Warrenton? (Culpeper, Gainesville: crime, houses, job market)

[marooned]

Possible job offer in Warrenton....would love to know what it's like. I see that it is a rural area outside of DC..but can't really tell much about it otherwise. What are the schools like and the cost of living? Is it a nice place to raise a family? I currently live in Albuquerque, NM and while the cost of living is nice, the public schools here are awful and the crime is ridiculous. Just curious to know more about Warrenton. If any of you have any comments, I'd love to hear more.
Thanks!

[poohki]

marooned:

I personally love Warrenton. My family and I have lived here for the past 6 years. I work for the Fauquier County public schools and my youngest son just graduated from HS in Warrenton. The cost of living anywhere in NoVa is high, but you can buy a house in Fauquier county anywhere from 270,000 for a small single or th on up...Alot of places here have land attached to them. Traffic here is pretty busy during rush hours, but if you are working in Warrenton and living close by, you won't have any problems. There are nice grocery stores in this area, but not alot of big box stores. We have a walmart, sears, home depot, and lots of nice restaurants. If you like more options in shopping, you could go to nearby Culpeper, or to Gainesville. I personally go to Culpeper, because there is much less traffic to get there. They have a Lowes, JCPenney, Belk, Target, and Kohls.

The schools here are great to me. I know some on this forum have said otherwise, but I love working for them. The superintendent has worked very hard over the past 6 years, to bring updated technology to each classroom, update pay for all employees, and build new schools. There are currently 2 hs in Fauquier County. To be honest, both are way over crowded. A new hs is being constructed, and also a new elementary school is slated for the next few years. Fauquier County has not seen tremendous growth like some other areas, but there are several new housing developments that have either just opened or are slated to begin building. this is causing major concerns of overcrowding to our schools. We are working toward a remedy for this situation, but it is slow going. On the upside, there are lots of opportunities for students to have rich fullfilling lives here, all the way from 4-H to sports, to band, to dance, etc......

Fauquier has a wonderfully warm old fashioned feel to it. There are several parades throughout the year, as well as many horse shows, and festivals. Although lots of counties in NoVa have some of these same events, the great thing about Warrenton/Fauquier is that you can actually go have fun and not worry as much about the crowds.

Crime here, I would have to say is pretty minimum. My son never encounted drugs at school here, and as far as I have ever heard as a parent, or an employee there are no gang related problems here.

Hope this helps, I am biased because I really do love this area.

[5stones]

Warrenton is a very nice town. It's close enough to go to DC for the day etc... but far away enough not be caught up in the rat race! It has still retained alot of it's rural roots.

But I have only visited so I can't say anything about the schools etc...

[dottieG]

Hi,
The Warrenton area is very nice. Fauquier County does not have the same explosive growth as we have seen in neighboring counties, so the population is not as dense as east of Warrenton. There are many resources for getting statistics on this area that might help you.

[marooned]

Wow! Thank you all for the wonderful insight! Very kind of you all!

Anyone else feel free to leave a comment as well. This is very helpful!

[seldomseen]

Once you start going beyond Prince William County...the job market begins to decline...so keep that in mind. Unless you plan on commuting into NoVa, which is where Virginia's strongest labor force exists.

[5stones]

seldom,
the OP has a job offer in Warrenton.

[chacker17]

I grew up in Warrenton in the 80's and it was a wonderful place to grow up. Glad to hear that it's still wonderful. I now live on Long Island and hope one day to be able to move back. I do miss having a large yard and the quiet and peacefulness of the country.

[TRADING_UP]

You can't go wrong in Warrenton it is lovely there and the downtown area is just superb, much more cultivated there... If you are looking at houses and love big yards have a look around the Lee's Hwy area near Airlie... you can pick up a bargain under $400,000 there

[HEATHER72]

I moved from Albuquerque to Gainesville about 6 months ago (city east of Warrenton). Do it! You won't be sorry! I was in loooove with Albuquerque until I moved here and now it's nice to be able to walk or bikeride and not see graffiti and broken beer bottles everywhere