Mid-west or NOVA? (Dayton: employment, most dangerous, vs.)

[car54]

And really, only parts of Arlington are "urban"....like Ballston, Rosslyn, and Crystal City.....most of the rest is SFH subdivisions. Typical suburbia.

I covered every INCH of Arlington County during my stint with ACPD....and I know Arlington! LOL

[Bigbluelandrover]

Scran,
Cincinnati and Dayton are more run down than Nova. I was born and raised in Cincy and lived there 34 years. "True" Cincinnati is a small area and within the city limits many neighborhoods are surrounded by hud,govt assisted housing projects. Cincinnati was the first city innundated with projects. It was an experiment during the roosevelt era and my mother lived in downtown Cincinnati in one of the buildings. (My grandfather died of pneumonia when my mom was 3 and grandma had 2 kids to raise). That area known as the "East End" to this day is full of blight,drugs and crime and then you have Over the Rhine, and I can think of at least 6 housing projects surrounding Cincinnati. This gives the advantage to Nova because even the so-called bad area in Alexandria --it is not as crime ridden as the Cincy projects. Now you could compare DC to Cincy and the comparison would be better but even then DC has the Government and Cincy has P & G but you have to be picked out of college to work there. Many of the "good" jobs in Cincy are based on the "good ol' boy-and who you know network. Oh --and do NOT be "different" in any way. Cincy does not like different. WASP's only.
Dayton AND Cincy are hemmoraging colleg graduates. When I was done at UC the Governor had the nerve to send out some letter about "staying in Ohio to keep the tax base strong!"--lol. Sorry but Ohio has expensive tuition and I had to leave to pay these loans back. Property taxes are high. And when you say that there isn't that "I hate Cincy thing---you are dead wrong!". A lot of people hate it there but there are also many that have never left thier litte neighborhoods.

[Doppelganger69]

I just moved here from Cincinnati (the city), and although I disagree with Bigbluelandrover's assessment of crime and housing projects in Cincinnati, I find his/her statement of "Cincy does not like different" to be spot on. (Catholics also ok, though - not just WASPs.) And yes, so many people there have not even left their neighborhoods, let alone the city. For me, that is one of the main things that makes NoVA so much more appealing than Cincinnati.

[Bigbluelandrover]

Uh, seriously there are "projects" all around Cincinnati. I was just there and it looked like a lot of areas are in a sharp decline, esp the northern suburbs. Miss the food though.

The city is even looking to put low income housing in Mt Lookout!--crazy.

[statecollege]

A negative about Dayton is putting up with Ohio State fans, unless you graduated from there!

[Alicia Bradley]

Um.. wouldn't a better title for this thread have been "NoVA vs. DAYTON, OH?" Or possibly even "NoVA vs. SW OHIO"?

Oh, silly me, always forgetting that the "Mid-west" is one square inch of cornfield.

[camer]

Originally Posted by LMS7689

I'm not sure if OP is Original Poster or not, but if it is, than yes, you are correct. Originally, I was offered a position here in NOVA - I'm in NOVA temporarily now - and was looking at different areas in NOVA in which to live. Since then, I have received a competing offer in Dayton.

For what its worth to anyone's evaluation of the situation, I am married, and we have our first child on the way.

Congratulations, father-soon-to-be!
When my children were young, my husband was able to join us for dinner 95% of the time. He was also able to make most school related events in the evening and had time to shuttle the kids whenever I couldn't (which was rare because I was a stay-at-home Mom). His short work commute allowed for this once-in-a-lifetime family experience. It certainly added to our quality of life, not to mention the happiness it brought to our children!
If you can have this in Dayton, go for it. Life is so short and kids grow up fast. Spend it with your family instead of sitting in your car stuck in traffic. All the Best.

[NOVAmtneer82]

For what it is worth I was poking around on some business sites on my lunch break and it appears that the Dayton area just lost its last Fortune 500 headquarters to suburban Atlanta today. The company is taking over 1000 jobs in the relocation.

[JJC99]

Here's my thoughts...both places have it's pros and cons. I guess it depends what issues are stronger for you. I lived in Cincy, NoVA, and now Columbus. My knowledge of Dayton isn't great, but what I do know, I'm not crazy about it. If it was just me, I'd go back to NoVa. Here's my thoughts:

NoVA - PLUS-- culture, so many sites and scenes to see within a short-ish car/metro ride - free museums, zoo; schools; Other interesting cities not too far (DC, Baltimore, Richmond, Va Beach, etc) (Heck, philidelphia isn't that far of a drive either - or a 2 hour train ride!); lot more diversity. Still have "the country" not too far by going to Loudoun County, Skyline Drive, etc.; HISTORY! Wow - tons of it; weather is a bit milder.

NoVA MINUS -TRAFFIC TRAFFIC TRAFFIC - but find yourself a good station, and it's not so bad (I miss Elliot in the morning! and an AM station i listend on my way home); crowded; have to know what areas to stay out of, for safety. A lot of area aren't very mature - maybe 15-25 years old, so it can feel undeveloped (no huge trees lining streets, etc); Cost of Living; HOAs (I don't like them...)

Dayton PLUS -Midwest - more laid back; Wrigth Patt, Cincy, Columbus, Indy, and even Chicago are not far; some schools are good, in the outskirts; Dayton Irish Fest; close to King's Island and The Beach; few hours from Sandusky, Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie.; cost of living; neighborly (depends...)

Dayton MINUS - industrial town that is economically depressed; crime is rising; just looks grey and boring. the downtown is small and seems to be emptying out a bit; FLAT FLAT FLAT. not a lot of excitment in Dayton. You really do need to go to Cincy, Columbus, etc for some real fun and energy; not as educated - you get a lot of hicks out there!

If you can, live outside of Cincy or be stationed in Cincy or Columbus (if that's even an option).

I loved NoVa and would go back, but i've found my nitch here in Columbus... hopefully I gave you 1 or 2 things you didn't think of before.

[novaslasher]

I'm definitely a fan of NoVA/DC. I moved from the SE Houston suburbs to Fairfax, and I love the DC region. The weather here is great (mild with all 4 seasons) and I love the relative proximity to the moutains and ocean. There is plenty to do in DC: sailing on the Potamac, free Smithsonian, great theater and plays, lots of bike trails, etc. I also like being within striking distance of much of the attractions in the BosWash megalopolis: even NYC can be done on a daytrip or weekend.

There are only two big minuses: the traffic is pretty bad and the cost of living is astronomical if you are a young professional and can't cope with a region synced to $100k+ incomes. Traffic can be dealt with though by settling near the VRE/metro or carpooling. Cost of living is hard to adjust for if you have a family and want to go off a single income. I think many people in this region have to adjust their expectations and forgo the single family home for many years or perpetuate the double income lifestyle. I still think NoVA is worth it though.

I've lived in the midwest (Boulder, Colorado) as a child, but never in the Ohio region so I can't really comment on that part of the US.