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

[Anonymous]

if you have to ask, you can't afford to.

[Anonymous]

We make $400k ish HHI and live in “good falls” (west of the village). When we moved here we made $300ish. Plenty of folks in that range, and we have at least 6 state dept families in our neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aren't Vienna schools significantly lower rated?

Yes, My friend's Vienna elementary school was SO BAD that it drove them to leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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).

Don’t have a dog in the race but I like the older neighborhoods around the Village shopping center. The homes are modest
and you can safely walk to the shopping center which has a little bit of charm. I agree with others however that much of GF
Is isolated, with huge homes so does not have a typical neighborhood feel. I think there are “pockets” in each of these locales which
offer a townlike vibe.

[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.

You do know that Cars & Coffee draws people from all over the area — not just Great Falls, right?

We live in a small 1970s split ranch in GF, so not quite the beacon of wealth you are speaking of. 😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You do know that Cars & Coffee draws people from all over the area — not just Great Falls, right?

We live in a small 1970s split ranch in GF, so not quite the beacon of wealth you are speaking of. 😂

And yet the owners of these cars that cost more than houses in many parts of the country choose to meet up regularly in Great Falls, not Burke or Ashburn. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't Vienna schools significantly lower rated?

Yes, My friend's Vienna elementary school was SO BAD that it drove them to leave.

Dare I ask which school?

[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.

I know all my neighbors. I pretty much can’t go to Starbucks or the other coffee shop without running into a friend.

[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.

I feel like the key is to live in Vienna but not TOV proper. You get to enjoy all the family activities and events without having to deal with some of the more intense Vienna boosters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I know all my neighbors. I pretty much can’t go to Starbucks or the other coffee shop without running into a friend.

I also know people in Great Falls who’ve never met the people living on the same street a few houses apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't Vienna schools significantly lower rated?

Yes, My friend's Vienna elementary school was SO BAD that it drove them to leave.

Only in DCUM are Vienna schools so bad and considered low rated. What does that mean for the rest of the county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't Vienna schools significantly lower rated?

Yes, My friend's Vienna elementary school was SO BAD that it drove them to leave.

Dare I ask which school?

I’ve noticed that parents at lower rated Freedom Hill and Cunningham Park actually seem happy. As do parents at Vienna ES. I’ve heard mixed things about the AAP centers (Louise Archer and Westbriar but I think they are AAP issues not school issues). Wolf trap is highly rated but many parents complain about the class sizes. Never heard anything bad about Stenwood or Colvin Run. I think people forget that school ratings are more a reflection of SES vs the actual school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't Vienna schools significantly lower rated?

Yes, My friend's Vienna elementary school was SO BAD that it drove them to leave.

Dare I ask which school?

I’ve noticed that parents at lower rated Freedom Hill and Cunningham Park actually seem happy. As do parents at Vienna ES. I’ve heard mixed things about the AAP centers (Louise Archer and Westbriar but I think they are AAP issues not school issues). Wolf trap is highly rated but many parents complain about the class sizes. Never heard anything bad about Stenwood or Colvin Run. I think people forget that school ratings are more a reflection of SES vs the actual school.

We loved Wolftrap ES. Kilmer MS, on the other hand, was not a good experience. Maybe it’s better under the current principal but we moved in part so our younger kids would not have to attend Kilmer.

[Anonymous]

What's the problem with Kilmer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the problem with Kilmer?

Churns principals, limited oversight of teachers, poor transition of kids from one grade to the next. At least three of their last four full-time principals were horrible (one was demoted, one was fired, and a third was kicked upstairs to Gatehouse); maybe the current one is better.