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If a person has kid(s), and not a lot of money, where could they live in the District?
Ahmm...white/asian couple, mixed kid.
DC looks REAL attractive...I have the MA degrees, so might find some interesting work in DC - but probably not the kind of jobs that would bring in much income. The city of DC looks gorgeous in many places. But seems like it is either way too high priced or too dangerous (for wife/kid combination in tow).
Does that basically price someone out of DC altogether? Part of the problem though is that MD/VA doesn't really look all that attractive, and neither does constant car driving/maintenace/parking issues/etc.
You should check out the upper Northeast quadrant west of the Anacostia River (the general Ca(holic University vacinity). You wouldn't be living in luxury, but it's more kid friendly, can be Metro accessible (red or green line), and more affordable than many of the better known areas. Everyone says DC's too expensive, but somehow a lot of families that aren't rich live there with kids.
Also need to consider the schools. They've come a long way, but aren't great. There are some good ones in that area (Burroughs for 1-8 comes to mind) so long as you're okay with a predominantly black school population, which is what you'll get pretty much in any public school in the city, good or bad.
Montgomery County, MD, especially southern Silver Spring is a pretty good place to be. More affordable than most of DC and decent schools, plus it's metro and bus accessible. Otherwise, I second the Brookland/Catholic University recommendation.
When you say "Far Southeast" that covers a lot of territory including many of worst, most violent areas of the city. The only part of "Far Southeast" that I would even consider is the Hillcrest - East Washington Heights neighborhood (alongside Penn. Avenue) which does have many elegant, detached older brick homes, set back from the street on shady, treed lots. It does look attractive. They even have a yearly house and garden tour. However, I imagine the schools there would still be quite bad, since on either side of it are lower-class areas and projects (correct me if I'm wrong). Maybe you could check this out on GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community . Penn. Avenue S.E., itself is also badly torn-up for construction (during non-rush hours) for the next year.
seriously if you want to live in dc and you have kids, you should also plan to have a budget for private school. dcps has some of the worst performing public schools in the nation.
The Original Poster here. First posted in September before I really got into examining DC.
My basic conclusion is that there is NO affordable/safe areas anywhere in DC. From research, I think CAPITOL HILL might be a safe family friendly area, but not necessarily affordable.
But, ultimately I came to the conclusion that gotta go to Maryland or 25+ out there in Virginia. That's basically what I've concluded so far.
Anyways, OP here, just thought I'd give an update, since this topic came back
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