may have made a mistake in including Westchester County due to its containing Yonkers and Mount Vernon and these two municipalities account for nearly 30% of the County's population. I wanted to keep counties with populations between 900,000 and 1.5 milion that are largely SUBURBAN in form and which constitute a large portion of the inner suburban region of a metropolitan area to be the sole basis of discussion.
I'm not very fond of Dupage County - the Republican stronghold in the blue state of Illinois. But since it's Chicagoland, I'm rooting for the home team.
I voted for Montgomery County, MD...I currently live in Bethesda, and partially grew up in DuPage, and lived in NYC for a few years, so I am familiar with most of the counties...Here is how I would rank them:
1. Montgomery County - Some of the most beutiful suburbs around, very educated population, and Downtown Bethesda is fantastic. MoCo has several stops on the DC Metro and borders DC. NIH, Naval Hospital, Bio Tech hub.
2. Fairfax County - Fairfax County can make an argument for the top spot IMO. Probably has the best job market of all the counties here, the Dulles Cooridor is basically Silicon Valley of the east; Very wealthy population. Fairfax has a bit too much sprawl for my liking, but Reston, Tysons Corner, Fairfax City are all great.
3. Bergen County - Wealthy Jersey County with very strong ties to NYC, cant get much closer to Manhattan.
4. Nassau County - Another Wealthy County in the NYC area, slightly larger than Bergen County, however, I put Bergen higher because of it's proximity to Manhattan.
5. Westchester County - I don't know that much about Westchester, been there a few times, but being "upstate" it was never on my radar living in NYC. I know there is a lot of Wealth up there, but just seems to be slightly below the other two NYC metro Counties listed.
6. Dupage County - Naperville is a very nice town, the core of the suburb around downtown and the Washington St. Metra is very similar to what you find in Montgomery County Maryland. Dupage just doesn't have the Wealth as the ones listed above it. however Naperville, Hinsdale, Oak Brook are all very nice.
7. Oakland County - My Michigan friends always talk about Oakland County, I am not too familiar with it. My guess is that it is on par with Dupage.
6. Dupage County - Naperville is a very nice town, the core of the suburb around downtown and the Washington St. Metra is very similar to what you find in Montgomery County Maryland. Dupage just doesn't have the Wealth as the ones listed above it. however Naperville, Hinsdale, Oak Brook are all very nice.
And by "nice" do you mean white, ritzy and republican?
Orange County is too big; I was going for counties with populations roughly between 900,000 and 1.5 million and I purposely didn't include Fairfield County since it contains Bridgeport, a prominent urban center and Connecticut's largest city. I feel like Fairfield County, CT is in a similar situation to Alameda County, CA. I may have made a mistake in including Westchester County due to its containing Yonkers and Mount Vernon and these two municipalities account for nearly 30% of the County's population. I wanted to keep counties with populations between 900,000 and 1.5 milion that are largely SUBURBAN in form and which constitute a large portion of the inner suburban region of a metropolitan area to be the sole basis of discussion.
Orange fits your criteria, but is too big? That may actually make it #1, it fits the criteria.
i think it's between fairfax county and montgomery county. i'm from fairfax county so i had to represent but we have; the central intelligence agency, national rifle association, national reconnaissance office, national counterterrorism center, capital one, freddie mac, general dynamics, science applications international corporation, sallie mae, northrop grumman, lockheed martin, etc and tyson's corner is the largest suburban business district in the u.s., judging based on office space. the ceo of blackwater also lives in fairfax county.
plus the access to the pentagon, quantico, and to everything in dc of course.
Last edited by CelticGermanicPride; 04-29-2011 at 10:47 AM..
If Arlington County VA were on the list I would have voted that....Now there's a county with some power
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