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I love DTSS. I can walk to 3 grocery stores, a Farmer's Market, a movie theater + the AFI Silver, and dozens of both chain and local-hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Cranes dot the area where new development is going on. There's a brand new community center. The new library has broken ground. Included in that project is a new arts center. New condos in the area recently opened. It's an area that a few years ago sucked, and now it's really turning into something neat.
Agreed, there are still a number of vacancies on the Georgia Ave strip that don't look good, but I wouldn't call the area seedy. Also, a lot of the spots that were vacant a year ago have been completely gutted and rehabilitated into new stuff. I figure that area has been slower to catch up because the buildings need work. But several new spots have filled in there in the last 2 years, and more is still happening. Heck, that strip contains some of the best restaurants in the area.
Silver Spring is more geared for the 30's crowd than the 20's crowd. You've got condos and apartments full of 20-30 somethings, but you've also got a lot of single family homes within walking distance. Few bars, for example, and a lot of the popular bars in DTSS are more niche: Adega is a Wine Bar with gourmet sandwiches, and Quarry House has a beer menu the size of a paperback that focuses on Belgians. Opening a more typical 20-something dive bar in the area just wouldn't do as well.
The ethnic, age, and socio-economic spread is wider in SS - there are studio apartments and 700K homes within walking distance of one another, and you'll see a lot more minorities than in Arlington. There's more of a community vibe that's hard to describe.
Both areas are great. If I was looking to party, Arlington is a better scene. But regardless of price, I prefer DTSS. If I had to boil it down to one thing, it's because it has more soul.
The Median HHI is meaningless in determining what someone making $60k a year in Fairfax can buy/rent.
The median HHI in Fairfax is $105k a year, 3x that is $330k a year. Arlington is lower, sure, but if you're got a lot of DINKs running around, they can afford to spend more on rent.
We're also a denser county than most of America, so the place in the housing stock occupied by 2BR shotgun shacks in much of America is occupied by 1/2BR condos in Northern VA.
Or -- would you be making the coin you're making in another part of the country?
Newbie Civil Servants making "coin"??? Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Nope, you just play the Craigslist Roommate shuffle until you have "earned" the right to make an only decent amount of money in the Gov't.
I never thought I'd see the day when I was EXTREMELY elated that the room I rent comes with my own private bathroom. Tell you what, I have definitely learned the art of living with only the amount of stuff that you can fit in your car.
Contrast that to when I was a Defense contractor in Huntsville AL and making less money than I am now and I had a nice luxury apartment in a nice quiet gated community.
But hey nobody put a gun to our heads and made us accept a career here in the DC-MD-VA area, and we knew what we were getting into by moving here for our careers, so let's make the best of it until we can do better.
Silver Spring has always been a middle-class enclave for families. Sure, you have apartment buildings and condo developments in the downtown core. But most of the parcels surrounding the downtown core are single-family homes. To be frank, the locals want to keep things that way.
That seems like a plus to me
The more I research Arlington and NoVA...the more it seems there is little of that, until you get out to Prince William County.
Silver Spring is way over rated and has many of the social problems brought on by a large population of inner city African Americans from nearby DC and PG County and a large population of illegal aliens who live in Langley Park nearby. Arlington is so much nicer.
I found the posts offensive that said Silver Spring was better because it had less white people! So because Arlington has more white people and is not as ethnically diverse, that makes it bad? What a sad state of affairs our country has become when we can say a place is bad because it has a majority white population!
The blatant racism in this post is downright laughable. The ignorance really is astounding. I wish this socio-economic divide was not so huge in this area
The more I research Arlington and NoVA...the more it seems there is little of that, until you get out to Prince William County.
Am I misunderstanding. Arlington has thousands of single family homes within blocks of Wilson Blvd or Cllarendon Blvd. all th way from Courthouse area to Ballston.
Am I misunderstanding. Arlington has thousands of single family homes within blocks of Wilson Blvd or Cllarendon Blvd. all th way from Courthouse area to Ballston.
Middle-class enclave as well? My impression is that Arlington is moving more and more to the very well-paid.
(I was actually responding more to that part of the post, rather than SFH being there).
Arlington is very cheap compare to Silver Spring. Not just in rent but price of living (food, nick nacks, etc).
Also the quality of grocery food is better in Arlington VA and more choices.
There's a large Whole Foods in DTSS walking distance from the metro, if you're going for quality (not to mention the farmers market). As for choices, there's also a Giant and a Safeway right there.
The public schools in Arlington are generally supposedly better - as a whole. But again, it really depends on what part of Arlington you reside. They have some great schools and some "not so great" ones. When you start to narrow down your search, you can go online and look at the ratings for schools you''ll be forced to have your kids attend - that'd probably give you a better idea. Based on everything you've mentioned and having lived in both areas, I'd still go for Silver Spring. And yes, I-66 is a pain in the behind.
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