DC Area over NYC (Arlington, Alexandria: best city, crime, house prices)

[italylover]

hi, I am new, I obviously from my nickname would prefer to live in Italy for the rest of my life , where it's dry and warm, but right now I am trying to decide between two jobs/metros.

I am in Boston currently where it rains or snows most of the year,
New Jersey/NYC metro, (i'd live in NJ) and DC are the metros.
From what I am reading here Maryland is much less expensive than Virginia for commuting? There is little information that I can find on things that are important to me such as the rain, mosquito population, single people, religion. Coming from a religious area, how does Virginia compare? There are many minorities in Virginia/DC but which culture/religion dominate? It seems like one of those places that everyone says is really, really nice until you move there.
I've lived in a few cities and there are never perfect ones just ones where the population is honest about the limitations. The best city I visited was Toronto because the people were friendly and helpful regarding the drawbacks-even in winter due to others I never got a cold or the cold shoulder.

Am I better on in NJ/NYC area if I am liberal, single and female? Is Virginia single friendly or is it mostly marrieds?

Thank you, Nat

[Georgia]

Originally Posted by italylover

hi, I am new, I obviously from my nickname would prefer to live in Italy for the rest of my life , where it's dry and warm, but right now I am trying to decide between two jobs/metros.

I am in Boston currently where it rains or snows most of the year,
New Jersey/NYC metro, (i'd live in NJ) and DC are the metros.
From what I am reading here Maryland is much less expensive than Virginia for commuting? There is little information that I can find on things that are important to me such as the rain, mosquito population, single people, religion. Coming from a religious area, how does Virginia compare? There are many minorities in Virginia/DC but which culture/religion dominate? It seems like one of those places that everyone says is really, really nice until you move there.
I've lived in a few cities and there are never perfect ones just ones where the population is honest about the limitations. The best city I visited was Toronto because the people were friendly and helpful regarding the drawbacks-even in winter due to others I never got a cold or the cold shoulder.

Am I better on in NJ/NYC area if I am liberal, single and female? Is Virginia single friendly or is it mostly marrieds?

Thank you, Nat

Lived in NJ for 10 years. Grew up in E.WV about 50 miles for Washington DC.

I would take NJ over DC anyday.
If you work in NYC you will have double taxation. If you live in MD or NVA you will also be double taxed.

The MD area above DC is crime central. DC is crime central. N.VA is outrageous in regard to expense.

Yes, N.NJ is not cheap, but if your Italian, then you will enjoy NYC's little Italy and the food in N.NJ is majority Italian. Area's such as Caldwell, North Caldwell, Verona, etc. are very nice and very Italian. The food is to die for.
Besides, there you can go to the mall parking lot. Park for nothing, and hop a bus for $6.00 and go right into the Port Authority at 42nd in NYC.

DC has one culture. Crime. It's great to visit for the capital and museums, but not to live.

If you did pick DC. Then Alexandria, Arlington, or Tysons Corner would I suggest in VA. Stay away from Prince George County Maryland.

[dullnboring]

I've lived in both the DC and NY/NJ regions and am actually debating at the moment currently moving back to NY/NJ so I think I can offer a good comparison.

Rain-wise, the two areas get roughly the same amount of rain. The climate is actually fairly similar. The interesting thing is that there is more of a variation throughout the day in the DC area than NY/NJ in that in the dead of winter for example, while our highs may be around five degrees warmer than New York, oftentimes the lows are just as low or even colder. This may be due to elevation or the location further inland. The weather is generally similar between the two though. DC gets around five degrees hotter and a bit more humid than NYC and a little less snowfall. The most pronounced difference that I found (and I'm not sure if statistical evidence backs this up; just reporting what I personally felt) is that it remains cold and jacket-weather in March and sometimes well into April in NJ/NY whereas in DC, it begins to warm up towards the middle and end of March. Basically, DC seems like a true four-season area whereas NYC seems like it has three or 3.5 seasons where Spring is really short-changed.

As far as mosquitos and other bugs, there are more in the DC area. The general pattern is the further South you go, the more bugs you'll find. The area isn't overrun with mosquitos and other bugs though. I've been other places where they were just everywhere, where you could just be standing in a wide-open field and there would be tons of bugs flying around and that's not really the case here. It's mostly near standing water and around trees.

As far as being friendly to singles, I think that depends on whereabouts you're looking. In the close-in suburbs, places like Arlington, Alexandria and Bethesda (Maryland), singles predominate. The further out you go, the more suburban and family-friendly the area becomes.

As far as the religious makeup of Northern Virginia and the DC area goes, it is pretty diverse. There isn't as much of a Catholic influence here as there is in Northeastern cities. There are plenty of Catholics, but it's just they're not in the majority. Protestants are the most numerous and there's a fair number of Baptists and Methodists (keep in mind, this is technically the South). There's also a sizable Jewish community (comparable to Boston as opposed to New York) most of whom live in Maryland, and an equally large Muslim community, most of whom live in Virginia (minus the African-American Muslims who largely live in DC proper), and of course immigration has brought decent numbers of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and other groups to the area. I don't really think any sort of religion or culture dominates the area. It's pretty much multicultural and accepting.

As a whole, I would recommend NY/NJ over DC. Nicer people (believe it or not), more liberal, more urban, more young people and more or less similar weather (and certainly better than Boston). The only drawback in my opinion is the cost of living. However based on your criteria, if you do choose to come to DC, I would stick to the inner Beltway areas, notably Arlington and Alexandria.

[DCNY]

I live in NY and trying to move to VA for following reasons.

1. Cost of leaving in NY is much much higher then Alexandria areas.

2. House prices are less, property tax is much much less then NY. You can save 10K per year in property tax.

3. More jobs(IT) are in VA areas now. The pay is same or higher then NYC.

4. Weather is same but it start getting warmer in March while NY its still cold in early MAY. This gives few more months to enjoy out door activities.

5. Good Schools. May be it is not that important for you.

I hope this help! Good Luck!

[robbobobbo]

I don't know anything about NJ, but here's my input on the DC area

My part of Alexandria has lots of mosquitoes, and they are the very irritating Asian Tiger variety. Also plenty of big outdoor roaches in the summer.

Montgomery County Maryland is certainly not crime central. PG County has problems. DC has more crime than metro MD or VA, but there are areas where you're very unlikely to encounter crime, and other areas that would be risky, just like most cities. I experienced 2 car break-ins living in Arlington, and no crime during my 5 years living in the District.

Maryland is not much less than Virginia for commuting into DC if you live equally near DC in either state. Living closer in costs more in housing. Cost from Bethesda to downtown isn't going to be much different from cost from Arlington to downtown. Live out in Stafford, and yes you're commute costs will be high.

Liberal and single? You'll have plenty of similar company if you live in DC or close in, like Arlington, Alexandria, or Bethesda.

People complain about getting the cold shoulder in Northern Virginia. I've found random strangers in NYC and Montreal to be more outgoing to me than random people I walk by in Virginia. People are prone to try to avoid your "hello" or avert their eyes when passing by. Not everyone, of course, but it's fairly common. And I don't think I smell.

[FindingZen]

Although we woke this thread from the dead it does make for an interesting topic to discuss the two metros as they are similar in many ways (cost of living, hustle and bustle) yet different (DC is the nation's capital, NYC is arguably the capital of "everything else").