Love Vienna! It has a great small-town atmosphere, great schools, a Metro stop, lots of restaurants, and many family-friendly amenities like a town green, library, baseball fields, swim clubs, fairs, W&OD, parks. Yeah, traffic sucks, but it sucks everywhere in the DC area.

When places like make those kind of lists, I know the lists are worthless.

Vienna isn't really a "town" as much as its a drive through between Tysons and Fairfax.

The traffic on Maple Avenue is constant. I work in the area and it it congested at every working hour of the day. Imagine it is not much different on the weekend. I dont see how this makes for a quaint, small town feel

Maple ave is maple parking lot. Small town feel with big town traffic jam.

I chose Vienna because I figured it would be an easy slide into senility and death.

Are you sure the magazine didn't mean Vienna, Austria? Why is Vienna better than Leesburg?

Anonymous wrote:I have wanted to live in Vienna for years now. Have friends there and can see how it rated so high. The small town feel is really special. Yes, there is traffic but the strong sense of community helps balance that completely.

I agree about the sense of community. And it's great having the W&OD trail right there as well. Good Metro access, close to 66 & 495, great schools, convenient to just about any store you could ever want at Tyson's...Money Magazine may be on to something.

Vienna is oh so boring. I have a cousin who's lived there for 20 years. It's such a trek. DC, you're my home.

I guess I am one of those people who could afford to live in the other places mentioned above, but have chosen Vienna for the unpretentious, small-town feel and nice environment to raise kids. That said, I was also surprised to see Vienna at the top of the list.

I have wanted to live in Vienna for years now. Have friends there and can see how it rated so high. The small town feel is really special. Yes, there is traffic but the strong sense of community helps balance that completely.

Your gonna live sitting in traffic on 66 7 days a Week

Oh it was laughable when they called Colombia Maryland best in the nation a few years back. As soon as that happened I happily ignore the ranking.

Everyone knows mclean, great falls, Potomac, chevy chase, bethesda are the real best and hhi show that.

I like Vienna, but "very close to DC" is pushing it. Vienna is the end of the orange line.

I love Vienna. Super cute and real estate is cheaper there compared to many suburbs.

You'd probably get better advice on a city data forum. I personally think Vienna sucks.

Thoughts by anyone who lives there?
They stated the pros as "plenty of local businesses, walkable downtown, and very close to D.C."
The cons are:" expensive real estate, high taxes, bad traffic"