DC or NYC which is the best city to raise a family in the suburbs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once you get to Penn station or grand central, you have to transfer to the subway. NY suburbs feel much further than DC suburbs.

They actually are, the high density urban highrise core of NYC is really large, you have to drive out far to get into the land of single family homes.

You sound clueless. There are literally hundreds of suburban towns in NJ, a ferry/tunnel/train away from midtown, where you can find SFHs. Teaneck, Rutherford, Lyndhurst to name a few. And don't forget about literally all of Queens, western Long Island, and places like Riverdale, Mount Vernon, etc. Public transit is also 1000x more reliable around NYC and runs around the clock weekdays and weekends.

LOL, I live between NYC and DC. Come over and visit and try to drive from Queens or Riverdale into the midtown manhattan in 15 min like you can do from some DC burbs on a weekend. Even drives to Queens/Brooklyn are a drag given traffic, congested local streets and bridges. Commuter trains are less frequent and run local, even subways have delays and run local often on weekends. Just look at google maps traffic on any weekend around NYC and compare to DC. Just getting from downtown Manhattan to UWS or UES can take 40 min.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in both suburbs as a kid (also lived in DC proper):

The NY suburbs feel more removed from the city, compared to DC suburbs. It's more of a project or special event to go into the city. The vibe of the city is totally contained and does NOT leach out into the burbs. And each suburb is different: CT different than NJ, which is different than LI, etc.

In DC, in my experience, depending on how far you are (I was in Bethesda), it's easier to get in & out of the city (subway, bus, taxi, etc). People in the city are more similar to people who live outside of it.

The NY suburbs are more charming (cute old towns). But I think the people who live in the DC suburbs are less child/school focused, more interesting, more diverse, less catty, less materialist.

I'm not talking about the cities at all...just the suburbs.

I used to work with many people who lived in the NY suburbs. They rarely came into the city unless for a special event. It seemed they would come for something lame once in a while, like lighting of the tree. dc is way way more accessible and easy to get to from suburbs like Bethesda and in Virginia. First off there's parking that isn't 30 dollars an hour. dc is way less stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once you get to Penn station or grand central, you have to transfer to the subway. NY suburbs feel much further than DC suburbs.

They actually are, the high density urban highrise core of NYC is really large, you have to drive out far to get into the land of single family homes.

You sound clueless. There are literally hundreds of suburban towns in NJ, a ferry/tunnel/train away from midtown, where you can find SFHs. Teaneck, Rutherford, Lyndhurst to name a few. And don't forget about literally all of Queens, western Long Island, and places like Riverdale, Mount Vernon, etc. Public transit is also 1000x more reliable around NYC and runs around the clock weekdays and weekends.

LOL, I live between NYC and DC. Come over and visit and try to drive from Queens or Riverdale into the midtown manhattan in 15 min like you can do from some DC burbs on a weekend. Even drives to Queens/Brooklyn are a drag given traffic, congested local streets and bridges. Commuter trains are less frequent and run local, even subways have delays and run local often on weekends. Just look at google maps traffic on any weekend around NYC and compare to DC. Just getting from downtown Manhattan to UWS or UES can take 40 min.

Not to mention that from many of the commuter towns you have to drive to the station! That takes at least 15 minutes on each end. It's a hard life. Going from foot to subway to commuter train to car to get to your house. Makes me tired just typing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised no one has mentioned the housing stock and 'feel' of NYC suburbs compared with those around DC. NYC suburbs have significantly more character in my opinion. Most NYC suburbs were built as railroad towns in the 1800s. You will never come close to finding a spot as charming as Ridgewood or Morristown, NJ (for example) immediately outside of DC.

These charming town are not immediately outside of NYC either. They are far.

Well, NYC is opposite of DC in that the nice suburbs aren't directly next to the city. You have to get through the gritty stuff first.

Yes, manufacturing towns. This is why NYC has a huge blue collar workforce. It also adds a lot of economic diversity, something the DC suburbs lack.

DC suburbs have cheaper places, where people with middle class jobs can survive, and there are ethnic parts of the burbs too, just not as dramatic as in NYC, nothing is as dramatic, because DC is really small in size and population to compare to NYC overall. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist here on a smaller scale. Silver Spring, South Arlington, Annandale, not to mention residential parts of DC East of Rock creek park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised no one has mentioned the housing stock and 'feel' of NYC suburbs compared with those around DC. NYC suburbs have significantly more character in my opinion. Most NYC suburbs were built as railroad towns in the 1800s. You will never come close to finding a spot as charming as Ridgewood or Morristown, NJ (for example) immediately outside of DC.

+1

But to most southerners, the DC area is "the big city" - and everyone else must be from "flyover country". LOL.

DC is a big city by US standards, because our cities are simply not that big or that dense overall to compare to the rest of the world. NYC is a huge worldclass city, e.g. it's a big city by world's standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived in both suburbs as a kid (also lived in DC proper):

The NY suburbs feel more removed from the city, compared to DC suburbs. It's more of a project or special event to go into the city. The vibe of the city is totally contained and does NOT leach out into the burbs. And each suburb is different: CT different than NJ, which is different than LI, etc.

In DC, in my experience, depending on how far you are (I was in Bethesda), it's easier to get in & out of the city (subway, bus, taxi, etc). People in the city are more similar to people who live outside of it.

The NY suburbs are more charming (cute old towns). But I think the people who live in the DC suburbs are less child/school focused, more interesting, more diverse, less catty, less materialist.

I'm not talking about the cities at all...just the suburbs.

I used to work with many people who lived in the NY suburbs. They rarely came into the city unless for a special event. It seemed they would come for something lame once in a while, like lighting of the tree. dc is way way more accessible and easy to get to from suburbs like Bethesda and in Virginia. First off there's parking that isn't 30 dollars an hour. dc is way less stressful.

True. It's also common for the suburban executives to book a hotel room when attending a corporate event of a dinner at night after work, because going back into their town is just not plausible given off peak train schedule, plus the driving required from the train station to home.

[Anonymous]

Hands down DC, for all the reasons others have said. We moved here from Brooklyn (Park Slope) because this was a better/easier area to raise our family. We love NYC, but unless I had several million dollars and could afford a decent sized apartment in Manhattan, I would never move back there with kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once you get to Penn station or grand central, you have to transfer to the subway. NY suburbs feel much further than DC suburbs.

They actually are, the high density urban highrise core of NYC is really large, you have to drive out far to get into the land of single family homes.

You sound clueless. There are literally hundreds of suburban towns in NJ, a ferry/tunnel/train away from midtown, where you can find SFHs. Teaneck, Rutherford, Lyndhurst to name a few. And don't forget about literally all of Queens, western Long Island, and places like Riverdale, Mount Vernon, etc. Public transit is also 1000x more reliable around NYC and runs around the clock weekdays and weekends.

LOL, I live between NYC and DC. Come over and visit and try to drive from Queens or Riverdale into the midtown manhattan in 15 min like you can do from some DC burbs on a weekend. Even drives to Queens/Brooklyn are a drag given traffic, congested local streets and bridges. Commuter trains are less frequent and run local, even subways have delays and run local often on weekends. Just look at google maps traffic on any weekend around NYC and compare to DC. Just getting from downtown Manhattan to UWS or UES can take 40 min.

Exactly. It takes forever to get anywhere. Traffic here isn't great, but traffic between NYC and its burbs is downright hellish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hands down DC, for all the reasons others have said. We moved here from Brooklyn (Park Slope) because this was a better/easier area to raise our family. We love NYC, but unless I had several million dollars and could afford a decent sized apartment in Manhattan, I would never move back there with kids.

Park Slope is awesome, don't you miss it? What area of DC did you end up in, anything even remotely resembling Park Slope, or were you looking for a different thing altogether, like a big yard, detached home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hands down DC, for all the reasons others have said. We moved here from Brooklyn (Park Slope) because this was a better/easier area to raise our family. We love NYC, but unless I had several million dollars and could afford a decent sized apartment in Manhattan, I would never move back there with kids.

Add private school tuition to that, or prepare to join the crazy race trying to get your kids into the g&t schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A million will get you far in Queens, which is by far the best area of NYC to live in. Then again, a million will buy you something great in Mt Pleasant as well. So, good choices either way.

Not far at all. Nicest areas of Queens are expensive, like Forest Hills. Even in Queens/Brooklyn for 1 mil you are looking at a small fixer upper rowhouse or a small ugly detached home, which makes our ramblers look spacious and modern. NYC is going to be more expensive, but taxes are very low for residential RE, that's not a condo/coop. The burbs will have very high taxes and you might get more sq.ft, but anything nice is likely to be over 1.5 mil, multimillion dollar homes are not that uncommon there either, especially in ritzy burbs like Scarsdale/Bronxville in Westchester, Summit/Short Hills, etc. in Jersey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous[b wrote:]I'm surprised no one has mentioned the housing stock and 'feel' of NYC suburbs compared with those around DC. NYC suburbs have significantly more character in my opinion. Most NYC suburbs were built as railroad towns in the 1800s. You will never come close to finding a spot as charming [/b]as Ridgewood or Morristown, NJ (for example) immediately outside of DC.

plus 1
I grew up in Westport, CT....now living in Bethesda.

Another difference is that in CT people tend to NOT do the private school route as much as here. I am always surprised how many people here go private, even with a good public school system. Of course, there are CT privates, but in my experience it is not the norm to go to them. Public schools are good.

Also, beach accessibility for NYC suburbs. I grew up 10 minutes from the Long Island Sound

One more thing...many less big shopping malls in Fairfield County, CT compared to this area.

This! Love the beach access, and you can get a nice house with lots of land in Wilton for fairly cheap compared to this area.

Westporter here.. the bolded is absolutely not true,,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH is also from Westport. I posted on page 1 . . But it seemed to me at least driving to be a world away from manhattan. You pass thru the all of Manhattan then Bronx then around rye in Westchester then the first towns in CT. . . Not sure how long Metro north or whatever takes to get to Manhattan from there. Also, I get the idea it's really lacking in diversity.

westporter here again

True--it is lacking in diversity. 50 minute train ride from westport to NY penn station

[Anonymous]

Hi all, I am a researcher & want to visit Australia to continue my research on suburbs people survivals. I want to know more about the culture, climate, their ways of living, cost of living, structure of living, etc. Brief about myself, i am a student of PhD. from India & doing deep research on people living in suburbs of developed & developing countries. Guys, i have searched on internet too. found few sites like - www.microburbs.com.au but not found much relevant to Australia. guys suggest something better to proceed quickly on my research.....Regards !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DH is also from Westport. I posted on page 1 . . But it seemed to me at least driving to be a world away from manhattan. You pass thru the all of Manhattan then Bronx then around rye in Westchester then the first towns in CT. . . Not sure how long Metro north or whatever takes to get to Manhattan from there. Also, I get the idea it's really lacking in diversity.

westporter here again

True--it is lacking in diversity. 50 minute train ride from westport to NY penn station

Another Westporter here! I think the beauty and character of the NY burbs spoiled me (although lack of diversity is a huge minus for Fairfield county), and the MD and NoVa burbs seem so blah by comparison (where is the beach? The old stone walls separating properties? The quaint main streets that weren't designed by developers? The community feel that comes with living in a true town with its own rec facilities so that you don't have to deal with pool wait lists?) so I now live in Shaw.