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My spouse and I have moved around quite a bit in the past 10 years, but now we're getting to the point that we want to buy a house and put down roots. Given my job and my spouse's job, we're fairly limited to the DC and NYC areas. We've lived in both areas over the years and appreciate (and dislike) various things about each. Here are a few random thoughts I've had about both places:
More creative opportunities in the NYC area, which leads to more job opportunities for me (I work in publishing/media). My spouse has the option to work the same job in either city so it doesn't matter much there.
More diversity in the people that you meet in the NYC area. For example, I have NYC friends who are lawyers and other friends who are magicians. NYC is for anybody and everybody.
DC tends to be one-dimensional. Most of the people we know there work for the government or a non-profit.
Many people in DC are extremely career driven. That's not to say New Yorkers aren't driven, but they seem to know when to turn it off. I'm always amazed at the hobbies people have in the New York area. It makes for much more interesting social interaction.
We found DC to be a better quality of living, meaning that our money went a bit further there—shopping for groceries and goods didn't seem to be a major feat like it tends to be in the NYC area.
Love the free museums in DC
Taxes aren't near as outrageous in the DC area as the NYC area. For example, a $550k house in the suburbs of Maryland or Virginia has taxes around $5-6k. In NYC, that same house would have taxes of $10-15k a year.
The schools seem to be better in the NYC area in general. Remember, I'm saying "in general." I know how good schools can be in Montgomery and Northern Virginia, but it seems like it's a handful of select towns vs a wider spread in Westchester County. Of course, that's where the outrageous taxes come in...
We would be a little closer to family if we lived in the DC area.
All this being said, we're at the age and place in life (kids) where the city itself really isn't an option for us anymore. This means we would likely be in Westchester County or Northern Virginia/Maryland suburbs. A little bit about us to help put things into perspective:
Ready for a slightly slower pace of life (I know, we're not looking at the two best areas for that)...
Enjoy strolling around quaint towns on the weekends
Tired of traffic and congestion (again, we picked two great cities!)
Not thrilled with winters anymore. DC has the edge in that department.
Would love to end up with a decent house on a wooded lot with a little bit of privacy. When I say wooded, I mean Tacoma Park, MD or Pleasantville, NY (just enough trees to have some separation from neighbors).
I'm wondering if anyone out there has any experience deciding between these two areas. I'd love to hear your thoughts and where you ultimately ended up living.
The NYC area has DC beat on older, walkable areas outside of the core city. I think somewhere like Montclair or Maplewood would be ideal if suburban walkability is important to you. The DC suburbs are newer and tend to be more auto-centric than what you see in Bergen, Westchester, etc.
My spouse and I have moved around quite a bit in the past 10 years, but now we're getting to the point that we want to buy a house and put down roots. Given my job and my spouse's job, we're fairly limited to the DC and NYC areas. We've lived in both areas over the years and appreciate (and dislike) various things about each. Here are a few random thoughts I've had about both places:
[list]
[*]More diversity in the people that you meet in the NYC area. For example, I have NYC friends who are lawyers and other friends who are magicians. NYC is for anybody and everybody.[*]DC tends to be one-dimensional. Most of the people we know there work for the government or a non-profit.
I think you've touched upon the reason, I've generally not liked DC. I meet so few people who work in creative fields, and everyone is always ON. It's a point of pride there. NYC type-A's tend to be of the work hard, play hard variety. DC is more of a work hard, talk about work town.
DC's burbs are more of your typical post-1950's suburbs. Not much in the way of quaint villages, but I do believe, overall, schools are better. Farifax and Montgomery county are very large school districts. It's not the town-to-town, village-to-village thing you get in the NY area.
I think you've touched upon the reason, I've generally not liked DC. I meet so few people who work in creative fields, and everyone is always ON. It's a point of pride there. NYC type-A's tend to be of the work hard, play hard variety. DC is more of a work hard, talk about work town.
DC's burbs are more of your typical post-1950's suburbs. Not much in the way of quaint villages, but I do believe, overall, schools are better. Farifax and Montgomery county are very large school districts. It's not the town-to-town, village-to-village thing you get in the NY area.
I completely agree with your work hard, play hard vs always on observation. During my time in DC I so badly wanted to meet people who would let their hair down a bit and opened themselves up. I don't say this to offend anyone in the DC area. It's a city full of very bright people, but I never quite felt like I got to know the real people, just the DC facade of what you do career-wise.
As for the schools, I always have a difficult time pinpointing the neighborhood vs school correlation in the DC area. For example, Old Town Alexandria seems amazing—very quaint and beautiful, very walkable, and has an overall good vibe. Judging by property value, it seems to be a place that's in demand. However, the schools don't seem very good if you go by the Great Schools rankings, which I know aren't always a good indicator. If I recall correctly, the high school associated with Old Town Alexandria was a 2 out of 10. Am I wrong to use these ratings as an indicator?
I completely agree with your work hard, play hard vs always on observation. During my time in DC I so badly wanted to meet people who would let their hair down a bit and opened themselves up. I don't say this to offend anyone in the DC area. It's a city full of very bright people, but I never quite felt like I got to know the real people, just the DC facade of what you do career-wise.
As for the schools, I always have a difficult time pinpointing the neighborhood vs school correlation in the DC area. For example, Old Town Alexandria seems amazing—very quaint and beautiful, very walkable, and has an overall good vibe. Judging by property value, it seems to be a place that's in demand. However, the schools don't seem very good if you go by the Great Schools rankings, which I know aren't always a good indicator. If I recall correctly, the high school associated with Old Town Alexandria was a 2 out of 10. Am I wrong to use these ratings as an indicator?
With the ratings system, it is based upon test scores and doesn't take programs or even graduation rate into account. So, as long as you know what they are rating, there is some value to them.
Also, when you say Westchester, are you considering the Rivertowns as well? They may offer a balance between good schools, walkability and vibrancy. A community I like that is across the Tappan Zee Bridge and is in that same vein is Nyack in Rockland County. It is culturally and even economically diverse to boot. Parts of the district have more room/space and includes communities like South Nyack, Central Nyack, Congers, Valley Cottage and Upper Nyack as well. Home Page - Nyack Public Schools
The NYC area has DC beat on older, walkable areas outside of the core city. I think somewhere like Montclair or Maplewood would be ideal if suburban walkability is important to you. The DC suburbs are newer and tend to be more auto-centric than what you see in Bergen, Westchester, etc.
My NYC suburb (Baldwin) has an unusually high amount of walkers for a suburb. Most of the houses date back to the 20s and 30s (sometimes earlier), too.
It's also about as dense as the city of Los Angeles.
I'm wondering if anyone out there has any experience deciding between these two areas. I'd love to hear your thoughts and where you ultimately ended up living.
Since you're in publishing/media, I think the NYC area is preferable. However, it boils down to what you can afford based on your income.
As you've seen, it is obviously more expensive in the NYC area to have a similar personal standard of living as you would in the DC area. But then, NYC is NYC. So, you definitely have to make some trade-offs either way.
I completely agree with your work hard, play hard vs always on observation. During my time in DC I so badly wanted to meet people who would let their hair down a bit and opened themselves up. I don't say this to offend anyone in the DC area. It's a city full of very bright people, but I never quite felt like I got to know the real people, just the DC facade of what you do career-wise.
As for the schools, I always have a difficult time pinpointing the neighborhood vs school correlation in the DC area. For example, Old Town Alexandria seems amazing—very quaint and beautiful, very walkable, and has an overall good vibe. Judging by property value, it seems to be a place that's in demand. However, the schools don't seem very good if you go by the Great Schools rankings, which I know aren't always a good indicator. If I recall correctly, the high school associated with Old Town Alexandria was a 2 out of 10. Am I wrong to use these ratings as an indicator?
While Great Schools relies too heavily on test scores, which can be misleading, without knowing anything about the school sometimes it's all you have to go on. I'll give you a personal example; this is my kids' zoned school:
They just upgraded it to a 7, it used to be a 5. A lot of families who aren't familiar with the school's demographics and performance would probably avoid it. Colfax happens to draw from the two wealthiest, most educated (most Shadyside and Squirrel Hill parents I know have terminal degrees) overwhelmingly white and Asian neighborhoods, as well as the poorest, most dangerous Black neighborhood. The white and Asian kids outperform white and Asian kids in the higher rated suburban districts. The poor Black kids outperform poor Black kids at every other school in the city. The socioeconomic diversity brings the average down, but everyone performs better than his or her demographic.
The school has amazing facilities (swimming pool in an inner-city school, science labs with 3-D printers). It's a great school, but you wouldn't know that by the 5 on Great Schools.
Now onto, Old Town. Virginia is a strange beast; it has independent cities and counties. This means no city is IN a county. The Alexandria public schools aren't great, but the Fairfax County School District is arguably the best in the nation. It's a large district with nearly 200k students, and covers most of close-in NoVA. Only Arlington and Alexandria fall outside of Fairfax County Schools.
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