Arlington has a greater concentration of children than Loudoun (Fairfax: homes, schools)

[brooklynborndad]

total population under 19 in Arlington, roughtly 40,000 (about 20% of the total)

Area - 26 sq miles. So over 1500 per sq mile.

Loudoun

About 100,000 in that age range. (about 30% of the total)

over 200 sq miles.

So about 500 per square mile.

But of course Western loudoun is mostly rural, and should probably be excluded. While some children do live there, for simplicity lets just cut the area of Loudoun in half.

So lets say about 1000 per sq mile for the built up parts of Loudoun. Still less than Arlington.

[michgc]

Well Loudoun has bigger homes and are more spread apart, so you'd expect less density of children and every other age group. I'm not sure that the information is very valuable. I'm sure Loudoun has a greater density of children than Wyoming because it's spread out even more. I don't want to come off as mean, but, so what? Arlington is more urban and Loudoun is more rural, that's to be expected.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by michgc

Well Loudoun has bigger homes and are more spread apart, so you'd expect less density of children and every other age group. I'm not sure that the information is very valuable. I'm sure Loudoun has a greater density of children than Wyoming because it's spread out even more - so what?

There is often discussion here of what areas are more child friendly, "pro natalist" etc. While its true that Loudoun has a higher percentage of children in its population (though not as much as one might have thought) I find it interesting that this is more than offset by population density. If one is considering a place like Arlington and concerned that there simply won't be many children around, this might be useful information. Especially if one is concerned with number of kids (or child oriented services) within walking distance.

It confirms my sense that parts of the region that are considered child unfriendly in fact have lots of kids.

[snowdenscold]

Yeah, this isn't particularly surprising. Arlington is so much denser in general that that will always trump all else.

[globalburgh]

Loudoun has 2.5 times the number of under-19 and the percentage of total population is greater than in Arlington. So you want to talk density. Okay. To what end?

[JD984]

So a significantly higher percentage of Loudoun's population is under 19, but there is a greater concentration of kids in Arlington because Arlington is, overall, more densely settled.

I guess that's relevant if you want your kids to grow up physically near other children (getting over a cold that's now lasted for weeks, I wish lately that I'd been further removed from both children and other people last month, but that's a separate thread). Or maybe if you're planning a trip to the region and want to do some kid-watching?

I'm guessing this is a response to ILD's recent characterization of Ashburn as "children-centric." Perhaps we could just agree many places in the area can be good places to raise kids, albeit with different pros and cons. For those who prefer that their children grow up with more space to roam in back yards and the like, the relative density per square foot of toddlers in Westover or Pentagon City will not matter very much. For those who work in DC or want their children to grow up near dozens of museums and the like, the open space of some Fairfax and Loudoun communities may be irrelevant.

[michgc]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

There is often discussion here of what areas are more child friendly, "pro natalist" etc. While its true that Loudoun has a higher percentage of children in its population (though not as much as one might have thought) I find it interesting that this is more than offset by population density. If one is considering a place like Arlington and concerned that there simply won't be many children around, this might be useful information. Especially if one is concerned with number of kids (or child oriented services) within walking distance.

It confirms my sense that parts of the region that are considered child unfriendly in fact have lots of kids.

I understand what you're saying, but then you should just present Arlington's statistics on its own. I just think comparing it to Loudoun is comparing apples to oranges. It would make more sense to compare child percentages in terms of density to similarly dense locales - perhaps Bethesda or Chevy Chase? I don't necessarily think Arlington has a reputation of not being child-friendly.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by globalburgh

Loudoun has 2.5 times the number of under-19 and the percentage of total population is greater than in Arlington. So you want to talk density. Okay. To what end?

one sometimes gets the impression from things some people say that the cities and inner suburbs are some kind of child free zone, "antinatalist" or whatever. its easy to imagine a reasonable set of numbers that would make that true (if Arlington's population was less than 5% children say, it would have a lower concentration based on the methodology I showed above) But in fact that is not the case.

[hilsmom]

are there really that many people deciding between Arlington and Ashburn?

I just don't know a lot of people who looked at both when deciding on places to live.

Most people's housing decisions are primarily decided by commute tolerance, then price and schools.

Maybe I'm off base, but that is my assessment based on my circle of friends who are mostly 30-something families.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by michgc

I understand what you're saying, but then you should just present Arlington's statistics on its own. I just think comparing it to Loudoun is comparing apples to oranges. It would make more sense to compare child percentages in terms of density to similarly dense locales - perhaps Bethesda or Chevy Chase? I don't necessarily think Arlington has a reputation of not being child-friendly.

I think all those locales have such a reputation among some, vs outer suburbs.

Whats interesting to me is not one dense locale vs another, but how many children there are in the dense locales generally.