What metro is the most comparable to Northern Virginia? (compare, Atlanta, Boston)

[costellopresley82]

For this thread, I'm excluding D.C. proper to discuss suburban Northern Virginia (Arlington, Alexandria, Reston, Fairfax, etc). Are there any other metros outside of the D.C. area that are similar to Northern Virginia? In terms of growth, jobs, politics, demographics, history, and culture.

[march2]

I'd say the Raleigh/Durham area. It has that overall feel. Also feels like one big suburb too, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[Mutiny77]

There are definitely elements of the Triangle, the northern Atlanta suburbs, DFW, and suburban northern NJ in NoVA. I've also heard Orange County, CA bears similarities to NoVA; I've only been to OC once and I'm not that familiar with it so someone else can weigh in on that.

[aries4118]

Atlanta
Raleigh-Durham

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

There are definitely elements of the Triangle, the northern Atlanta suburbs, DFW, and suburban northern NJ in NoVA. I've also heard Orange County, CA bears similarities to NoVA; I've only been to OC once and I'm not that familiar with it so someone else can weigh in on that.

Orange County, CA?! The closest thing to Orange County on the east coast is Palm Beach County, FL. I can’t think of any similarities, on paper or socially, between the two.

I’d say NoVa is most similar to Fairfield County, CT, although NoVa doesn’t have the extreme wealth seen in that area. It’s similar, socially, though; educated, working professionals that’s family oriented.

[masssachoicetts]

Major urban sprawl with nodes like NJ and Atlanta.

Like NJ, which isn't technically "urban" like a New York City or Boston or DC, NOVA is hyper suburban with SHFs near corporate centers.

I'd say NNJ and Atlanta. Both are sprawly, hyper suburban post war developed areas like Nova.

[ccm123]

Raleigh or Atlanta.

[cpomp]

Definitely a mixture of Atlanta and Raleigh, I don't see many similarities to the NY metro besides some sprawl as you expand further from the city.

Boston strikes me as an odd comparison though, especially including Boston metro and not Philadelphia.

[BigCity76]

Built environment in North Jersey is nothing like NoVA outside of a few retail/mall areas.

If you want to compare NoVa to anywhere in NJ it would be more like portions of Central Jersey which is newer than up North and has plenty of newer, blander sprawl.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Boston strikes me as an odd comparison though, especially including Boston metro and not Philadelphia.

The only thing I think is comparable between the two is that it's similarly fragmented. Cambridge/Somerville is a somewhat similar comp. to Arlington/Alexandria in that you have a large central business district within walking distance (across some bridges) of the principal city's core, and several other major clusters nearby; but is a separate entity entirely.

But I'd agree, weird to include Boston and not include Philly.