Moving to NoVa from CA, working in Herndon VA (Arlington: home, job market)

[michgc]

Why not Herndon itself? The downtown is cute - not manufactured. You can walk several places. It's not "city" life, but it is walkable, and there's plenty to do. I have friends that live there and like it a lot. It's close enough that you can go into the city on the weekends. And when Metro goes to Reston, you can go in that way. It is a "real" town, in that there is a town government. Check out Town of Herndon. Town of Herndon

I lived in Vienna until 2 months ago, and generally am a huge cheerleader for it. I loved it there. But it does seem mostly geared toward families. Although, we were quite happy there for the 1 year that we were a married/childless couple. However, it is more expensive than Herndon as it's closer in and the schools are ranked better (not saying Herndon schools are bad), but if you don't need to go into the city, and you're not having kids, then those things won't matter to you anyway.

[hilsmom]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

I wonder if, when phase one is done, people will try doing silver line to Reston-Wiele(from N arlington or DC) to get to Herndon- but then theres the 'last mile problem' Bike share would be ideal, don't know if Reston/Herndon has enough density to support something like CaBi (they certainly have an ideal facility in the W&OD)

There will likely be busses. Fairfax Connector has a pretty good system out that way already. But I also hope someone has brought up bikeshare.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by hilsmom

There will likely be busses. Fairfax Connector has a pretty good system out that way already. But I also hope someone has brought up bikeshare.

Is the employment in Herndon concentrated enough to support a really frequent bus service? I'm thinking compared to Tysons (which some people take the bus to from Dunn Loring)

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

Is the employment in Herndon concentrated enough to support a really frequent bus service? I'm thinking compared to Tysons (which some people take the bus to from Dunn Loring)

I would think commuter buses would do well. There are a lot of big office complexes there.

[srussell252]

Thanks for everyone's input. I guess I forgot to mention we are in our mid-30s.

We have moved about quite a bit in past 5 years and we have sacrificed location for commute (north Chicago suburbs instead of Chicago) which we regretted, as well sacrificed commute for location (beach community vs. living in the valley near husbands office) which we have NOT regretted a single second of our stay here in CA. Since we regretted living further out of the city when we lived in Chicago, and we plan to buy this time around as this transfer should be the final relocation, we have both agreed that we will probably sacrifice commute a bit for a location closer to the city. In Chicago we were just far enough away from the city that we didn't go downtown all that often. We have both loved the time we have spent in DC (albeit for pleasure) and don't want to make the same mistake again.

Seeing as how we are coming from two areas with very high traffic levels, I think we are well prepared with what to expect. I believe DC just surpassed LA for worst traffic, but I believe its comparable.

Another reason we aren't considering Loudon County is that while I currently work remotely from home, I am sure I will look for a new job at some point in the next few years as not sure how much career growth I will have as a remote employee. I believe I will have more luck finding work somewhere between Herndon and DC.

As I mentioned before, we are willing to have up to an hour commute - is Vienna, Falls Church, Fairfax or Arlington doable or completely out of the question? Especially leaving at 6:30am and 6:30 - 7 pm. Although it sounds like Arlington might skew a bit young for us.

Thanks again everyone!!

[Caladium]

Fairfax City or Falls Church might appeal to you. Or, the historic section of Herndon. Maybe renting for the first six months would be the best strategy. That way you can be sure of choosing a community you like.

Originally Posted by srussell252

I believe I will have more luck finding work somewhere between Herndon and DC.

Hard to say. The Dulles Tech Corridor from Reston to Leesburg is where a big percentage of the job openings can be found these days. Tysons Corner also has a huge number of tech/government contract jobs and may have the greatest number of job openings in the entire DC metro area.

[hilsmom]

Originally Posted by srussell252

As I mentioned before, we are willing to have up to an hour commute - is Vienna, Falls Church, Fairfax or Arlington doable or completely out of the question? Especially leaving at 6:30am and 6:30 - 7 pm. Although it sounds like Arlington might skew a bit young for us.

Thanks again everyone!!

Yes, any of these areas will work at these times. And I second Caladium - rent for several months and look around a bit.

[RusUs]

Originally Posted by srussell252

...As I mentioned before, we are willing to have up to an hour commute - is Vienna, Falls Church, Fairfax or Arlington doable or completely out of the question? Especially leaving at 6:30am and 6:30 - 7 pm. ...

srussell252,

We live in Vienna. Yes, it is family-friendly place with great schools. But even though we do not have children, my husband and I love living here (by the way, he is originally from MI/Detroit area :-) In our community and around I see a good variety of couples with and without children, younger/older people. We also enjoy to be close to DC and main roads, being able to walk, etc.

As far as commute to Herndon, I commute to Reston (which is right next to Herndon). It is about 8 miles each way and it takes about 20-25 min. Driving to Herndon would probably add another 10-15 min based on a specific address in Herndon. So your husband's commute would be definitely under an hour.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by Caladium

I would think commuter buses would do well. There are a lot of big office complexes there.

To completely overcome the last mile problem, you need buses that are pretty frequent, or the wait time adds significantly to the total commute time. To run buses efficiently you need a fair number of riders per bus, or the subsidy per passenger will be quite high. So total employment on the route is important, esp since most employees won't be reverse commuters on the metro. To the extent that you have mixed use, the feeder buses TO the metro can double as buses from the metro to the jobs, but its my understanding that while that is coming to Herndon, most employment there is not in mixed use now.

I'm pretty sure there already is bus service from herndon to Reston TC, and I assume that FFX county will establish routes between Herndon and Wiele ave metro station when the silver line opens - and that some reverse commuters will use it. However I expect that the frequency of service will likely deter many who would otherwise reverse commute by rail, until density in Herndon increases, as is currently planned.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by srussell252

Another reason we aren't considering Loudon County is that while I currently work remotely from home, I am sure I will look for a new job at some point in the next few years as not sure how much career growth I will have as a remote employee. I believe I will have more luck finding work somewhere between Herndon and DC.

it really will depend on your field, I think. The largest employment center in the region is still downtown DC, Tysons is the second largest, there are large and growing employment centers in the tech corridor from Reston out to Ashburn and beyond in Loudoun, and there are also very large employment centers in North Arlington, from Ballston to the Pentagon and Crystal City, and there is significant employment in Alexandria as well. I do not know of a source forthe number of current job openings by jurisdiction or location within the region, so I would not put much weight on claims that one sub region or another has a disproportionate share of openings relative to total employment. Certainly if you are in certain tech fields your likelihood of finding employment in the corridor from Reston to Loudoun would be very high.