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Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,547,924 times
Reputation: 5785
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Spinoff thread: (thanks Turnerbro)
Which is better? I'd like to consider Silicon Valley as primarily Santa Clara County near the Bay itself. Northern VA= Alex+Arlington+Fairfax+Loudoun+PWC. This is not a comparison of the SF MSA area or Washington DC proper itself. Please do not discuss those jurisdictions.
Some criteria to consider:
1. Housing
2. Parks
3. Transportation Car and Public
4. Schools
5. COL/QOL
6. Small downtown semi-urban areas
7. Scenery
8. Restaurants
9. Economy/ Job Market
10. Diversity
11. Shopping
12. Historic cultural sites/venues
13. Where would you rather live?
I've lived in both, like them both, but South Bay. Primary reason is all the innovative companies and high paying jobs. Corporate culture in NoVA is very government contractor oriented. It's a place where people go to work to cover their butts, not to create new things. Also greater diversity of things to do around San Jose/Silicon Valley.
NoVa is much easier from a CoL standpoint, but unless you want to be a government contractor, I don't think the tradeoff is worth it.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,547,924 times
Reputation: 5785
^^^ I'd like to cover all the criteria in the thread, not just one or two aspects of it. I didn't know there were 3 million government contractors in NOVA...
1. Housing: NOVA
2. Parks: Silicon
3. Transportation Car and Public: NOVA
4. Schools: NOVA
5. COL/QOL: NOVA/Silicon
6. Small downtown semi-urban areas: Silicon
7. Scenery: Silicon
8. Restaurants: Silicon
9. Economy/ Job Market: Silicon
10. Diversity: Silicon
11. Shopping: NOVA
12. Historic cultural sites/venues: NOVA
13. Where would you rather live? Silicon
Population:
Oakland Metro Division 2.816 Million
Northern Virginia 2.519 Million
Santa Clara County 1.937 Million
San Francisco Metro Division 1.652 Million
GDP:
Santa Clara County $328.260 Billion
San Francisco Metro Division $298.034 Billion
Oakland Metro Division $226.930 Billion
Northern Virginia $211.834 Billion
Per Capita GDP:
San Francisco Metro Division $180,387
Santa Clara County $169,334
Northern Virginia $83,763
Oakland Metro Division $80,255
Never been to SV but I know that it's not a region exactly known for this and something tells me it doesn't have an equivalent of Alexandria and Arlington.
NoVA beats Silicon Valley in every respect except economy/job market. If NoVA and Silicon Valley had cimparably good tech job markets people would desert Silicon Valley for NoVA in droves. Simply much better mass transit, historical districts, better location, better scenery, more exciting, and much cleaner. DC is much more interesting than overrated SF. NoVA has a QOL that is the envy of the nation.
1. Housing: Silicon Valley
2. Parks: Silicon Valley
3. Transportation Car and Public: NOVA
4. Schools: NOVA
5. COL/QOL: NOVA
6. Small downtown semi-urban areas: Silicon Valley
7. Scenery: Silicon Valley
8. Restaurants: Silicon Valley
9. Economy/ Job Market: Silicon Valley
10. Diversity: Silicon Valley
11. Shopping: NOVA
12. Historic cultural sites/venues: NOVA
13. Where would you rather live? Silicon Valley
1. Housing: Silicon
2. Parks: Silicon
3. Transportation Car and Public: NOVA
4. Schools: Silicon
5. COL/QOL: Tie
6. Small downtown semi-urban areas: Silicon
7. Scenery: Silicon
8. Restaurants: Silicon
9. Economy/ Job Market: Silicon
10. Diversity: Silicon
11. Shopping: Silicon
12. Historic cultural sites/venues: NOVA
13. Where would you rather live? IDK
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