Your Social Life Will Suffer If You Live Outside The Beltway (Arlington: how much, townhome)

[DennyCrane]

Your social life will suffer if you live outside the Beltway.

That's not my opinion. I'm just repeating what someone told me and I wanted to hear if this is a fair and accurate statement. Assuming you're single, under 40 and don't have kids, how much of a difference would it make if you lived outside the Beltway? Would it only have a minor impact or would your social life take a huge hit? If you had to live outside the Beltway (because of costs or your job), what areas would you recommend for a 30something single and which should you absolutely stay clear of?

[dvdmon]

Wouldn't that depend entirely on how many friends you had living outside the beltway as well? Blanket statements like that are silly. Maybe if you are only considering going clubbing or something, but there's more to a social life that going out to drink, no?

[ithinkinpink]

I agree with dvdmom. I live outside the beltway, but I feel like my social life is just fine. I have friends in the area, both inside and outside the beltway. It really depends on what kind of social life you want and what you're looking for. If you want to live in the hustle and bustle of a city with clubs and bars and restaurants within walking distance or on metro lines, then you might not want to live outside of the beltway. But there is social life beyond the the beltway and the metro.

[DennyCrane]

Originally Posted by dvdmon

Maybe if you are only considering going clubbing or something, but there's more to a social life that going out to drink, no?

Yes there is. But having a social life means, at a minimum, finding people you have something in common with and would want to hang out with. As a single person, I would prefer to hang out with other singles, not folks whose entire life is centered around their kids activities. If your social circle is full of families, then more of your activities with them will have to be family-friendly. This is the big downside of living in the suburbs. In most cities, not just DC, they're geared more towards families and finding other single professionals, while not impossible, becomes a lot harder. I've been in areas where it literally felt like I was the only single person around. I can be friendly with my neighbors who are married with children, but it's hard to really relate to their lives or be a part of their activities since so much of it centers around their kids. And as someone who enjoys going out to eat or to museums, galleries, shows, etc., the options in suburbia seem fewer compared to the city. Where I live now, if I want to go out to dinner with a friend, we have little choice outside of Chili's, TGIF, etc.

There's one other element to having a social life and that's being able to see your friends as much as you'd like. Since DC traffic is awful, wouldn't you want to be closer to your friends? That would seem to imply that if you live in the burbs, your friends need to live there too or else you won't see them much. I'm not trying to knock suburbs. But I do think living too far out can effectively limit your network and I'd hate to be in a situation where I was constantly having to decline meeting with friends because they were too far away.

[springfieldva]

Before I married and had kids, I lived outside the beltway and my social life was what I wanted. I wasn't earning enough to be hitting the bars and clubs (much less the Kennedy Center) on a regular basis so living in the city (ie: DC/Arlington/Old Town) wouldn't have been worth the extra cost, at least for me. Plus, the city dating scene was a bit more, let's say, "sophisticated" than what I was used to in college - I would have been in over my head and I knew it.

So instead, I hung out with roommates, went to house parties and sometimes (though not often) went to local restaurant/bars - outside the beltway. My network of friends may have been small compared to a person living in the city, but it worked well for me at the time.

[DennyCrane]

OK, let me clarify. By social life, I'm NOT talking about bars or clubs. Personally, I don't care for that stuff. I'm just talking about being around a high concentration of others single people my age.

[springfieldva]

Originally Posted by DennyCrane

OK, let me clarify. By social life, I'm NOT talking about bars or clubs. Personally, I don't care for that stuff. I'm just talking about being around a high concentration of others single people my age.

There really isn't a "singles area" that I can think of out here in the 'burbs. Fairlakes, Falls Church city, some of the townhome communities around George Mason and parts of Kingstowne probably have a somewhat higher concentration of singles. But you'll see plenty of couples and families in those areas, too.

Your best bet in the suburbs is to share a place with other singles (you'll have instant companions and you'll get to know their friends, too) or join a social group/club/sport.

[ScranBarre]

I've actually made a large number of friends my age in the Reston/Herndon metroplex (or whatever we're calling it---"Dulles Tech Corridor" perhaps?) Apparently I'm not the only one who can't afford to live inside the Beltway. LOL! I'm actually entertaining several of them tomorrow night. I plan to order in Chinese so I don't poison them with my horrible cooking!

[novahousehunter]

There are a lot of singles inside the beltway, but also quite a few in outside, especially in the tech corridor (as ScranBarre notes--Restonish particularly).

You won't meet new people at your house, or even probably walking around your building/neighborhood (unless you're really friendly!!) Friends will likely come from work and whatever hobbies/activities you do, and you'll initially hang out where they do.

If you're young and single probably that will sometimes involve DC, so some willingness to head in on weekends is probably good, but I don't think where your actual house is will matter much, unless it's too far to go meet them.

[ibecowtippin]

I don't think the area you live in is as important as what you do with your free time so you aren't sitting at home alone.

If you are single, no matter where you live, friends or significant others just aren't going to knock on your door. It's about making connections when you are at work. A lot of our people go to happy hour after work to hang out and socialize, and that has no connection to where you live. So you can make connections, friendships, etc there.

I live outside the beltway and have no problem having plenty of things to do with others. I am married with child so we try to find similiar individuals. But if I were single, I would have no problem finding others to have activities with. Plenty of free activities and events around where I am at (Woodbridge) to find others.

Hey, you can always hang out in the produce aisle at Wegmans