Hampton Roads or Richmond? (Virginia Beach, Norfolk: apartments, rent, credit)

[richmondpics]

Originally Posted by chris72

Richmond and it's suburbs is about a third of the population of Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia is about a third larger, it really depends on what you need. Not that Richmond isn't urban though, anything but, and you'll probably have a better time finding a job that pays more there than you will in Hampton Roads.

Just to clarify... Richmond's MSA has over 1.2 million people. Hampton Roads has around 1.6 million people. Northern Virginia is well over 2 million, maybe close to 2.5 million.

[tenken627]

Originally Posted by richmondpics

Just to clarify... Richmond's MSA has over 1.2 million people. Hampton Roads has around 1.6 million people. Northern Virginia is well over 2 million, maybe close to 2.5 million.

Correct

According to the 2006 US Census Bureau Estimates

http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metro_general/2006/CBSA-EST2006-01.csv (broken link)

Richmond, VA: 1,194,008

Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC: 1,649,457

Richmond metropolitan is about 27-28% smaller than Hampton Roads metroplitan (this is including the NC part of the metro).


Change from April 2000 Census

Richmond, VA: net gain +97,051 (from 1,096,957 to 1,194,008); +8.8%

Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC: net gain +73,087 (from 1,576,370 to 1,649,457); +4.6%

Richmond has actually been growing at a faster pace than Hampton Roads from 2000-2006


Northern Virginia Population 2006: 2,432,843 (Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV total Metropolitan Area: 5,290,400)

http://www.co.loudoun.va.us/business/growth_summary_2006/a_11.pdf (broken link)

[chris72]

I stand corrected on the Richmond MSA. It's just my hunch, but I think it is inevitable that all three MSAs will converge, give it about 20 or 30 years. But aside from that HR is a mixed bag; myself I like the 7 city idea, being from Ohio all of the cities wanted to remain seperate and didn't really want to associate themselves with other cities in the MSA even though for the most part that is what it is. There was plenty of argument between Dayton and Akron over who had the larger MSA, which was odd, because each city, though they had their own MSA, was close to a larger city whose MSA dwarfed either city by leaps and bounds. But anyway, to get away from the melee it is nice to be here I like the size of the MSA; my only complaints is that yes, there is too much of a military influence and yes, there is division between the races but I have yet to find a metro area anywhere that doesn't have that to some degree. As far as things being backwards, I understand where people are coming from but I think a lot of that is to struggle to define one's self in a large MSA; as a lot of the mentality is more of an individual city than a metropolis it seems. You have competition, healthy, or at least interesting, between Norfolk and Virginia Beach on housing, condos, everything really, the former is more metropolitain in it's look and feel, and definitely it's age, the other more of a younger metro that was built within the last 40 years. That kind of stuff humors me because a city is a city is a city; I mean Las Vegas was little if anything until the 80s so go figure. Having a transient population isn't necessarily a problem in itself most larger metro areas do have a lot of outsiders that may or may not stay there, that is part of city life. Take the good with the bad I guess.

[StuyTownRefugee]

Originally Posted by bubblez71

I currently live in the Atlanta area but want to move back to Virginia(I'm from Chesapeake, husband from Suffolk) only to be near my family. My husband doesn't care either way, so I have to decide where we will be living. I have been "wrestling" with this decision for about four months. I like the HR area, but after living in the ATL, I've became attached to "all the action." I know Richmond isn't Atlanta, but I think it is better than living in HR. Am I wrong and deceiving myself? HR is a little more settled, but my family is there. I'm not looking to party every weekend, however I don't want to be bored either. I do know the job salaries are better in Richmond as well as the number of jobs. I'm looking for good schools(15 year old son), decent low-crime areas to live in and most important SHOPPING(just kidding)!!! Traffic is not an issue for me because the traffic in Atlanta is HORRIBLE and I'm sure Richmond/HR traffic cannot compare! Please help me to decide which area to move to. Thank you!

Re: Traffic. If you were to live closer into the core area of HR, I'm afraid you're going to discover a lot of traffic problems. At least in part it's due to the general topography of the area needing bridges, bridges, tunnels, tunnels and there is water water everywhere unlike Atlanta. It is a consolidated MSA of 1.7 million residents, but that doesn't tell the whole story since there is such a floating population both of military which many are not plus the many tourists especially during the long warm season compared to up North to the Beaches and Williamsburg. (There's a also lot of traffic due to a main route to the Outer Banks, NC runs through the region).

The good news is rush hours due to a large proportion of the population is employed as federal workers, large ship and sub building or repair facilities, freight, railroading, and other heavy industry which typically have an earlier rush hour period. For the business and high tech sector crowds that typically report later, the difference helps the flows work though there are many ties ups still. Traffic HR can give the appearance that it's an all night city metro area, especially in the warm months. It can be worse than DC.

Here's a tip to remember: Virginia is unique among most states in that the state government owns and operates most of the roads in the state, instead of the local city or county authority.[citation needed] Run by the Virginia Department of Transportation, this is the third largest highway system in the United States.[41]

It's ironic but the evolution of the name HR is quite appropriate for the type of place it's become. Just think about the "Roads" in the name.

It seriously is a place on wheels.*

*(Yes I know the term refers to ship 'roads and the channel but that was before the auto and it certainly fits with today as change came.)

I live in NYC and when I'm down in that area on business or pleasure I feel I haven't really left the pace of NY and I could just as well still be Brooklyn or Queens or Long Island and the Long Island Expressway)

[chris72]

the issue in HR is that there are a lot of arterial roads, a lot of culdesacs, a lot of short sighted attempts to relieve the traffic patterns. there are no grid patterns, except for in the oldest developed parts of the area (newport news, norfolk, portsmouth, parts of chesapeake) and you alternate between extremely wide 10 lane roads which everyone flocks to and roads that are wide enough for people to park on but not for two cars to pass each other in alternate lanes.

you also have railroads that aren't elevated that stop traffic every hour or so. so there are two different traffic schemes that conflict with each other, a number of roads but no real expressway (264 runs through Virginia Beach and stops at the oceanfront, 64 runs through the metro and leaves out the other side and roads like 464 and 664 only serve some of the cities). there are plans to build more roads like 464 through the area, an experimental rail service, and a third crossing. expect those plans to take a good 10 years to build, by then whatever problems they solve would have caught up with it. hr is a nice place, but the cities did grow into each other and that is part of the story with the traffic issues, it sort of imploded, whether than explode, your typical suburban sprawl.

[ToughLuv]

I live in Newport News and don't like it...Don't care too much for Richmond either..if I had to live in VA it would be Norfolk..Thats my favorite city in the state honestly..I think you cant go wrong living in Norfolk or even VA Beach maybe..there's the nightlife your looking for...and schools are much better compared to Hampton, Newport News or Richmond schools..and VA Beach has basically no crime problem..and its the biggest city in the state..

[damian]

Originally Posted by ToughLuv

I live in Newport News and don't like it...Don't care too much for Richmond either..if I had to live in VA it would be Norfolk..Thats my favorite city in the state honestly..I think you cant go wrong living in Norfolk or even VA Beach maybe..there's the nightlife your looking for...and schools are much better compared to Hampton, Newport News or Richmond schools..and VA Beach has basically no crime problem..and its the biggest city in the state..

Norfolk's schools are much worse than Newport News. All of Newport News' high schools are ranked, warwick being in the top 100. all of norfolks are considered "drop out factories" by a recent study. Regardless, of that, Norfolk is definitely more cultural than Newport News, but that is expected since Norfolk is the central city in Hampton Roads

[ToughLuv]

Originally Posted by damian

Norfolk's schools are much worse than Newport News. All of Newport News' high schools are ranked, warwick being in the top 100. all of norfolks are considered "drop out factories" by a recent study. Regardless, of that, Norfolk is definitely more cultural than Newport News, but that is expected since Norfolk is the central city in Hampton Roads

I have direct experience with the schools of both cities..NN schools just made USA Today rankings because there mostly all old (Denbigh, Warwick, Menchville)..Trust me those rankings mean nothing.. I know for a fact Denbigh High School was one year away from being shut down if they didn't meet state standards again..which they finally did last year..Most schools of NN are thug infested..One of my bestfriends substituted in NN high schools..She says never again lol..She's back subbing in York County/ Williamsburg..and don't even let em get started on the middle schools which I believe are even worse..

[roanoker 4]

Although I don't plan to leave Roanoke, if I had to move anywhere in VA I would pick Norfolk or Alexandria. Downtown Norfolk has really big plans for high rise condos, a new light rail train called The Tide that will connect the new MacArthur Mall with its upscale shopping, downtown Norfolk waterfront, Chrysler Museum, new restaurants, nightlife, etc. Although Richmond has better job prospects, the downtown area in my opinon is dull and seedy.
If you can afford it, Alexandria is a delightful place to be. The Old Town area with its brick sidewalks, waterfront with views of DC's monuments and of course METRO to DC. What else could anyone ask for in a place to live? Of course we are talking about Hampton Roads or Richmond, aren't we?

[profit757]

people dc nor atl have any thing to do with this ???
but crime wise HR is the best pick because Richmond is ranked as the 4th worst city in the country
traffic wise is moderate both places you do have traffic but not really bad like New York or Chicago's traffic where u sit bumper to bumper the same spot for 2 hours during rush hour
(DC and ATL doesn't fit that category)
it's cheaper to live in richmond
it's things to do in both places
it's better to raise your kids in hampton roads depending on the city
like VB,Chesapeake,and Suffolk
both have a BIG CITY feel depending on the parts your in and some parts are suburbic
i love both places honestly