My sense is that, when you put aside the mudslinging between DC and NoVa residents, the fact remains that NoVa families with kids are a particularly unlikely demographic to move into DC, for a host of reasons.

- They are less likely to be familiar with DC to begin with (MD has more out-migration from DC).
- They may work in NoVa, so living in DC provides no commuting advantage
- They are more likely to have picked NoVa for the public schools (VA doesn't have nearly as many good privates as DC and MD, yet it has multiple jurisdictions with strong public schools)
- The people who can afford a house in a nice DC neighborhood are likely to live in very nice parts of NoVa
- The people in NoVa who can't afford a house in a nice DC neighborhood can't afford a house in a nice DC neighborhood.

We would never for many reasons.

1. Don't really consider D.C. to a be a real city, it's mostly a job hub and those that work there prefer to live there if they can. Reminds me of the Financial District downtown NYC. If you don't work down there, you don't usually want to live down there.

2. Don't work in D.C. so no need to be there every single day.

3. Don't want to give up Representation.

4. Don't want to pay up the nose for private school.

5. While there is some diversity with individuals (often transient gov't workers), there are not many diverse families. Plenty of black and white families, don't see as many other families that actually live there. And if you do find a particularly diverse neighborhood, the kids go to school all over not together at the neighborhood school.

6. I'm content driving 15 min into DC when we want to do museums, Kennedy Center, etc and coming back home to my SFH and yard that my kids can run around in while putting the mortgage savings difference into funding retirement and 529 plans.

Anonymous wrote:
Again, I don't claim to speak for all of Alexandria or all of the experiences of people living in Alexandria and why they want to live there or leave. In our neighborhood, there was very little diversity. Everyone was white, everyone was upper middle class and most people were born in Virginia or somewhere close by. That was not something we were interested in growing our child around. Also, all the families were typical one father/one mother families. I wanted to expose my child to a more diverse way of thinking about people.

In our neighborhood now, of her four best friends, only one was actually born in this country. All speak different languages at home and on any given day, she is learning different cultures. Color is not as important to me as is the fact that she learns about the world outside of her own.

This was the best choice for our small family of 3, your family may have made a better choice - and that is great. There is no reason why all of our families can't be happy with our choices.

It still seems like a contradiction to say you lived in Alexandria because it was "cheap" and then complain about the fact that everyone was upper middle class and white. Maybe all you meant to say was that you found a good deal on a rental in an upper-income area.

Which is fine, but a single expensive neighborhood in Alexandria provides no basis for generalizations about the diversity in NoVa. It would be no different than generalizing about DC based on having lived a few months in either Spring Valley or Anacostia.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in Arlington and have thought about it. We haven't been super happy with our public school, but I don't think we're quite up for private school. $30k/kid/yr is just so much money.

What "public school" is this? Because if you have the money to pay for multiple kids in private, I'm guessing you're in the best pyramid, so you're either a huge troll or an idiot.

Guess I'm an idiot, then! Or I didn't drink the Kool-Aid.

Not every school is great for every kid. ASFS hasn't been a great experience for #1, but so far it's been fine for #2. There are aspects of private school that would have worked much better for #1, especially when he was younger. But, again, we just can't stomach the thought of spending that much on private school - we could do it but it would definitely impact our other spending/saving. We really hoped that public would be a better experience.

I'm 95% sure that we will stay for now. Maybe when the kids are out of the house we'll move back to DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As soon as we found out I was pregnant, we started looking in DC. We had been renting in Alexandria and decided once we were pregnant we would buy.

This is not to be a VA bashing, but for us - we couldn't stand the thought of raising our child in VA. We were renting in VA, because it was cheap. We just felt like it was so boring. Everyone was exactly the same. There was no diversity (color, SES, international families, anything...) We had to drive everywhere and just didn't like it.

We looked in DC and felt it fit our lives and our lifestyle better. We've never looked back.

I'm having a very hard time thinking of an area in Alexandria with cheap rentals that isn't more diverse than just about any neighborhood in DC.

Until you come up with something more plausible, your post is just trolling IMO.

DC is more than just upper northwest. Get out more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As soon as we found out I was pregnant, we started looking in DC. We had been renting in Alexandria and decided once we were pregnant we would buy.

This is not to be a VA bashing, but for us - we couldn't stand the thought of raising our child in VA. We were renting in VA, because it was cheap. We just felt like it was so boring. Everyone was exactly the same. There was no diversity (color, SES, international families, anything...) We had to drive everywhere and just didn't like it.

We looked in DC and felt it fit our lives and our lifestyle better. We've never looked back.

I don't live in VA, but this is not true. VA might be segregated, and if you're being honest, you'll realize that DC is, too.

I can't speak for the entire DC, but I live in a very diverse neighborhood. It's been very good and interesting and challenging.

Which part of NoVA are you referring to? I live in Alexandria city which has a population of 27% African-born residents. That's not African heritage or total immigrant population; that's 27% of Alexandrians were born in Africa.

Again, I don't claim to speak for all of Alexandria or all of the experiences of people living in Alexandria and why they want to live there or leave. In our neighborhood, there was very little diversity. Everyone was white, everyone was upper middle class and most people were born in Virginia or somewhere close by. That was not something we were interested in growing our child around. Also, all the families were typical one father/one mother families. I wanted to expose my child to a more diverse way of thinking about people.

In our neighborhood now, of her four best friends, only one was actually born in this country. All speak different languages at home and on any given day, she is learning different cultures. Color is not as important to me as is the fact that she learns about the world outside of her own.

This was the best choice for our small family of 3, your family may have made a better choice - and that is great. There is no reason why all of our families can't be happy with our choices.

Anonymous wrote:As soon as we found out I was pregnant, we started looking in DC. We had been renting in Alexandria and decided once we were pregnant we would buy.

This is not to be a VA bashing, but for us - we couldn't stand the thought of raising our child in VA. We were renting in VA, because it was cheap. We just felt like it was so boring. Everyone was exactly the same. There was no diversity (color, SES, international families, anything...) We had to drive everywhere and just didn't like it.

We looked in DC and felt it fit our lives and our lifestyle better. We've never looked back.

I'm having a very hard time thinking of an area in Alexandria with cheap rentals that isn't more diverse than just about any neighborhood in DC.

Until you come up with something more plausible, your post is just trolling IMO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As soon as we found out I was pregnant, we started looking in DC. We had been renting in Alexandria and decided once we were pregnant we would buy.

This is not to be a VA bashing, but for us - we couldn't stand the thought of raising our child in VA. We were renting in VA, because it was cheap. We just felt like it was so boring. Everyone was exactly the same. There was no diversity (color, SES, international families, anything...) We had to drive everywhere and just didn't like it.

We looked in DC and felt it fit our lives and our lifestyle better. We've never looked back.

I don't live in VA, but this is not true. VA might be segregated, and if you're being honest, you'll realize that DC is, too.

I can't speak for the entire DC, but I live in a very diverse neighborhood. It's been very good and interesting and challenging.

Which part of NoVA are you referring to? I live in Alexandria city which has a population of 27% African-born residents. That's not African heritage or total immigrant population; that's 27% of Alexandrians were born in Africa.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with PP. My neighborhood is very diverse. Totally true that parts of DC are pretty much exclusively one race, but that's not the case where I live. And honestly, nothing against Virginia, but I would prefer to never live in a suburb.

So if you never lived in a suburb, why are you posting here? This is about kids and if people want to move from NoVA to DC because of their kids. Your "contribution" is worth less than nothing, because you're basically saying: "I'm an asshole and this is what I liiiiiiiiike". Who cares?

Anonymous wrote:We are in Arlington and have thought about it. We haven't been super happy with our public school, but I don't think we're quite up for private school. $30k/kid/yr is just so much money.

What "public school" is this? Because if you have the money to pay for multiple kids in private, I'm guessing you're in the best pyramid, so you're either a huge troll or an idiot.

I live in north Old Town Alexandria, take the 11Y into work which gives me a 15 minute commute to work. Tell me where I could afford just as short a commute, have just as beautiful of a neighborhood, and afford a 2 bedroom condo in the 300s in DC, and I'll think about giving up the extra 4% of my income I'd be taxed to have the privilege of living in the District.

A lot of my neighbors have moved from VA to Upper NW. Basic gist of the reasoning was shorter commutes, closer to their private schools and they like the nice historic neighborhoods here rather than housing developments.

I agree with PP. My neighborhood is very diverse. Totally true that parts of DC are pretty much exclusively one race, but that's not the case where I live. And honestly, nothing against Virginia, but I would prefer to never live in a suburb.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As soon as we found out I was pregnant, we started looking in DC. We had been renting in Alexandria and decided once we were pregnant we would buy.

This is not to be a VA bashing, but for us - we couldn't stand the thought of raising our child in VA. We were renting in VA, because it was cheap. We just felt like it was so boring. Everyone was exactly the same. There was no diversity (color, SES, international families, anything...) We had to drive everywhere and just didn't like it.

We looked in DC and felt it fit our lives and our lifestyle better. We've never looked back.

I don't live in VA, but this is not true. VA might be segregated, and if you're being honest, you'll realize that DC is, too.

I can't speak for the entire DC, but I live in a very diverse neighborhood. It's been very good and interesting and challenging.

Anonymous wrote:As soon as we found out I was pregnant, we started looking in DC. We had been renting in Alexandria and decided once we were pregnant we would buy.

This is not to be a VA bashing, but for us - we couldn't stand the thought of raising our child in VA. We were renting in VA, because it was cheap. We just felt like it was so boring. Everyone was exactly the same. There was no diversity (color, SES, international families, anything...) We had to drive everywhere and just didn't like it.

We looked in DC and felt it fit our lives and our lifestyle better. We've never looked back.

Live wherever you'd like, but NoVa is way more diverse than DC. In DC, "diverse" means "black." In NoVa, "diverse" means "diverse", i.e. plenty of everyone. And Alexandria of all places has plenty of color. I understand if you were in Great Falls, but Alexandria?

Most ethnic restaurants are outside DC. Most ethnic markets are outside DC. Most ethnically compact communities are outside DC. Most elementaries in NoVa are going to be way more diverse than acceptable elementaries in DC.

What diversity?