That’s definitely not a diverse area!

I would go for Reston, to tell the truth. IB at South Lakes HS, diverse student body, tons of activities outdoors or indoors, Reston TC, near Silver Line, good YMCA, strong community feel.

UVA and W&M love those IB diploma students!

Falls Church City. Great small school system and an amazing downtown coming in the next 3 years with a Whole Foods and City Center style development. Lots of good restaurants, walk to metro, and rapid real estate appreciation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lyon Park, Lyon Village, Cherrydale, Virginia Square, Bluemont near Ballston - these all have the walkability you are looking for.

Why would you live in any of these rotten places if you dont need to commute to dc?

Because OP wants to be some place walkable in northern VA. There’s really not a ton of places that have that and “good” schools once you are sold on that region.

Anonymous wrote:Town of Vienna. Vienna El. or Cunningham Park El—Thoreau—Madison pyramid is most walkable.

Can walk to school, ball fields, W&OD trail, library, lots of restaurants, grocery stores, drug stores, town green, community center, coffee..

Close to metro, plenty of bus stops, close to both 66 and 495, close to Tysons, pretty central location to other points of the county.

Vienna outside of town is nice too. Not as walkable, but good size yards, and close drive to things.

TOV or Vienna outside town lines has an amazing and deep sense of community. So many town events throughout the year. If you want to get a sense of the people and their personalities check out Vienna Foodies on FB.

Anonymous wrote:Lyon Park, Lyon Village, Cherrydale, Virginia Square, Bluemont near Ballston - these all have the walkability you are looking for.

Why would you live in any of these rotten places if you dont need to commute to dc?

Lyon Park, Lyon Village, Cherrydale, Virginia Square, Bluemont near Ballston - these all have the walkability you are looking for.

I live in Arlandria/the very north part of Del Ray on the Arlington-Alexandria border. I'm a mom of a toddler and love to bike. I live right off the Four Mile Run Trail. Super walkable and bikeable here with a lot of small businesses with local character. My house was a fixer-upper townhouse for <500k (we renovated) with a front and back yard. Finished/turnkey homes in the neighborhood can go for 500-700k, though they are small.

I will say, I'm not as picky about schools as many DC folks, and Alexandria's schools are known to be less than top-notch (among the very elite schools in the area). So I take "bad" with a grain of salt. I grew up in truly bad schools.

As for diversity, I think it's starting to gentrify a bit, but still a lot of diversity here. I'm medium-skinned Italian-American but pass for Latina and often get spoken to in Spanish here Lots of Salvadorian and Black longtime residents. The further south you go from the Four Mile Run stream into actual Del Ray, it gets whiter.

Only downside is there's no metro within 1mi, though that will change when the Potomac Yard metro is finished (supposedly soon).

I like a lot of the same characteristics that you do, OP, and I don't have a car. I think this is the perfect location for urban living but peaceful, family-friendly living.

Anonymous wrote:Under 1.8m? MCLEAN. School is basically #1 or 2 in state if you exclude the TJ magnet. Their downtown is really nice, has everything, and lots of homes are walkable to all the shops. It's very close to DC, next to Tysons.

There is no real downtown in McLean, and it's certainly not "nice".

I’d buy a really nice house in Reston and pocket the difference for education. But I have smart friends with smart kids in Reston public schools.

https://www.redfin.com/VA/McLean/1468-Buena-Vista-Ave-22101/home/9838745

This street is perfect. Less than 2 blocks to all shops.

Under 1.8m? MCLEAN. School is basically #1 or 2 in state if you exclude the TJ magnet. Their downtown is really nice, has everything, and lots of homes are walkable to all the shops. It's very close to DC, next to Tysons.

I'm the PP who suggested Reston upthread. Reston is diverse, walkable, treed, etc. If your inlaws live there, why not just live in Reston?

Town of Vienna. Vienna El. or Cunningham Park El—Thoreau—Madison pyramid is most walkable.

Can walk to school, ball fields, W&OD trail, library, lots of restaurants, grocery stores, drug stores, town green, community center, coffee..

Close to metro, plenty of bus stops, close to both 66 and 495, close to Tysons, pretty central location to other points of the county.

Vienna outside of town is nice too. Not as walkable, but good size yards, and close drive to things.

Fairfax City might be a nice choice, given all your info. Plus you can get food delivery by robots! https://www.govtech.com/fs/automation/crisis-gives-delivery-robots-a-chance-to-prove-their-worth.html

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the advice! South Arlington neighborhoods seem nice, although it does feel silly to potentially pay all that extra $-per-square-foot to be near DC if we aren't commuting. Vienna seems to have less of a downtown than I had hoped - I see a lot of parking lot strip malls etc on google maps. Fairfax City seems to have a sense of community. Thanks for the advice all!

If you won't be commuting, why are you moving to Northern VA? I mean, I like it here, but I came here for a job and stayed because of the job market. There are other places to look if you can work from anywhere.

We want to be closer to my wife's family who are in Reston VA. We would be willing to live anywhere within an hour drive of Reston.

It depends on whether or not you put diversity in your list to virtue signal or if you actually mean it and how you define it.

I guess I'd be looking for ethnic diversity? We currently live in a relatively diverse community and I think it is good for the kids to be exposed to other cultures, languages, etc.

The region is considered ethnically diverse. I live in south Arlington and find my neighborhood to be racially and ethnically diverse. I am walking distance to Shirlington and I do find a sense of community. My kids are not of school age yet so no experience with the “bad” Arlington schools.