How rich do you have to be to live in McLean, Great Falls or Vienna?

[Anonymous]

Ill make it simple for you. residents in mclean dislike Vienna and vise versa. people that live in mclean think they are rich and above the rest. people that live in vienna think vienna has everything they need and those in mclean are rich assholes. this will never end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, your income is fine at all three areas. The key deciding factor would be what you value. Vienna is the densest by population, with a lot of local businesses, shops, and a town feel. ...

Sorry to nitpic your post, but unless there's a pocket of Vienna that I don't know about, I wouldn't call it a town feel. 123 is a gross collection of strip malls and 1970s stand-alone buildings. It has shopping/eating for sure, but it's not like Del Ray or the like.

When people say Vienna has a town feel, they aren’t just talking about the physical appearance of the Town of Vienna, but also the fact that it has it own local town government, a local police force, a local community center, local parades, etc. Del Ray, on the other hand, has an older commercial strip that looks like what you might find in a small town, but it’s actually part of a small to mid-size city - Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is between 250k-400k+
We are both well educated at good schools and have lived abroad. We aren’t too showy and do not come from wealthy families. We are looking for a nice single family home in a nice neighborhood with good schools. McLean has the best schools but I’m worried about being the “poor” family in an otherwise very rich area. What about Vienna?

Which would be a good fit for us?

We earn almost $300K per year. Live in Great Falls and it is great. There are plenty of neighborhoods with homes $1M - $1.5M (and more of course). There is a nice village and lots of small town activities. Very small town feel. I love it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ill make it simple for you. residents in mclean dislike Vienna and vise versa. people that live in mclean think they are rich and above the rest. people that live in vienna think vienna has everything they need and those in mclean are rich assholes. this will never end.

Having lived in both, I think this mutual dislike to which you refer doesn’t exist in real life, but only on this forum, where people feel compelled to defend their own choices (and, in doing so, become competitive and exaggerate the differences between various places).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is around $350 and we live in a Vienna rambler. No one cares.

+1

[Anonymous]

Vienna is way overrated. Fairfax County runs the school system - TOV has zero say in it. No one cares about the parades, Viva Vienna, etc...just compounds an already huge traffic problem. Hate the high taxes. There is no small town feel - just a bunch of strip shopping centers along RT 123 - with many car repair shops, mattress stores, etc. BTW, I used to live in the TOV for 10 years, now in Faquier County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is between 250k-400k+
We are both well educated at good schools and have lived abroad. We aren’t too showy and do not come from wealthy families. We are looking for a nice single family home in a nice neighborhood with good schools. McLean has the best schools but I’m worried about being the “poor” family in an otherwise very rich area. What about Vienna?

Which would be a good fit for us?

It’s quite simple - if you can afford a house in those areas it will be assumed that you belong. No one is going to audit your finances.

+1, though people will judge you on how nice your house is. Great Falls is especially materialistic.

[Anonymous]

I have lived in Vienna and McLean. McLean people are much more aloof and snobby. Vienna people are very up in everyone’s business and the TOV is super annoying. Vienna has a better community feel and is much more walkable. McLean is more peaceful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have lived in Vienna and McLean. McLean people are much more aloof and snobby. Vienna people are very up in everyone’s business and the TOV is super annoying. Vienna has a better community feel and is much more walkable. McLean is more peaceful.

We live in McLean/22101 now and it's far more walkable to amenities than where we lived in Vienna. Depends on the specific location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is between 250k-400k+
We are both well educated at good schools and have lived abroad. We aren’t too showy and do not come from wealthy families. We are looking for a nice single family home in a nice neighborhood with good schools. McLean has the best schools but I’m worried about being the “poor” family in an otherwise very rich area. What about Vienna?

Which would be a good fit for us?

We earn almost $300K per year. Live in Great Falls and it is great. There are plenty of neighborhoods with homes $1M - $1.5M (and more of course). There is a nice village and lots of small town activities. Very small town feel. I love it!

Agree 100% with this. Great Falls has a great sense of community and feels very much like a small town (in the good way). I have never gotten the sense that people here are materialistic or care at all about others' income/wealth/etc

[Anonymous]

None of these towns are rich towns. They just have relatively high incomes.

There are small areas in McLean and Great Falls that are truly rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is between 250k-400k+
We are both well educated at good schools and have lived abroad. We aren’t too showy and do not come from wealthy families. We are looking for a nice single family home in a nice neighborhood with good schools. McLean has the best schools but I’m worried about being the “poor” family in an otherwise very rich area. What about Vienna?

Which would be a good fit for us?

We earn almost $300K per year. Live in Great Falls and it is great. There are plenty of neighborhoods with homes $1M - $1.5M (and more of course). There is a nice village and lots of small town activities. Very small town feel. I love it!

Agree 100% with this. Great Falls has a great sense of community and feels very much like a small town (in the good way). I have never gotten the sense that people here are materialistic or care at all about others' income/wealth/etc

Not buying it - it's very spread out and most people who live in Great Falls know few of their neighbors. And it is very materialistic, as evidenced by the huge houses and the fact that the main get-together for which GF is known is a spot where people show up on the weekends in their Ferraris, Porsches, and Lamborghinis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ill make it simple for you. residents in mclean dislike Vienna and vise versa. people that live in mclean think they are rich and above the rest. people that live in vienna think vienna has everything they need and those in mclean are rich assholes. this will never end.

Having lived in both, I think this mutual dislike to which you refer doesn’t exist in real life, but only on this forum, where people feel compelled to defend their own choices (and, in doing so, become competitive and exaggerate the differences between various places).

+1 This isn’t really a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HHI is between 250k-400k+
We are both well educated at good schools and have lived abroad. We aren’t too showy and do not come from wealthy families. We are looking for a nice single family home in a nice neighborhood with good schools. McLean has the best schools but I’m worried about being the “poor” family in an otherwise very rich area. What about Vienna?

Which would be a good fit for us?

We earn almost $300K per year. Live in Great Falls and it is great. There are plenty of neighborhoods with homes $1M - $1.5M (and more of course). There is a nice village and lots of small town activities. Very small town feel. I love it!

Agree 100% with this. Great Falls has a great sense of community and feels very much like a small town (in the good way). I have never gotten the sense that people here are materialistic or care at all about others' income/wealth/etc

Not buying it - it's very spread out and most people who live in Great Falls know few of their neighbors. And it is very materialistic, as evidenced by the huge houses and the fact that the main get-together for which GF is known is a spot where people show up on the weekends in their Ferraris, Porsches, and Lamborghinis.

This is not at all true for the neighborhoods around the Village. We have large lots, but in a more traditional neighborhood setting. We know all of our neighborhood and our kids play together all the time. We can also walk to the Brogue, which definitely does not draw a materialistic crowd. (Cars & Coffee is fun and a nice stop before heading to the farmer’s market).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ill make it simple for you. residents in mclean dislike Vienna and vise versa. people that live in mclean think they are rich and above the rest. people that live in vienna think vienna has everything they need and those in mclean are rich assholes. this will never end.

Having lived in both, I think this mutual dislike to which you refer doesn’t exist in real life, but only on this forum, where people feel compelled to defend their own choices (and, in doing so, become competitive and exaggerate the differences between various places).

I live in McLean and I actually do like Vienna because it has more stores and restaurants. However Vienna is busier and I like my peaceful neighborhood in McLean.