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Please feel free to define what you mean by city and suburbs and what you want. Technically, Tysons is suburbs, traffic notwithstanding. McLean is simply part of Fairfax County, a CDP (census designated place). Falls Church and Vienna are cities. DC is clearly a city, with big city taxes. Alexandria is a city. Rosslyn, with a big city feel, isn't even as much as a CDP; it's just a part of Arlington County.
No matter where you are thinking of living, you ought to try a morning drive from where you think you want to live and an evening drive back. Then you can judge "40 minutes".
Please feel free to define what you mean by city and suburbs and what you want. Technically, Tysons is suburbs, traffic notwithstanding. McLean is simply part of Fairfax County, a CDP (census designated place). Falls Church and Vienna are cities. DC is clearly a city, with big city taxes. Alexandria is a city. Rosslyn, with a big city feel, isn't even as much as a CDP; it's just a part of Arlington County.
No matter where you are thinking of living, you ought to try a morning drive from where you think you want to live and an evening drive back. Then you can judge "40 minutes".
let's be real here... you know what i mean
i don't really consider arlington the city. old town Alexandria i suppose i would call the "city," but i mean DC... this is the DC forum
Last edited by r_u_a_wizard; 02-11-2014 at 07:31 PM..
If your office is walking distance from the Silver Line, then you can pretty much live anywhere along the to-be-opened Silver Line. Keep in mind that the ride will be long (perhaps even slightly longer than driving since DC-Tysons is a reverse commute) and that the fare will probably be more than $5 each way. If you need to drive to your office, or would just prefer to drive, I would recommend Southwest, Navy Yard, or Capitol Hill for their easy access to I-395 which zips you across to VA where you can pick up I-66. I do this commute several times a month, and usually it's a 45 minute drive each way.
Please feel free to define what you mean by city and suburbs and what you want. Technically, Tysons is suburbs, traffic notwithstanding. McLean is simply part of Fairfax County, a CDP (census designated place). Falls Church and Vienna are cities. DC is clearly a city, with big city taxes. Alexandria is a city. Rosslyn, with a big city feel, isn't even as much as a CDP; it's just a part of Arlington County.
No matter where you are thinking of living, you ought to try a morning drive from where you think you want to live and an evening drive back. Then you can judge "40 minutes".
What an oddly biased response. When people talk about living in the city here, they mean DC proper. Everything else is defined as some form of a suburb, even if it's more urban than parts of the District.
The pretty small amount taken out for local taxes are generally a minimal concern for most deciding to live here but with the silver line opening any marginal changes in tax rates may well be made up by not needing car expenses or daily car dependence, depending where in Tysons his job is.
To the OP, I'd say either West End near Foggy Bottom Metro for a shorter commute or over by Eastern Market for a better neighborhood. Wherever you choose, the orange line will be your friend.
Travel times to/from Tysons will be similar to those from Vienna, so Foggy Bottom will be ~25 minutes in transit and Eastern Market ~40, plus walking/waiting times. Both have very high rents, but feel very different.
Also, I'm glad that someone pointed out that we pay low, lowbig city taxes.
Im pretty sure I would just drive so metro access isn't hugely important. Would gtown to tysons be a reasonable commute?
It would take you about 30 minutes without a traffic meltdown if you take the Key Bridge to the Parkway to Chain Bridge Rd. which can take you into Tysons Corner.
In theory, Georgetown would take about 30 minutes, but getting from anywhere in Georgetown down to M Street (possibly the worst bottleneck in the city) and over to Key Bridge can take who-knows-how-long. If you're driving, it would be much easier to live near Rosslyn and just walk across to G'town whenever, or to live in Foggy Bottom as you can then take the Whitehurst Freeway and avoid M Street.
Neighbors of mine here in Southwest who commute to Tysons say that it takes 45 minutes, pretty reliably in the mornings but less so in the evenings (especially during peak shopping seasons). Metro would take about 50 minutes, and would be more reliable.
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