Chevy Chase, Maryland!! (Silver Spring, Bethesda, Annapolis: apartments, car registration, insurance)

[Sarah From East to West]

Hi!!

I scored a job in this area. What can you tell me about Chevy Chase? How are the schools, crime, homes, environment, and so forth? Is it a great place for a single person? Does it have a night life? If not, what cities nearby do you recommend?

Thanks!!

[dullnboring]

Chevy Chase is a very ritzy area right on the DC border. It has a large number of diplomats living there. Housing-wise, it mostly consists of massive single family homes with price tags in the millions, although I would guess there's a few in the 800K range. I'm not sure if there is a wide selection of apartments in the city. It's extremely small in area. There isn't a particularly high concentration of young people. It's mostly families, wealthy families. Bethesda, some two miles North has the highest nearby concentration of young people and nightlife. it's expensive too but has many more condos and apartments to choose from. Schools in this general region are top-notch and crime is very low.

[Sarah From East to West]

Do you know if its better in terms of tax, car registration, etc to live in MD, DC, or VA? Since Chevy Chase is right on the DC border, I could choose NorthWest DC too.....I would imagine NW DC has a lot of young people since there is Georgetown Univ, American Univ, and George Washington University.

[dullnboring]

I'm not 100% certain on this (maybe 80%), but I believe that Virginia is the cheapest to live in, tax-wise and for car insurance and registration issues, and I believe that DC is the worst. I know that I've heard of people leaving Maryland moving to Virginia for tax purposes which leads me to assume that it's cheaper in Virginia. I'm not sure how pronounced the differences are however.

Northwest DC does indeed have a lot of young people, pretty much everywhere, but particularly congregating around stops on the Red Line Metro like in Cleveland Park, Dupont Circle and Tenleytown (right by AU). Most young people either live somewhere in Northwest DC, Arlington, Alexandria or Bethesda. Some venture further out into Northeast DC, Capitol Hill, Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Falls Church, Tysons Corner and such, but the higher concentrations of young people are found in the inner Beltway. The outer Beltway is largely suburbs filled with families.

[pkoons]

As a longtime MD booster, Arlington VA gets my vote for the BEST place for young singles to live in the DC area. Chevy Chase is very nice, but as dullnboring mentioned, pretty much an established family area. There are 3 condo buildings I can think of, where a 1BR 1BA will be somewhere in the $1300/mo and up range. And the buildings really aren't all that special...

The Mazza Gallery shopping is very nice, schools and safety are great. Most of the restaurants that are immediately in Chevy Chase suck, though NW DC has a bunch of expectedly great ones.

If you don't mind a commute, the highest recommendation I will ever give any place is Annapolis. You really can't beat the nightlife, safety, price, restaurants, access to water, politeness of people, lack of traffic, etc. Now that I've lived here (Crownsville, to be exact, 5 mins from Annapolis mall, a community of all single family homes) it's hard for me to recommend anywhere else