IF you don't have to be here, I'd suggest you look elsewhere. It's a great place, but hyper competitive, everyone is worried about their jobs and it's expensive. If you have the option to live somewhere happier, with a lower COL, that's so much more appealing than coming here.

Where are your parents/siblings/inlaws? Given your unlimited options and few constraints, why not move near some of them?

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the quick reply. Just to clarify, we will not be in the workforce--this is an early at least semi-retirement. If you can call raising two daughters any kind of retirement ... Do you find the DC area stressful apart from work?

I have no idea why anyone would choose to live in DC if not for work. In your shoes I'd move to the Pacific Northwest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Fairfax County. You have to love autocorrect.

They are good. But Fairfax county is NOT DC in any way. So whatever pulls you towards DC might not be there in the actual place that you live in an hour or more away from the city. You might be able to find other similar or even better school districts in other areas.

+1. You won't get a "sense of place" as much in the suburbs as you would in DC itself. I'm speaking from experience--I'm the former CA resident who moved to DC. Before DC, we briefly lived in a somewhat bland MD suburb with highly ranked schools, and decided that was not what we wanted.

Having lived in both MD and VA, VA used to have much more of a sense of place than MD. Unfortunately I think the distinct sense of place in northern VA has largely disappeared in the last 20 years.

We moved our family from L.A. to MoCo, and immediately wished we could move back. We've been here for several years and still can't wait to go back. We've met plenty of people who also moved here from CA, and they also can't wait to move back. Before Covid, we spent every weekend out of state. Philly, NYC, Chicago, Toronto etc. Don't do it!

We left and moved to Manhattan. SO much happier. Way fewer uptight midwestern people who think they know best and are perfect. Much more genuine relationships here. Less humid. More space for accepting people who are artistic. People here can do things because they enjoy them and don't have to strive to be the absolute best at their hobbies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the quick reply. Just to clarify, we will not be in the workforce--this is an early at least semi-retirement. If you can call raising two daughters any kind of retirement ... Do you find the DC area stressful apart from work?

Did you get super wealthy after an ipo or something?

Ran a very profitable small business for 15 years and was fortunate in the stock market. Wife had a very successful medical practice. We certainly aren't billionaires but we could probably live more or less wherever fits us. I am grateful for that. I loved my job but it took the birth of my second child to realize the stress was slowly killing me (very nasty insomnia). I am healthy now but realize I only have so much time here to raise a family and enjoy the fruit of our hard work (and luck!) Giving our daughters a really good education to give them the options to choose what they love seems like a high priority. The schools in Fairy County certainly rank exceptionally well, but that can also mean exceptional pressure. We want what is best for them and the family.

Thanks!

If I could live literally anywhere in the US, I would NOT choose Fairfax County. Two of the top public school districts in the country are not far from San Francisco - Los Gatos and Palo Alto. Mountain View and Carmel aren't far behind them. If you want to be done with Northern California, move down south to San Marino. Or, even better, move to the beach and live in Carlsbad or Encinitas. Another awesome choice would be Rancho Palos Verdes.

Even if you really want to get out of CA, you would have SO many better choices than Fairfax County!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Fairfax County. You have to love autocorrect.

They are good. But Fairfax county is NOT DC in any way. So whatever pulls you towards DC might not be there in the actual place that you live in an hour or more away from the city. You might be able to find other similar or even better school districts in other areas.

+1. You won't get a "sense of place" as much in the suburbs as you would in DC itself. I'm speaking from experience--I'm the former CA resident who moved to DC. Before DC, we briefly lived in a somewhat bland MD suburb with highly ranked schools, and decided that was not what we wanted.

Anonymous wrote:OP. Fairfax County. You have to love autocorrect.

They are good. But Fairfax county is NOT DC in any way. So whatever pulls you towards DC might not be there in the actual place that you live in an hour or more away from the city. You might be able to find other similar or even better school districts in other areas.

OP. Fairfax County. You have to love autocorrect.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the quick reply. Just to clarify, we will not be in the workforce--this is an early at least semi-retirement. If you can call raising two daughters any kind of retirement ... Do you find the DC area stressful apart from work?

Did you get super wealthy after an ipo or something?

Ran a very profitable small business for 15 years and was fortunate in the stock market. Wife had a very successful medical practice. We certainly aren't billionaires but we could probably live more or less wherever fits us. I am grateful for that. I loved my job but it took the birth of my second child to realize the stress was slowly killing me (very nasty insomnia). I am healthy now but realize I only have so much time here to raise a family and enjoy the fruit of our hard work (and luck!) Giving our daughters a really good education to give them the options to choose what they love seems like a high priority. The schools in Fairy County certainly rank exceptionally well, but that can also mean exceptional pressure. We want what is best for them and the family.

Thanks!

Left DC for a booming sunbelt city and it was the worst decision ever. Totally lacking in every way, hyper segregated, no culture, endless sprawl, and you don't have to go far (only to the next county!) to find people in positions of power who have turned mask wearing and other basic public health precautions into political issues.

I am from California, but southern, outside LA. I was in DC for 15 year and we left when our kids were younger for more space and a cheaper cost of living area. We couldn't be happier, especially now when everyone is home. San Francisco has many of the issues DC has - high COL, lots of traffic, outrageous real estate prices, etc. Not sure I'd switch one set of the problems for another, and if I did, it would be to move from DC to CA because at least the weather is better and you don't have humidity!

Anonymous wrote:Let me offer the alternate view to the prevailing voice in this thread. We moved from DC to Florida and I miss the DMV's Type A personality. The people here are, for the most part, lazier and dumber. The public schools are pretty bad. The job market sucks unless you're a bartender or DJ.

And DC may be hot/humid in the summer, but it has nothing on Florida.

I know OP isn't asking about Florida, but the point is this: you may not realize how much you actually enjoy the DMV's Type A personality until you move elsewhere.

Also not directly responding to OP, but I totally agree with this. I've been so grateful to be in DC and not in the Midwest where I'm from or south where friends have relocated since the pandemic hit. Call it the coastal liberal bubble, but it is a big weight off to be somewhere where everyone's on the same page and we're not fighting culture wars over public health decisions. We also intentionally stepped away from the big law track and have chosen a slower pace (for DC, it's all relative) in a more diverse, less fancy neighborhood. We don't have nearly as much as my law school friends, but I don't regret it for a second. DH and I talk about moving out of DC, but we're settled, life is manageable, and we have local family here. So we're probably lifers even though this area isn't perfect and is more expensive than we like.

OP most people live here because of jobs. Retire here? The people who retire in DCUM land do it because friends and family are here. It’s not a retirement destination. Unless you love Va country side or MD beaches/ countryside.