What Other Area of the Country Most Resembles NoVA? (Arlington: ob-gyn, homes)

[CAVA1990]

Strange that NoVA is supposedly so heavily DoD when it votes blue. I've worked in a DoD contracting environment and those folks vote heavily Republican. Makes one wonder if we over-estimate the size of that employment segment.

As for the comparison to Orange County, I agree it's more like South OC than North, however, we don't have the heavy numbers of religious conservatives and tax averse libertarians that cause that part of the county to vote relatively red compared to here. North OC votes blue due to larger numbers of Asians and Latinos.

[Shelborne_22033]

Montgomery Co is similar to NVa. The Potomac River does make travel difficult but there are many similarities. However state gov is different. MD is center/left leaning with Mont Co conservative elements concentrated in areas and also in neighboring Frederick Co. VA is center/right leaning with Arl/FFx Cos left leaning mixed in with right leaning areas and neighboring PW and Loudon Cos.

[CAVA1990]

I'm no New Yorker but White Plains seemed kind of similar the times I went there to business meetings. Perhaps someone from that area can confirm or deny.

[ACWhite]

ILD, what is your evidence to support "we have high church attendance, high fertility, etc."?

I did a quick web search re: church attendance and found (a) self-reports typically overstate actual attendance; and (b) per a PowerPoint done by David T. Olson for TheAmericanChurch.com in 2004 (the first item resulting from the search), the rates of attendance for Northern VA are lower than those in other parts of VA and in many other states.

I think the areas within NoVA vary somewhat on these and other dimensions, e.g., of different types of diversity. So while some parts of Fairfax Co. and Loudoun Counties remind me of parts of some midwestern suburbs near where we once lived for several reasons, there weren't areas/populations there or in the cities that I would consider comparable to Arlington or the City of Alexandria.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by ACWhite

I did a quick web search re: church attendance and found (a) self-reports typically overstate actual attendance; and (b) per a PowerPoint done by David T. Olson for TheAmericanChurch.com in 2004 (the first item resulting from the search), the rates of attendance for Northern VA are lower than those in other parts of VA and in many other states.

Just from observation I'd say high church attendance is concentrated in certain ethnic groups. I'd say amongst the white upper middle class and younger adults it's pretty low.

[GustavoFring]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Just from observation I'd say high church attendance is concentrated in certain ethnic groups. I'd say amongst the white upper middle class and younger adults it's pretty low.

Tell that to McLean bible church. That place is scary..

[what???]

Physically: Metro Atlanta, specifically north Fulton County (Dunwoody, Buckhead, Sandy Springs, and Roswell). Both areas are very congested (narrow, country, two laned roads handle high population), random office park clusters and shopping centers, tend to be more upper income (mix of nouveau riche and old money), can be very materialistic, are heavily wooded, have similar demographics (including transplants from other areas), subdivisions look similar, highly educated population, etc.

[hilsmom]

My in-laws live in San Antonio. Um, yeah...no. Other than the horrific traffic (which is due to way too much recent building with zero infrastructure improvement because land is super cheap), I see very little similarity between the two areas.

Ugh, I really dislike San Antonio. I am always so thankful to be back home after a trip.

[claremarie]

The Research Triangle Area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) in NC. We lived there decades ago for grad school, and on a recent visit back could not believe the increase in population, traffic, and upscale housing since we graduated. Lots of transplants, heavy university/science/medical influence, with a mix of planned communities and Takoma Park-like older walkable neighborhoods. One difference is that Durham is transitioning from a blue-collar tobacco town -- northern VA lacks that white working class population segment. But in many respects it's the location with the more similarities to the DC area than any other place we have been.

[michgc]

Raleigh/Durham has some similarities to NoVA. It has lots of suburban sprawl with many new housing developments. It is pretty highly educated. Topography-wise, it's not too dissimilar. Population-wise, Raleigh is a bit smaller than NoVA, but it seems much smaller because it doesn't have a very important city sitting next to it. It does not have the large city vibe that the DC area has and has no public transportation other than buses.

NoVA grew because of its proximity to DC. And to me, it cannot be separated out from DC proper. Conversly, the Raleigh and Durham metro areas are much smaller and would be more comparable to smaller-sized cities. Raleigh/Durham also does not have the historical significance that DC and other mid-Atlantic cities have such as Philly and Boston.

Raleigh/Durham is also much more rural than NoVA. The farmland surrounding the cities has not yet been eaten up by developments, so in that respect, Raleigh/Durham is about 20-30 years behind NoVA.

So, while I can see some similarities to NoVA, I think the biggest missing factor is the Raleigh/Durham area not being part of a larger metropolitan area.