[quote=Anonymous]We are moving to the area in a few months. We are deciding between living in Bethesda or Mclean. What is the difference between the two? Culture? We are doing private school. [/quote]

Live on whichever side of the river one's work is on. The Potomac bridges are grislocked during rush hour morning or evening.

Either place is fine, but commuting daily across the river would be silly (and a huge time sink) at best.

Bethesda is becoming a crude ridden cesspool. McLean is a much better option.

Is which private school determined yet?

Anonymous wrote:Go closes to your job and schools as the commute is a nightmare.

This.

Anonymous wrote:McLean!
Virginia in state colleges: UVA, William and Mary, VTECH, JMU and a few others
MD: UMD and a couple others. No comparison.

They are rich private school people... no public schools for them.

Anonymous wrote:McLean!
Virginia in state colleges: UVA, William and Mary, VTECH, JMU and a few others
MD: UMD and a couple others. No comparison.

None of which matters if the op intends to send their children to out of state colleges.

Go closes to your job and schools as the commute is a nightmare.

McLean!
Virginia in state colleges: UVA, William and Mary, VTECH, JMU and a few others
MD: UMD and a couple others. No comparison.

You could be happy in either. Do you want to live in VA or MD?

McLean votes around 55-60% Democrat and 40-45% Republican. The majority of residents hold middle-of-the-road views and tend to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative (especially when it comes to taxes). McLean is very Asian friendly, and affluent Asians are the largest minority. Parts of McLean also attract affluent Eastern Europeans, because one of the high schools has the best Russian language program in the region.

Both areas have excellent public schools which is why a lot of families want to live there. If you aren’t going to use public’s and will instead pay $60K per year for private school (which is what good privates cost in the area) then you need not limit yourself to those areas unless they are the most convenient for work. You could live somewhere else like Georgetown or a NW section of DC (e.g., near Woodley Park).

Where are your jobs. Where are you coming from?

The main difference is Bethesda has a proper downtown and McLean does not. Bethesda is also better connected to DC. McLean has a more active high-end real estate market.

Bethesda has walkable areas and a downtown. McLean has the hellscape known as Tyson’s.

We are moving to the area in a few months. We are deciding between living in Bethesda or Mclean. What is the difference between the two? Culture? We are doing private school.