What is the appeal of this area? IDGI

[Anonymous]

Temporary transplant here - only living here for a year. I guess I expected this area to be a bit nicer being that this is one of the most wealthiest counties/areas in the US. I'm living in Fairfax and I am a bit stunned at how run down so many places in this area look. The traffic is terrible, I am shocked at the sheer amount of overhead power lines that look like they're going to fall down with a 10 mph wind gust (parts of FFX almost look like power lines you'd see in SE asia), neighborhoods that don't look well kept, shady strip malls, I could go on. Small houses on the market nearing a million dollars, town homes at 1.4million with a postage-stamp size yard. I'm currently living in an apartment my company pays for and it's $3600/month!

I get that the jobs are good out here (or they were before the new admin came in) but you get nothing for your money here. It's so dense. You're not paying for the weather here, that's for sure. Is it just the jobs?

[Anonymous]

Jobs, which is the appeal of most major cities.

I don't generally defend this area, but I honestly don't think "Fairfax" looks bad. I'm talking about the Fairfax CDP, not the entire county. There are certain areas like along Route 1 that are absolutely terrible.

[Anonymous]

Good jobs, good school options. The weather isn't amazing but it's pretty temperate--no real extremes, no big risk of natural disasters. Only a few hours driving to the beach or mountains. Pretty centrally located on the east coast with three international airports so you can travel anywhere easily.

I agree that traffics is a mess and some of the suburbs look crappy but that's not really unique to Fairfax. A lot of the country is like this.

[Anonymous]

I moved here for school, got a job and now I have friends and community here. That's why I stay, mostly. It's also convenient to my family and my spouse's, friends in other city, the beach, the mountains, etc.

I don't care about overhead powers or strip malls, I grew up in a place that looked like that and I was happy. My townhouse was reasonably priced when I bought it and I'm fine without a ton of yard; I'm not growing crops, I don't need a lot of space.

[Anonymous]

There are gorgeous parks and playgrounds all over the place. There are amazing activities and events for families and kids. The museums, events, and shopping are so easy to get to. The shows, concerts, and games are an easy drive and so many venues to choose from. The roads have grassy islands with actual flowers planted in them! There’s so much growth and construction going on. Op, check out the Rust Belt, then come back.

[Anonymous]

Even wealthy areas have suburbs that are more run down.

Downtown City of Fairfax by GMU is nice, but I can see the issue if you're living along Rt 50 near Chantilly and judging the entire area based on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I moved here for school, got a job and now I have friends and community here. That's why I stay, mostly. It's also convenient to my family and my spouse's, friends in other city, the beach, the mountains, etc.

I don't care about overhead powers or strip malls, I grew up in a place that looked like that and I was happy. My townhouse was reasonably priced when I bought it and I'm fine without a ton of yard; I'm not growing crops, I don't need a lot of space.

It’s not a tourist destination but it’s very livable. I honestly only think the Hudson Valley is nicer, but then for jobs you may have to go into NYC which is a circle of the inferno (the city is fine, the commute is terrible).

I love places like California, it’s beautiful. But schools are terrible, insane expensive even if you move far out, it’s really mostly desert, and the ocean is pretty but too cold to swim.

Boston has ridiculous winters and is even more run down.

Chicago same, plus more crime and far from ocean.

NYC is expensive and crazy hard living but also awesome if you have the money.

The South, ugh. So many things. Texas same.

Midwest places like Twin Cities maybe nice but so far from ocean and winters.

Same idea for Scottsdale or Phoenix, but summers.

Again many places are much nicer to visit but DC area pretty okay to live. At least used to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Temporary transplant here - only living here for a year. I guess I expected this area to be a bit nicer being that this is one of the most wealthiest counties/areas in the US. I'm living in Fairfax and I am a bit stunned at how run down so many places in this area look. The traffic is terrible, I am shocked at the sheer amount of overhead power lines that look like they're going to fall down with a 10 mph wind gust (parts of FFX almost look like power lines you'd see in SE asia), neighborhoods that don't look well kept, shady strip malls, I could go on. Small houses on the market nearing a million dollars, town homes at 1.4million with a postage-stamp size yard. I'm currently living in an apartment my company pays for and it's $3600/month!

I get that the jobs are good out here (or they were before the new admin came in) but you get nothing for your money here. It's so dense. You're not paying for the weather here, that's for sure. Is it just the jobs?

I think that the appeal is that there are a lot of jobs here for highly-educated people (or at least until 1/20/25). Also, I really like how I live around so many highly-educated people.

Where are you from, OP, that is so great? (I'm originally from the Minnesota, where everything was super tidy in our nice suburb of MSP. And we had buried power lines, which was great. I completely agree with you about the ridiculously ugly power lines. I think that people who are from here (DMV) do not complain about the power lines because they do not know any different, and may not realize that most of the U.S. has underground power lines.)

I met my DH here, and we both have good jobs here. We settled in a really nice suburb, and now have lots of friends in the area. We know almost all of our neighbors (whether through the schools that our kids attended, through the neighborhood pool, etc.)

If you're stuck in a random apartment building, you may not have had a chance to see the many beautiful neighborhoods.

I like being on the East Coast, and not in a super hot climate. We're close to a lot of things.

So it works for us, but there are pros and cons.

[Anonymous]

Have you ever been to any other American cities? A lot of what you are describing is true of any of them. Although I suppose if your point of reference is LA or Chicago the density is quite different.

[Anonymous]

It would help if OP stated where they are from so that we can have context of their expectations.

Fairfax County is relatively big and has a variety of neighborhoods and sub-areas.

OP's statement is overly broad. Also, traffic is bad anywhere in the DMV. I would argue the Virginia side is slightly better than MD or in DC.

[Anonymous]

It's jobs and also what comes with having a lot of a certain kind of job in one place -- lots of educated, engaged people living in the same area, many with similar values. So it's like the jobs draw a certain kind of person here, and then all those people get together, and they like hanging out because they are all similar in many ways.

To me, it cuts both ways -- I live living around lots of people who are politically engaged, well educated, and interested in current events and policy. On the other hand, it can be hard to live in a place where so many people think they are experts on EVERYTHING and where a lot of conversations devolve into people asserting they know best and it's a pissing contest. Also, I have found since becoming a parent that there's a huge downside to parenting in a community of policy wonks -- DC-area parents can be really unnecessarily wonky and competitive about parenting. Especially around education and later around college admissions. It can be toxic and I often long for a community more like the one I grew up in, where there was more diversity in parenting approaches and greater acceptance of different kinds of kids, and it was okay to be just a regular kid and not be Ivy-bound by the age of 12. When I visit my siblings, I witness parental competition and obsession but DC is on another level. Though you also find that in places like NYC and Silicon Valley for similar reasons -- get a bunch of highly successful, Type-A people in close proximity to each other, and they are going o be competitive and obsessive about their kids.

I agree with OP that a lot of parts of this area are really rundown or just very suboptimal in terms of urban planning, traffic, architecture, etc. Though if you live here long term, you come to find the best places and (assuming you can afford it) choose to live there. Right now we live on Capitol Hill and it's great -- beautiful, walkable, close to a lot of the best stuff DC has to offer, and very family friendly. But we have elementary age kids -- schools become an issue soon and we may move if we don't get lucky in the lottery. We don't like the areas with good IB MS and HS as much. Nowhere is perfect I guess.

[Anonymous]

OP, I've brought up many of your points on this board and people refuse to believe there are nicer places -- better weather, less traffic, not as dense and rundown, and not as expensive. I really think people don't travel enough within the U.S. I am OK with this area mostly because I like my job but if I lose the job or decide to do something else, I'll definitely be looking to move.

[Anonymous]

If you want to be in a picturesque neighborhood in the DC area, houses will start at $1.5m. Or higher.

It's partly because of timing. A lot of ugly housing for government workers went up after WWII. You just can't make an ugly little brick house more than it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I've brought up many of your points on this board and people refuse to believe there are nicer places -- better weather, less traffic, not as dense and rundown, and not as expensive. I really think people don't travel enough within the U.S. I am OK with this area mostly because I like my job but if I lose the job or decide to do something else, I'll definitely be looking to move.

I don't agree with this. Lots of people agree. But most US cities aren't better than this. I can think of a lot of resort towns I'd rather be living in, with there being something to do. But as far as major metro areas are concerned, most are pretty much the same song outside of Manhattan.

[Anonymous]

OP, where are you from? I moved here from flyover country and love it. Would never move back.