Crime rates in Warrenton - is it safe? (Arlington, Dale City: 2010, rent)

[Custard]

Please help...looking to relocate to Warrenton with my family and were looking forward to the move...until further research (on city-data.com) revealed a seemingly high proportion of sex offenders living in the town (32; 1 per every 269 residents!) I know statistics can be misleading, but we compared various 'like' communities and 32 did seem to be a very high number...am I been paranoid? Please can someone advise!

[NightHawk112005]

Originally Posted by Custard

Please help...looking to relocate to Warrenton with my family and were looking forward to the move...until further research (on city-data.com) revealed a seemingly high proportion of sex offenders living in the town (32; 1 per every 269 residents!) I know statistics can be misleading, but we compared various 'like' communities and 32 did seem to be a very high number...am I been paranoid? Please can someone advise!

I'm originally from southern Fauquier County, and I've never known Warrenton to have a high crime rate. I would think you'd be fine living in or around Warrenton. Is Warrenton set in stone, or are there other places in the county you're looking at?

[Custard]

Thank you, Nighthawk, for your reply. Warrenton isn't stuck in stone, but we do need to be around an hour (maximum) from Dulles airport - any direction! We can pretty much live anywhere in Northern VA. We have visited a couple of times but did not like the sprawling developments of new houses further towards Dulles (Sterling/Chantilly etc...). They all looked the same.

We are willing to travel a little further to 'get away' from all that monotonous development. With that in mind, we would like be close to a good supermarket, possibly a couple of good restaurants...the usual kind of shops!

We are desperate to find 'the right place' (good schools / very safe neighborhoods) as we intend to eventually buy and settle in the area we initially rent in - we have moved around ALOT over last few years and want to (need to) 'settle'!

Any advice would be VERY much appreciated.

Hope to hear back from you!

[5stones]

did you look into Purceville? It's a neat town and doesn't have near the overgrowth of tract home developments. and it's about 30min from Dullas.

Hamilton is very pretty as well, one of my favorite areas as many of the homes are on large ltos etc... not over built. again about 30 min to Dullas.

Berryville as well.

Middleburg is more expensive but "urban sprawl" hasn't hit it to much yet.

Philomont is another nice small town

As for Warrenton...I have NEVER heard too much about crime there either. It's pretty, just a bit futher out and the drive into/out of Dullas on 28 (at centerville) could be bad during commute times.


good luck.

[NightHawk112005]

Originally Posted by Custard

Thank you, Nighthawk, for your reply. Warrenton isn't stuck in stone, but we do need to be around an hour (maximum) from Dulles airport - any direction! We can pretty much live anywhere in Northern VA. We have visited a couple of times but did not like the sprawling developments of new houses further towards Dulles (Sterling/Chantilly etc...). They all looked the same.

We are willing to travel a little further to 'get away' from all that monotonous development. With that in mind, we would like be close to a good supermarket, possibly a couple of good restaurants...the usual kind of shops!

We are desperate to find 'the right place' (good schools / very safe neighborhoods) as we intend to eventually buy and settle in the area we initially rent in - we have moved around ALOT over last few years and want to (need to) 'settle'!

Any advice would be VERY much appreciated.

Hope to hear back from you!

Probably the best quality of schools would be found in Prince William County, but the property values would likely be fairly high. Still, all 10 PWC high schools appeared on Newsweek's top 1200 high schools in America in 2007. The ten PWC high schools are Battlefield, Brentsville District, Osbourn Park, Stonewall Jackson, Woodbridge, Hylton, Forest Park, Gar-Field, Freedom and Potomac. The first four are in the western half of the county. There are two additional high schools, Osbourn and Manassas Park, that are part of Manassas City Schools and Manassas Park City Schools respectively. That is explained later.

The best area to live in PWC (as well as the most expensive) is probably in Haymarket. The town is right off I-66, the high school was built in 2004, and the town is also very close (2 miles) from a new shopping complex which includes multiple restaurants and other stores. A new grocery store is also open three miles south of I-66 on U.S. 15 (Haymarket's main road)

If you can't afford Haymarket, Gainesville is also a decent option if you don't mind rapid growth, and like Haymarket, it remains in Battlefield's zone. South Riding in Loudoun County is an area with many families and is practically next door to Dulles. It also had a new high school built in 2005, one of 10 in Loudoun County. Purcellville is a good option, but a word of warning: If you have children in high school NOW, it might be a good idea to go elsewhere. Purcellville and all of western Loudoun is served only by Loudoun Valley High School, which is badly overcrowded. Woodgrove High School is projected to open in two years, but until it does, new Purcellville residents might be forced to attend high school at Briar Woods (Ashburn) or Freedom (South Riding, not the same as PWC). Once Woodgrove opens, the congestion will be alleviated, but the travel will be a nightmare for two years. Consider Purcellville only if you have no children who will start high school before 2009. To be safe, make that 2010.

By your insistence on being close to Dulles, I'm guessing someone in your family has a job there or you travel a lot. If it's just that you travel a lot, Ronald Reagan National Airport is located in Arlington, which would open up eastern Prince William County as an option. That includes cities like Woodbridge, Dale City and Dumfries. If you go that route, any of the high schools are still fine choices, but the best are probably Hylton and Forest Park. Forest Park's zone is west of I-95 in Montclair, and Hylton's is further west on 234. Those zones would put you about 35-40 miles from Reagan National, and are likely cheaper than living in western PWC.

Fauquier County is a cheaper option, but the schools are of a lesser quality than Prince William or Loudoun Counties. There are three of them: Fauquier (north and central), Liberty (south) and Kettle Run (east). If you need a lot of space for your family, you should look into it, but if you can get by without a ton of space and have the money to afford it, PWC or Loudoun are probably better options.

One word of warning if you've never lived in Virginia: We have just shy of 40 independent cities that are not part of any county, but are their own government. There are two in PWC: Manassas and Manassas Park. Not all of Manassas is independent from PWC (Osbourn Park and Stonewall Jackson High Schools both have Manassas addresses and are county schools), but a good chunk of it is. Both of these cities have their own government and school system, separate from PWC. Be sure to check what city or county has jurisdiction over your potential property before you move.

[Custard]

Thank you 5 Stones and Nighthawk for your great responses. They have been really useful. During our last visit to Northern VA, we drove through most of the places you have both mentioned - Purcellville, Haymarket, Gainesville. They all seem to be lovely places. We do travel with our jobs, so that is why we need the proximity to Dulles. Our children are not high school age, so that is not too much of a concern...yet!

Rental prices are a consideration (max $2500 per month), as is a safe place for our children (hence the original subject of the post). We will continue to look around Loudoun and Fauquier County, but will also take a closer look at PWC.

Many thanks once again for your help and will keep you posted! Fingers crossed, eh?!

[NightHawk112005]

Originally Posted by Custard

Thank you 5 Stones and Nighthawk for your great responses. They have been really useful. During our last visit to Northern VA, we drove through most of the places you have both mentioned - Purcellville, Haymarket, Gainesville. They all seem to be lovely places. We do travel with our jobs, so that is why we need the proximity to Dulles. Our children are not high school age, so that is not too much of a concern...yet!

Rental prices are a consideration (max $2500 per month), as is a safe place for our children (hence the original subject of the post). We will continue to look around Loudoun and Fauquier County, but will also take a closer look at PWC.

Many thanks once again for your help and will keep you posted! Fingers crossed, eh?!

Well, like I said, Dulles is not the only airport in the region. Reagan National is located in Arlington County, just outside DC. You probably don't want to live in Arlington County (entirely city), but if you find a decent place in eastern Fairfax or PWC, Reagan National is a decent alternative to Dulles. Unless you fly United exclusively (Dulles is a hub for United), places closer to Reagan might be worth checking out.

For places to search that weren't explicitly mentioned, you might want to look at Lake Manassas in Gainesville off U.S. 29, or Brambleton in Ashburn, a fast-growing location in eastern Loudoun.

[RelicHunter]

Sure Warrenton is safe, it's a "police state". If you want to be harassed and ticketed all the time, then Warrenton is the place to go. Seriously, I avoid Warrenton because you must obey all traffic laws to the letter or you will be ticketed.

[NightHawk112005]

Originally Posted by RelicHunter

Sure Warrenton is safe, it's a "police state". If you want to be harassed and ticketed all the time, then Warrenton is the place to go. Seriously, I avoid Warrenton because you must obey all traffic laws to the letter or you will be ticketed.

Where are you driving? When I'm in Virginia, I'm usually in Warrenton three times a week or more. I've never once been ticketed.

[Custard]

Well, I hope (for our sake if we move to Warrenton) that the police are as judicious with the high proportion of 'sex offenders' (look back at original post...) as they are with drivers!
Would you say Warrenton is well policed, then? The area we live in currently is very well policed and makes the community feel very safe - something that is important to most people, I think. I don't want to leave a good town, go through the upheaval of relocating, to find that we have to move on again because the area isn't a good one to raise a family...I suppose nowhere overs that perfect balance?!