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Former NoVA resident here. I have also spent many weeks in Silicon Valley over multiple trips.
Let's start with NoVA:
Schools aren't that good, considering COL. A lot of families go private if they can afford it.
There is a slight non-Hispanic White majority. But there is great representation among Asians, African immigrants, non-immigrant Blacks and Latinos. All of those minority groups are usually 35% to 45% of the population in NoVA.
The dining scene is nothing to write home about. A couple of decent American-style BBQ spots sprinkled throughout along with some nice Korean food in Annandale. Other than that, the food scene is unimaginative and mediocre.
Traffic is bad and tolls get expensive. But the WMATA Metro is good enough. Lots of stations in NoVA (with even more to come).
There are two good airports, including one that is truly international (Dulles). Reagan is the most conveniently located urban airport in America. That's definitely a huge positive.
Housing is pricey but not as bad as in The District nor as bad as Silicon Valley. You can live urban, suburban, or exurban.
Mt Vernon is obviously famous for its historic importance. Same with Leesburg.
I'm a big fan of Alexandria. It's a very diverse, historic, super charming city just a couple miles biking distance from the heart of DC.
Arlington is a nice urban extension of DC. Walkable, bikeable, metro stations all over, and you just cross the bridge by foot and you're in Georgetown DC. Gotta love that.
Overall, NoVA is going to continue appreciating in value in the coming years.
The biggest downside for me was the professional culture. Dominated by fed/gov contractor types. They make nice money, but that world is not my jam. Boring, risk-averse, opposite of interesting. Lots of people who think inside the box and toe the line. Also - there's that quintessential DC cultural quirk of "what do you do?" immediately followed by the silent thoughts of "are you useful to me or not". Obviously not the case with everyone, but it's prevalent enough that's it's part of the cultural fabric.
Now let's discuss SV
San Jose is one of the most bitterly disappointing "major" cities in the United States. Truly underwhelming.
Housing costs in SV are brutally high along with COL in general.
The weather is nice and the nearby geography is nice.
Schools are hit or miss. I get the sense it's slightly better than NoVA for public schools.
CalTrain is a decent commuter train for north-south travel, but it's expensive. Other than that, getting around is vehicular-focused. Traffic is whatever, but is especially painful if you're driving into SF.
Diversity in SV is a huge strength. Very few MSAs in America are evenly split 3 ways between 3 races. SV proper is more White plurality and occasional Asian plurality, but it's nonetheless super impressive. Caveat is that you will see very few Black people. Only the east coast gets that type of four-way balanced diversity.
Food scene is interesting because it's so internationally diverse. I love all types of Asian and Mexican cuisine, so I particularly enjoy it.
Urbanity in SV is not particularly strong. I think NoVA blows SV out of the water on this front. I also think NoVA is a better fit for working-class or middle-class families. COL in SV is so absurdly high, that it makes your QOL miserable if you're not a high-income earner.
HOWEVER, if you are a high-income earner or an ambitious young professional, SV is the better option.
To me, NoVA may be career oriented, but Silicon Valley even more so. NoVA is slower paced, with more government jobs, while Silicon Valley is much faster paced in terms of its main industry. I'm aware that NoVA has quite a large tech sector but it's still by and large the government and government contractors.
To me, NoVA may be career oriented, but Silicon Valley even more so. NoVA is slower paced, with more government jobs, while Silicon Valley is much faster paced in terms of its main industry. I'm aware that NoVA has quite a large tech sector but it's still by and large the government and government contractors.
It's way more appropriate to ask "what do you do?" in NoVA than SV. The Bay Area has a ton of hobby porn, people will show off the fact that they kite surf, run marathons, are saving the world by volunteering, or ride their bike to work before they will tell you their title or the company they work for. NoVA is the exact opposite.
Also, besides Teslas, SV has a ton of millionaires driving Priuses and Camrys. Non-electric and not interesting Lexus, Audis, and Benzes are less popular in SV. It's way less materialistic, even though it's much more expensive. People in SV behave pretentiously around personal values and habits, while people in NoVa do it around possessions. You can be looked down upon in SV for walking around with a plastic bag for your groceries, you can looked down upon in NoVa for driving around in a Honda Civic.
Also, if you dress everyday like a Best Buy salesman - golf shirts tucked into khakis - you'll fit in perfectly during lunch hour at the Tyson's food court with all the other office workers. If you prefer hoodies and jeans, even if you're the CEO, you'll fit in perfectly with the lunch crowd in downtown Mountain View. I sometimes feel like I've haven't seen a tucked in shirt since I left the East Coast.
It's way more appropriate to ask "what do you do?" in NoVA than SV. The Bay Area has a ton of hobby porn, people will show off the fact that they kite surf, run marathons, are saving the world by volunteering, or ride their bike to work before they will tell you their title or the company they work for. NoVA is the exact opposite.
Also, besides Teslas, SV has a ton of millionaires driving Priuses and Camrys. Non-electric and not interesting Lexus, Audis, and Benzes are less popular in SV. It's way less materialistic, even though it's much more expensive. People in SV behave pretentiously around personal values and habits, while people in NoVa do it around possessions. You can be looked down upon in SV for walking around with a plastic bag for your groceries, you can looked down upon in NoVa for driving around in a Honda Civic.
Also, if you dress everyday like a Best Buy salesman - golf shirts tucked into khakis - you'll fit in perfectly during lunch hour at the Tyson's food court with all the other office workers. If you prefer hoodies and jeans, even if you're the CEO, you'll fit in perfectly with the lunch crowd in downtown Mountain View. I sometimes feel like I've haven't seen a tucked in shirt since I left the East Coast.
We will have to agree to disagree. You can't deny that NoVA has a ton more govt jobs than SV, and that govt jobs are much slower paced than tech jobs.
I am in OKC, and even here it's very acceptable to ask others what they do for a living. I can't think of anywhere in the US where asking people what they do for a living isn't acceptable, even in a rural area or smaller city. I was taught as a boy that that asking people what profession they are in is a standard ice breaking question. Also, news flash: most men tend to identify first with their career, anyways. Women tend to identify first with their relationships. I guess the difference between D.C. and rural Arkansas or Oklahoma is that in both places it's acceptable to ask men what profession they're in as an ice breaker question, but only in D.C., with all your feminist career women, is it acceptable to also ask women about their career as an ice breaker.
But admittedly, I grew up in Irvine, CA, a highly educated, Asian-dominated suburb with lots of tech, finance, and pharma professionals, so maybe it's a similar career oriented vibe to NoVA. Maybe Asians are just more career driven to begin with.
People working in SV appear less materialistic. But I am from SoCal, one of the most materialistic areas in the nation, and I'll have to say the most materialistic people I've met were not from SoCal but from the Bay Area. People there are absolutely obsessed with Maserati, Tesla, and other luxury cars. But when the housing costs are so darn astronomically expensive, there's no way you can buy any car more expensive than a Prius.
Let me say it again: SV real estate is way more expensive than NoVA real estate and household incomes are not any higher, so you are broke in SV after paying for housing and have nothing left over to buy anything nicer than a Prius.
Also, have you heard of this place called Napa Valley? Wine snobs? Michelin rated dining? Spas? Country clubs? Oh yes, all that stuff is cheap and totally not materialistic, right? Not too far from SV.
So by your logic, Manhattan is one of the least materialistic places in the country because many people don't even have a car.
We will have to agree to disagree. You can't deny that NoVA has a ton more govt jobs than SV, and that govt jobs are much slower paced than tech jobs.
NoVA is not slow paced in any way. But it's an odd mix of high education and low innovation. So this turns into a bit of a wannabe situation because all the gov't contractors aspire to be innovative, but ask someone at Mitre or Lockheed Martin what they think about people who change jobs every 2-3 years.
Let me say it again: SV real estate is way more expensive than NoVA real estate and household incomes are not any higher, so you are broke in SV after paying for housing and have nothing left over to buy anything nicer than a Prius.
Average wages for professional jobs are much, much higher in SV. Median Household Incomes in NoVA are high due to two job households, but very few get stock comp. A mid-level engineer with RSUs will easily clear $350k-$400k in SV, while a mid-level engineer at Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, etc in NoVA will make about $150k.
Average wages for professional jobs are much, much higher in SV. Median Household Incomes in NoVA are high due to two job households, but very few get stock comp. A mid-level engineer with RSUs will easily clear $350k-$400k in SV, while a mid-level engineer at Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, etc in NoVA will make about $150k.
Oh, so more stay at home moms in SV, more single income households? Never heard that one before.
Looking at per capita incomes, Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties rank lower than Fairfax and Arlington counties.
Plus, the real estate prices in SV are much higher so my point about people having no money left over to buy a nice car after paying for housing still stands.
Also never heard of anyone saying government jobs are fast paced and that innovation is slow paced. Now that's new.
And since when is it not a common ice breaker question outside of DMV/NoVA to ask someone what he does for a living?
We will have to agree to disagree. You can't deny that NoVA has a ton more govt jobs than SV, and that govt jobs are much slower paced than tech jobs.
I do need to point out that there are government jobs, and there are DC government jobs. Working for the government in DC is not the same as working for the government in Tupelo Mississippi. The culture there is very rat-race, cutthroat, high strung, etc. And if you don’t think government employees and contractors in that area trend towards cutthroat and high strung you are mistaken. The opposite of slow paced.
It’s not that I don’t think that Silicon Valley has that same sort of toxic culture. It’s just two sides of the same coin, with the tech industry. They attract the same personality types, just different manifestations. Neither could be described as “slow paced” with a straight face.
I personally would choose neither as a place to live if I was in their respective big industries. Not my cup of tea.
I do need to point out that there are government jobs, and there are DC government jobs. Working for the government in DC is not the same as working for the government in Tupelo Mississippi. The culture there is very rat-race, cutthroat, high strung, etc. And if you don’t think government employees and contractors in that area trend towards cutthroat and high strung you are mistaken. The opposite of slow paced.
It’s not that I don’t think that Silicon Valley has that same sort of toxic culture. It’s just two sides of the same coin, with the tech industry. They attract the same personality types, just different manifestations. Neither could be described as “slow paced” with a straight face.
I personally would choose neither as a place to live if I was in their respective big industries. Not my cup of tea.
Exactly. Even though government is the main industry, most people here are Type A, status and money obsessed and looking for ways to keep climbing the ladder which makes working for the government here different than most places in the country.
Exactly. Even though government is the main industry, most people here are Type A, status and money obsessed and looking for ways to keep climbing the ladder which makes working for the government here different than most places in the country.
Absolutely. The opportunities in NOVA/DC attract a very ambitious crowd, both in terms of federal employees and contractors. That’s going to attract the good and bad apples. Just like SV. And it reflects in the cultures of both areas.
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