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

[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.

Amen!

-Former Fort Greene resident

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Amen!

-Former Fort Greene resident

I agree. We moved here from Cobble Hill with 2 young children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i grew up on Manhattan and we never moved to the burbs, in part because my working mom felt that the suburbs are so cut off from the city that in the event of an emergency it would be difficult to get home quickly. Getting from Wall St. Or even midtown, to Westchester/CT/LI without the help of commuter trains is very difficult and slow.

Hmm my dad and tons of commuters walked home to westchester from Manhattan on 9/11. Obvs not quick but in the event of an emergency eminently doable.

[Anonymous]

I worked in midtown and lived in Brooklyn for years before I transferred to our DC office 3 years ago. Every colleague of mine who lives in NJ, LI, upstate or CT has at least a 90 minute commute. One of my best friends lives in Maplewood, which is adorable. She takes a Jitney from her house to the Maplewood NJ transit station, NJT to Penn, then either walks or takes the subway from Penn to our office near Bryant Park. I know a guy who drives from Commack, Long Island to Columbia University and it’s typically 2 hours for him. Every single one of these people has a SAH spouse or one who works close to home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i grew up on Manhattan and we never moved to the burbs, in part because my working mom felt that the suburbs are so cut off from the city that in the event of an emergency it would be difficult to get home quickly. Getting from Wall St. Or even midtown, to Westchester/CT/LI without the help of commuter trains is very difficult and slow.

Hmm my dad and tons of commuters walked home to westchester from Manhattan on 9/11. Obvs not quick but in the event of an emergency eminently doable.

My mom was thinking more along the lines of an emergency at home that she needed to get to quickly. We had a pretty severe one once and my mom was able to rush home from work and avert a huge catastrophe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i grew up on Manhattan and we never moved to the burbs, in part because my working mom felt that the suburbs are so cut off from the city that in the event of an emergency it would be difficult to get home quickly. Getting from Wall St. Or even midtown, to Westchester/CT/LI without the help of commuter trains is very difficult and slow.

Hmm my dad and tons of commuters walked home to westchester from Manhattan on 9/11. Obvs not quick but in the event of an emergency eminently doable.

I was in NYC during the blackout in 2003 and the transit strike in 2005. Was hard enough trying to get around the city, let alone out of the city!

[Anonymous]

Wish op would come back and clarify their situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Amen!

-Former Fort Greene resident

I agree. We moved here from Cobble Hill with 2 young children.

Not surprising, you can get rowhouse living in DC for so much cheaper than Brooklyn and you don't even have to move to the burbs to have an SFH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Amen!

-Former Fort Greene resident

I agree. We moved here from Cobble Hill with 2 young children.

Not surprising, you can get rowhouse living in DC for so much cheaper than Brooklyn and you don't even have to move to the burbs to have an SFH.

But you get real urban amenities in Brooklyn. When we lived in a DC row house we still drove most places because the local offerings got old very fast.

[Anonymous]

If you can go a little higher than $1M, you could get a cute house in Larchmont. My inlaws live there and my FIL's commute into the city on Metro North is quite easy. The schools are very good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Amen!

-Former Fort Greene resident

I agree. We moved here from Cobble Hill with 2 young children.

Not surprising, you can get rowhouse living in DC for so much cheaper than Brooklyn and you don't even have to move to the burbs to have an SFH.

But you get real urban amenities in Brooklyn. When we lived in a DC row house we still drove most places because the local offerings got old very fast.

There isn't anything like Park Slope or Cobble Hill, but there are many walkable decent neighborhoods with nice architecture and because DC is so small, it's easy to get around on foot, also cleaner.

[Anonymous]

Former NYers, who moved from Brooklyn and Manhattan, where did you settle and did you like it, did you try to find something similar to your neighbourhoods, or you wanted something different altogether?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former NYers, who moved from Brooklyn and Manhattan, where did you settle and did you like it, did you try to find something similar to your neighbourhoods, or you wanted something different altogether?

We originally moved to Del Ray and rented for a couple of years before buying in Silver Spring. We were looking for something similar in terms of neighborhood feel but also wanted more space, accessible outdoor space and a better quality home than our ‘charming’ 100 year old brown stone rental.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former NYers, who moved from Brooklyn and Manhattan, where did you settle and did you like it, did you try to find something similar to your neighbourhoods, or you wanted something different altogether?

We moved from Cobble Hill to Dupont Circle and then out to Friendship Heights (DC side) when we had kids. If it were just the two of us, we would consider moving back to Brooklyn (DH is originally from there and his parents still live there). However, life with kids is just easier here. When she was little, DD termed our neck of the woods a "ciburb" and I think that's a pretty good description.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former NYers, who moved from Brooklyn and Manhattan, where did you settle and did you like it, did you try to find something similar to your neighbourhoods, or you wanted something different altogether?

We originally moved to Del Ray and rented for a couple of years before buying in Silver Spring. We were looking for something similar in terms of neighborhood feel but also wanted more space, accessible outdoor space and a better quality home than our ‘charming’ 100 year old brown stone rental.

Rental is the key word here. NY is great but who wants to spend tens of thousands each year on a crappy rental for eternity? Our rent went up every single year. At least here we own something and our mortgage is less than our rent was in NY. We will at least have a paid off home in retirement. In fact, before we are both 45. That would never happen in NY.