You guys don’t feel like CCDC and Somerset are too uniformly wealthy? I’m just worried about the social effects of that kind of bubble.

This is both simple and impossible. There are tons of family events all the time in the DC metro area - whether or not your neighborhood participates or the events closest to you are things your family likes to to is tough to predict.
Do you want a neighborhood pool? Playgrounds? Access to a bike/walking trail?
Public schools or private schools matter. If you choose public but most kids in your neighborhood don’t use public schools, you won’t have as strong of a local social network. If your neighborhood all goes public and your kids go private, you will similarly be out of the loop when kids get to the age of riding bikes around and playing independently.

We moved 2 blocks and it made a huge difference we could not have predicted. We moved from a block where no kids played outside and half the families went to various private schools to a cul de sac where our kids are in the middle age-wise and we all walk our kids to the local elementary together in the morning and chat over coffee. It’s the same neighborhood, but the neighbors made all the difference. I don’t know how you find that except to study the car magnets and the size / number of bikes, scooters, and strollers on front porches.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silver Spring around Forest Glen.

Yep.

Agree with this too

Anonymous wrote:Kings park west in Fairfax is amazing.

+1
Kings Park West, Country Club View, and the surrounding neighborhoods are pretty good options

Anonymous wrote:Silver Spring around Forest Glen.

Yep.

Kensington.

I was raised in Chevy Chase, but we have loved raising our kids in Kensington. The playgrounds, the parades, the pools, walkability, close to everything - it’s been great.

Takoma Park

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inside the beltway Silver Spring

Agree with Silver Spring

SS is no longer safe. Smell of weed is everywhere.

Kings park west in Fairfax is amazing.

Anonymous wrote:Tenleytown, AU park, Chevy chase dc

+1 - This! 👍

West Springfield, but some of the houses you have to redo first if you want nice housing. Lots are great and many back to parkland.

Anonymous wrote:If you could afford to live anywhere in dc or md, and wanted to be within 45 min of downtown (reliably 45 minutes in mornings and afternoons, not Howard county), which neighborhoods would you look at?

What is the sweet spot of safety, diversity, family activities, good public and/or private schools, nice housing and not so wealthy that the kids are irretrievably warped?

How do you reconcile these two conditions?

The families who live on the street matter a lot

I think it changes on a street by street basis. There’s one street in the palisades that I love, but I wouldn’t want to be on most of the others.

Tenleytown, AU park, Chevy chase dc