What is an exurb ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only difference between an exurb and a rural area is that exurbanites do tend to commute in to the city, while rural Americans don't.

A residential street somewhere outside of the city center with sidewalks and relatively close neighbors to me is a suburb. A winding country road with 1+ acre lots that happens to be within 2 hours of a city, to me, is an exurb.

Nailed it.

Some of these assumptions are hilarious. Do people realize that there is a tech corridor in the VA exurbs? I guess all those engineers, production executives, HR execs, etc (male and female) must not have "met their spouse in graduate school" but rather on some hay stack and they lucked into a 6 figure salary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone who lives in an exburb has zero interest in the area (city) where they work. They go there only for work and nothing else. Their personal life and interests are wholly separate and its a very definite decision.

Someone who lives in a suburb wants access to the city where they work for more than just work but either cant afford the same size/condition house and lifestyle (may include private school v public) in the city or chooses not to live in the city or closer to the city center (because the public schools are bad and cant afford private, or because of higher crime or lesser services).

Fixed that for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you live in Harpers Ferry and have a 20 min commute, then you do not live in an exurb. If you live there and commute by marc for longer than an hour, then you live in an exurb

Is this sarcasm? All this talk about where people commute to is irrelevant. It is the Washington, DC SMSA, and if you live in Aldie, or Clarksburg, or Waldorf, you are on the edge of it and therefore in an exurb.

by your logicBaltimore and New York are exurbs

[Anonymous]

I would think Woodbridge and Ashburn would be the southernmost and westernmost NoVa suburbs. Anything beyond that would be an exurb in terms of DC (Fredericksburg, Leesburg).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you live in Harpers Ferry and have a 20 min commute, then you do not live in an exurb. If you live there and commute by marc for longer than an hour, then you live in an exurb

Is this sarcasm? All this talk about where people commute to is irrelevant. It is the Washington, DC SMSA, and if you live in Aldie, or Clarksburg, or Waldorf, you are on the edge of it and therefore in an exurb.

by your logicBaltimore and New York are exurbs

What?

[Anonymous]

Baltimore and to a lesser extent Frederick, Annapolis, Leesburg, and Fredericksburg, are satellite cities/towns of DC. If you're feeling really generous I'd include Hagerstown, Martinsburg, and Winchester. Well, Baltimore is sort of like a twin city of DC, or maybe a younger by 7-8 years sister city.

A satellite town differs from an exurb in that: (1) it had its own separate history and existence before the greater DC blob came along, (2) it has its own set of suburbs (sometimes within the boundaries of the official city) and commuting into town flow, (3) it has its own downtown, and (4) has some amount of rural area between it and the larger city. Of course given the pattern of development, one can argue some of these former satellites has become fully a part of the greater DC blob.

An edge city is something like Tysons, Reston, or Columbia, an area that has significant employment base, but no historic downtown area or separate municipal government.

An exurb is an area, usually wealthy, whose primary industry is "sending people to the nearby city for employment." Stafford has more exurban characteristics than Loudoun, due to Loudoun's greater proximity to job centers (and greater presence of jobs within Loudoun's borders).

Of course all these traditional definitions mush in together as employment bases migrate out of the city and into areas once known as exurbs, new edge cities get created (witness the rise of Fair Lakes, Fairfax Corner, etc.), and working from home becomes more accepted/common (except at Yahoo).

Glad to have muddied the waters a little bit more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Baltimore and to a lesser extent Frederick, Annapolis, Leesburg, and Fredericksburg, are satellite cities/towns of DC. If you're feeling really generous I'd include Hagerstown, Martinsburg, and Winchester. Well, Baltimore is sort of like a twin city of DC, or maybe a younger by 7-8 years sister city.

A satellite town differs from an exurb in that: (1) it had its own separate history and existence before the greater DC blob came along, (2) it has its own set of suburbs (sometimes within the boundaries of the official city) and commuting into town flow, (3) it has its own downtown, and (4) has some amount of rural area between it and the larger city. Of course given the pattern of development, one can argue some of these former satellites has become fully a part of the greater DC blob.

An edge city is something like Tysons, Reston, or Columbia, an area that has significant employment base, but no historic downtown area or separate municipal government.

An exurb is an area, usually wealthy, whose primary industry is "sending people to the nearby city for employment." Stafford has more exurban characteristics than Loudoun, due to Loudoun's greater proximity to job centers (and greater presence of jobs within Loudoun's borders).

Of course all these traditional definitions mush in together as employment bases migrate out of the city and into areas once known as exurbs, new edge cities get created (witness the rise of Fair Lakes, Fairfax Corner, etc.), and working from home becomes more accepted/common (except at Yahoo).

Glad to have muddied the waters a little bit more.

I'd give it a solid B.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who characterizes Baltimore and Washington as "twin" or "sister" cities OBVIOUSLY knows NOTHING about at least one of the two.

I have lived in both for long periods of time and they have no familial similarities. Both can be fabulous and both can be awful but these two cities have nothing in common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who characterizes Baltimore and Washington as "twin" or "sister" cities OBVIOUSLY knows NOTHING about at least one of the two.

I have lived in both for long periods of time and they have no familial similarities. Both can be fabulous and both can be awful but these two cities have nothing in common.

Not the prior poster, but your comment is just dense. "Sister" cities can just mean cities of roughly similar size and scale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, I'm hesitant to weigh in, as I'm one of those crazy people who lives in eastern Loudoun - and commutes to DC every day. However, to the OP who was trying to figure out what these areas offer, I can at least speak from experience. First, for the record, I don't fit most of the stereotypes I saw listed - I'm not a SAHM, not a Republican, and not at all religious. I can also confirm that there are tons of people around here who similarly don't fit the stereotypes (though there are plenty who do, and it doesn't bother me either way). Although the commute is a challenge, I've found ways to make it more bearable, and the metro will be here in 4 (long) years as well. Of course, of our friends and neighbors, I don't actually know anyone else who commutes to DC, so I guess that suggests that most of the people near me happen to work somewhere in VA.

In terms of lifestyle, I know from the other posts that it wouldn't work for everyone, but it works for us, and for me in particular. I've had the experience of living in Arlington, and I genuinely love Arlington, but with the stressful week I have at work, I find that I really enjoy the quieter setting on the weekend. I also like that I never have to even give a second thought to getting a parking place at the grocery store, or any other place for that matter, that there are tons of kid-friendly restaurants (and with no wait on a weekend night), and that I can generally run errands quickly and easily on the weekend. We are also able to do swim lessons and other activities for the kids without crazy wait lists or sign up issues. (To be clear, I'm not criticizing anyone who lives closer in and has to deal with these issues - I know that the commute is far better and provides more quality time with family during the week, which I'd love.) For me, this quieter setting on the weekend is the main draw - at least at this stage of my life. I like that it gives us a bit of extra house/yard space as well. Also, although we don't happen to live in one of these communities, there are a ton of urban-inspired communities dotted around, where you are walkable to restaurants, movie theaters, grocery stores, etc. If I had it to do all over again, I probably would've picked one of those.

In any case, the bottom line is that different people want different things, and the 'exurbs' do have something to offer - depending on what you're looking for.

You listed some good advantages but man, the commute....well you know, exactly what you said about different strokes for different folks. Does your DH stay home or have a better commute? It seems like one person would need to be closer to home but maybe not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baltimore and to a lesser extent Frederick, Annapolis, Leesburg, and Fredericksburg, are satellite cities/towns of DC. If you're feeling really generous I'd include Hagerstown, Martinsburg, and Winchester. Well, Baltimore is sort of like a twin city of DC, or maybe a younger by 7-8 years sister city.

A satellite town differs from an exurb in that: (1) it had its own separate history and existence before the greater DC blob came along, (2) it has its own set of suburbs (sometimes within the boundaries of the official city) and commuting into town flow, (3) it has its own downtown, and (4) has some amount of rural area between it and the larger city. Of course given the pattern of development, one can argue some of these former satellites has become fully a part of the greater DC blob.

An edge city is something like Tysons, Reston, or Columbia, an area that has significant employment base, but no historic downtown area or separate municipal government.

An exurb is an area, usually wealthy, whose primary industry is "sending people to the nearby city for employment." Stafford has more exurban characteristics than Loudoun, due to Loudoun's greater proximity to job centers (and greater presence of jobs within Loudoun's borders).

Of course all these traditional definitions mush in together as employment bases migrate out of the city and into areas once known as exurbs, new edge cities get created (witness the rise of Fair Lakes, Fairfax Corner, etc.), and working from home becomes more accepted/common (except at Yahoo).

Glad to have muddied the waters a little bit more.

I'd give it a solid B.

I've never thought of exurbs as wealthy! If anything I picture hicks living in McMansions. People who demand to live in a 5 bedroom house on a 70k salary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I've never thought of exurbs as wealthy! If anything I picture hicks living in McMansions. People who demand to live in a 5 bedroom house on a 70k salary.

Not wealthy, but definitely well off. Loudoun is probably a county of exurbs, and it consistently comes in as one of the highest in the country in terms of median income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I've never thought of exurbs as wealthy! If anything I picture hicks living in McMansions. People who demand to live in a 5 bedroom house on a 70k salary.

Not wealthy, but definitely well off. Loudoun is probably a county of exurbs, and it consistently comes in as one of the highest in the country in terms of median income.

I know lots at weathlyrople in the ex burbs. They just don't want to be near people. They own horses and like green space.

Annapolis and the surrounding areas are wealthy too.

Kent island, Cambridge.... Lots of wealth. Of course they are not commuting either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never thought of exurbs as wealthy! If anything I picture hicks living in McMansions. People who demand to live in a 5 bedroom house on a 70k salary.

No 5 BR places for under 300k anywhere in Loudoun County VA.

They aren't even that common in Frederick MD or Winchester VA. Only in Martinsburg WV and Hagerstown MD are you getting that with some frequency.

Loudoun is dominated by families making a solid 100k-200k a year. Not much poverty or single-person/young couple households, comparatively speaking, to drag the averages down. Fairfax and to a greater extent Montgomery is divided more sharply between the "have a lots" and the "not having much." In DC it is much worse.

Frederick MD has a little more residual poverty due to a larger "legacy city". It is like Loudoun except the newbies are all making 80-160k a year instead of 100k-200k a year. I'll also argue the agricultural sector is more functional as opposed to boutique (*) but that is quibbling.

(*) Super-organic farms and 1%er retreats.

As for Bawlmer and DC ... Bawlmer is way too big to be a satellite city. But PP is right, they're not associated the same way that say Minneapolis/St. Paul are or other city pairings like the Tri-Cities of Bristol/Johnston City/Kingsport or the Quad Cities of IA.

But they're too close to *not* be associated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I've never thought of exurbs as wealthy! If anything I picture hicks living in McMansions. People who demand to live in a 5 bedroom house on a 70k salary.

SE DC is where you can live if that is your annual income. You will also get some assistance