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

[Anonymous]

You should be pooping golden nuggets or diamonds to live in these areas. If you’re not, you are too poor.

[Anonymous]

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. The house lots tend to be smaller, and the homes are fairly cookie-cutter. Great Falls is the most rural feel. There are larger lots, homes are more "unique" which can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the home. Despite having a "rural" feel, its proximity to Sterling and Herndon makes it fairly convenient. McLean is kind of in the middle and offers a mix. You can buy in "south-central McLean" and get homes that are like what you find in Vienna. There is the McLean town center, which is somewhat like Vienna in the mix of businesses, but much smaller. There is also "upper McLean" and "west McLean", both of which are more like Great Falls in lot sizes and rural feel of homes.

Disclosure: we live in west McLean.

I had to read this twice to understand what others said about your passive aggressive tone. You claim to live in West McLean and are suggesting that people in Great Falls need to go to Sterling or Herndon for shopping? It’s a joke to even respond to that so I’ll look into reasons why someone would say that. But first let’s get some facts cleared. You’re like 2-3 minutes away from Great Falls and the only shopping, grocery, banking, gas etc around you is in Great Falls. I don’t live in Great Falls but know people who do. I also know people in what you call west McLean. It’s practically speaking the same area and much more convenient to live in GF than in west McLean because you have your daily needs in GF village. Anything else is +\- 4 minutes depending as to where in DMV you are driving to. So now.. why would someone say something like that? I think OP now has a good taste of the level of low self esteem and snarky comments in BOTH McLean and GF (I’m sure parts of Vienna as well).

[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. The house lots tend to be smaller, and the homes are fairly cookie-cutter. Great Falls is the most rural feel. There are larger lots, homes are more "unique" which can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the home. Despite having a "rural" feel, its proximity to Sterling and Herndon makes it fairly convenient. McLean is kind of in the middle and offers a mix. You can buy in "south-central McLean" and get homes that are like what you find in Vienna. There is the McLean town center, which is somewhat like Vienna in the mix of businesses, but much smaller. There is also "upper McLean" and "west McLean", both of which are more like Great Falls in lot sizes and rural feel of homes.

Disclosure: we live in west McLean.

I had to read this twice to understand what others said about your passive aggressive tone. You claim to live in West McLean and are suggesting that people in Great Falls need to go to Sterling or Herndon for shopping? It’s a joke to even respond to that so I’ll look into reasons why someone would say that. But first let’s get some facts cleared. You’re like 2-3 minutes away from Great Falls and the only shopping, grocery, banking, gas etc around you is in Great Falls. I don’t live in Great Falls but know people who do. I also know people in what you call west McLean. It’s practically speaking the same area and much more convenient to live in GF than in west McLean because you have your daily needs in GF village. Anything else is +\- 4 minutes depending as to where in DMV you are driving to. So now.. why would someone say something like that? I think OP now has a good taste of the level of low self esteem and snarky comments in BOTH McLean and GF (I’m sure parts of Vienna as well).

DP here. I would complement your post, but am too busy installing the alarms outside our “south central McLean” house.

[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. The house lots tend to be smaller, and the homes are fairly cookie-cutter. Great Falls is the most rural feel. There are larger lots, homes are more "unique" which can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the home. Despite having a "rural" feel, its proximity to Sterling and Herndon makes it fairly convenient. McLean is kind of in the middle and offers a mix. You can buy in "south-central McLean" and get homes that are like what you find in Vienna. There is the McLean town center, which is somewhat like Vienna in the mix of businesses, but much smaller. There is also "upper McLean" and "west McLean", both of which are more like Great Falls in lot sizes and rural feel of homes.

Disclosure: we live in west McLean.

I had to read this twice to understand what others said about your passive aggressive tone. You claim to live in West McLean and are suggesting that people in Great Falls need to go to Sterling or Herndon for shopping? It’s a joke to even respond to that so I’ll look into reasons why someone would say that. But first let’s get some facts cleared. You’re like 2-3 minutes away from Great Falls and the only shopping, grocery, banking, gas etc around you is in Great Falls. I don’t live in Great Falls but know people who do. I also know people in what you call west McLean. It’s practically speaking the same area and much more convenient to live in GF than in west McLean because you have your daily needs in GF village. Anything else is +\- 4 minutes depending as to where in DMV you are driving to. So now.. why would someone say something like that? I think OP now has a good taste of the level of low self esteem and snarky comments in BOTH McLean and GF (I’m sure parts of Vienna as well).

I didn’t see anything passive aggressive in the post. We live in GF and are more likely to go to the Village or Reston for shopping than to Sterling or Herndon. But I took the point to be that GF is not as isolated as people make it out to be. That’s one thing we like — it feels rural, but it has the Village and you are only ~15 mins from Reston and Tysons (and much of Sterling).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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. The house lots tend to be smaller, and the homes are fairly cookie-cutter. Great Falls is the most rural feel. There are larger lots, homes are more "unique" which can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the home. Despite having a "rural" feel, its proximity to Sterling and Herndon makes it fairly convenient. McLean is kind of in the middle and offers a mix. You can buy in "south-central McLean" and get homes that are like what you find in Vienna. There is the McLean town center, which is somewhat like Vienna in the mix of businesses, but much smaller. There is also "upper McLean" and "west McLean", both of which are more like Great Falls in lot sizes and rural feel of homes.

Disclosure: we live in west McLean.

I had to read this twice to understand what others said about your passive aggressive tone. You claim to live in West McLean and are suggesting that people in Great Falls need to go to Sterling or Herndon for shopping? It’s a joke to even respond to that so I’ll look into reasons why someone would say that. But first let’s get some facts cleared. You’re like 2-3 minutes away from Great Falls and the only shopping, grocery, banking, gas etc around you is in Great Falls. I don’t live in Great Falls but know people who do. I also know people in what you call west McLean. It’s practically speaking the same area and much more convenient to live in GF than in west McLean because you have your daily needs in GF village. Anything else is +\- 4 minutes depending as to where in DMV you are driving to. So now.. why would someone say something like that? I think OP now has a good taste of the level of low self esteem and snarky comments in BOTH McLean and GF (I’m sure parts of Vienna as well).

I didn’t see anything passive aggressive in the post. We live in GF and are more likely to go to the Village or Reston for shopping than to Sterling or Herndon. But I took the point to be that GF is not as isolated as people make it out to be. That’s one thing we like — it feels rural, but it has the Village and you are only ~15 mins from Reston and Tysons (and much of Sterling).

Calling houses in Vienna "cookie-cutter"? Suggesting that proximity to Herndon and Sterling is a defining feature of Great Falls? Implying that people actually refer to "upper McLean" or "south central McLean"? I actually wondered whether PP was real, or whether someone was doing a good job of pretending to sound like how people might imagine a snob from "west McLean" would come across.

[Anonymous]

McLean is changing as more young families move into the area. I have noticed a positive difference in the two years I have lived in McLean. It still has a long way to go, but if you find the location convenient and a house you like you should go for it.

[Anonymous]

I live in Vienna OP and our family is far from rich. I think the really well off tend to flock to GF and McLean.

[Anonymous]

Average HHI in Great Falls is around $300k. You’re fine.

[Anonymous]

According to the Loudoun posters in the Loudoun thread, way less than you need in Loudoun, home of the extremely rich, educated, and beautiful people. Lol!

[Anonymous]

Not as rich as you need to be to live in Cleveland Park, Wesley Heights or Kent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not as rich as you need to be to live in Cleveland Park, Wesley Heights or Kent.

Those are relatively small neighborhoods and not more expensive than the pricier parts of Great Falls and McLean (Vienna, yes).

[Anonymous]

McLean has the most rich people.

[Anonymous]

Bathroom exhaust fans are not necessary in McLean homes.

[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.

Which one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the median household income in mclean is just over 200k

That’s probably because of all of the old people who live in McLean and aren’t working any more.

There are also a lot of people who work for the WB or IMF and whose salary isn’t reportable to the IRS. I’ve always wondered if their income is assumed to be zero and only their spouses’ income is included in the statistics.

If the area has expensive RE and lowish HHI, it's what it usually means, people who already have wealth or business/investment income, or retired, and don't all work on W2.