Anyone in the DC Area?

[Road Guy]

So we just won a huge project in the DC Area, Don't really want to live there, but from looking at housing, looks like to get a decent school your looking at a $800,000 house? 

Anyone got any inside information on the area?

is $200K/year even enough to live their comfortably?

 

[bradlelf]

$200K is getting close to the tipping point. I grew up about 20 minutes north of DC. 

It really depends on where you want to live and how you want to get downtown. Many people take the train to Union station and then the metro to where they need to go. It can take an hour but well worth not dealing with traffic and parking.

I would recommend living in Montgomery or PG county MD, instead of DC or Northern VA.

 

[Road Guy]

Yes defin not in DC. You probably cant own a gun in Maryland? What are some suburbs with "normal" people in them?

 

[Dark Knight]

Yes defin not in DC. You probably cant own a gun in Maryland? What are some suburbs with "normal" people in them?

Define normal.

 

[Road Guy]

People that drink Sweet Tea! 

I would say a typical suburb that you would find outside a major city where people are trying to provide good schools for their kids, safe community, churches, scout troops, bars, restaurants,home depots, schools that don't have metal detectors, etc..

When I do a quick look on Zillow I don't see much with a school rating above a 4 that is under $500,000, but haven't spent a whole lot of time on it.. something tells me anything within 90 miles of DC is not for middle class to upper middle class families?

 

[bradlelf]

I grew up in southern Anne Arundel County. Crofton has a train station; 45 min train/metro ride to downtown DC.

AA County is between DC and Baltimore; Annapolis is in the eastern part of the county. It can get pricey but for $500K you can get a decent house in a decent school district. I would look in the Crofton/Millersville area. Farther south is Bowie but that is PG county; but they have a DC metro/subway stop.

 

[IlPadrino]

I would recommend living in Montgomery or PG county MD, instead of DC or Northern VA.

I lived in Alexandria (northern VA) and loved it.  The schools are awesome (Fairfax County School District is huge, but very well run), and it doesn't feel so much like "city life".  If you're rolling in the fatty money, Montgomery County is nice (I liked Bethesda), too.  But from my perspective, the MD schools are hit or miss.  You won't have that problem with Fairfax County.

If we go back (good chance we will in the next five years), I'd like to live near East Capitol (as inside the beltway as you can get!) if I'm at the Navy Yard again.  I'll walk to work!

Really, it depends on where you're working.  Public transportation can be a life saver (at least the Metro, buses a little less so) and makes for a "productive" commute.  I had a friend who lived in WV.  He rode the "party train" - a three hour ride, but everyone drank on the way home.  You can combine your commute with Happy Hour.

DC has a ton of culture - it's a great place to live if you don't mind the weather.

 

[knight1fox3]

DC has a ton of culture - it's a great place to live if you don't mind the weather and the highest crime rate in the country.

Fixt.

 

[mudpuppy]

You mean Flint and Detroit aren't the bottom of that list anymore?

 

[csb]

The countdown for the Top 30 Murder Capitals of America:


Rank


City


30


Chicago Heights, IL


29


Baton Rouge, LA


28


Buffalo, NY


27


Hattiesburg, MS


26


East Chicago, IN


25


Birmingham, AL


24


Desert Hot Springs, CA


23


Compton, CA


22


Myrtle Beach, SC


21


Fort Pierce, FL


20


Harvey, IL


19


Bridgeton, NJ


18


Flint, MI


17


Rocky Mount, NC


16


Pine Bluff, AR


15


Petersburg, VA


14


Newark, NJ


13


Baltimore, MD


12


Harrisburg, PA


11


Jackson, MS


10


Wilmington, DE


9


Trenton, NJ


8


Riviera Beach, FL


7


New Orleans, LA


6


Camden, NJ


5


Detroit, MI


4


Gary, IN


3


St. Louis, MO


2


Chester, PA


1


East St. Louis, IL



http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/top-lists/highest-murder-rate-cities/

 

[csb]

https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/table-20

This table is fascinating! Download it into Excel to run filters. 


State


Total
murders1


Total
firearms


Handguns


Rifles


Shotguns


Firearms
(type
unknown)


Knives or
cutting
instruments


Other
weapons


Hands, fists,
feet, etc.2


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


California


1,697


1,169


763


40


43


323


256


175


97


Texas


1,141


765


483


33


28


221


145


128


103


New York


613


344


283


1


12


48


139


103


27


Pennsylvania


609


453


350


8


14


81


63


78


15


Georgia


540


416


371


11


10


24


55


63


6


Michigan


531


342


209


5


4


124


60


102


27


North Carolina


469


318


242


21


14


41


39


63


49


Ohio


436


277


180


0


4


93


37


102


20


Illinois3


428


371


364


5


1


1


30


14


13


Louisiana


407


319


189


9


13


108


46


30


12


Missouri


402


314


166


24


5


119


35


43


10


Tennessee


370


246


160


7


2


77


43


60


21


Virginia


337


228


119


9


10


90


35


53


21


New Jersey


337


243


200


3


5


35


42


34


18


Maryland


309


208


190


1


6


11


67


20


14


South Carolina


301


219


138


8


11


62


31


34


17


Indiana


299


222


166


5


3


48


26


37


14


Arizona


258


153


116


6


6


25


33


66


6


Washington


172


94


54


6


4


30


25


42


11


Nevada


169


94


14


1


0


79


34


32


9


Oklahoma


167


104


88


5


5


6


29


28


6


Mississippi


161


122


97


2


3


20


14


17


8


Kentucky


160


112


85


1


5


21


16


26


6


Wisconsin


158


117


79


8


2


28


19


13


9


Arkansas


154


111


55


3


10


43


17


23


3


Colorado


149


91


60


3


2


26


25


20


13


Massachusetts


131


81


33


0


0


48


34


13


3


District of Columbia


105


73


30


0


1


42


17


10


5


New Mexico


96


53


21


2


2


28


22


19


2


Kansas


89


56


22


4


4


26


13


12


8


Connecticut


83


51


19


0


3


29


17


5


10


Minnesota


82


42


33


1


3


5


10


20


10


Oregon


73


39


16


2


2


19


14


18


2


West Virginia


62


16


12


1


0


3


10


30


6


Utah


61


36


25


4


2


5


6


9


10


Iowa


55


27


10


1


3


13


8


12


8


Delaware


54


39


29


0


0


10


4


3


8


Nebraska


51


32


24


3


4


1


7


8


4


Alaska


41


22


6


0


2


14


8


5


6


Idaho


30


15


10


0


2


3


6


4


5


Montana


27


17


12


0


2


3


5


3


2


Rhode Island


25


12


5


0


1


6


7


5


1


Virgin Islands


25


21


17


0


4


0


2


2


0


Maine


21


6


2


0


4


0


4


8


3


South Dakota


15


6


0


0


0


6


1


5


3


North Dakota


14


6


1


1


0


4


3


3


2


Wyoming


13


8


6


0


1


1


1


2


2


New Hampshire


12


6


3


2


0


1


2


3


1


Vermont


10


6


3


2


0


1


1


1


2


Guam


6


0


0


0


0


0


4


1


1


Hawaii


5


1


1


0


0


0


0


3


1


Alabama3


1


1


1


0


0


0


0


0


0

 

[knight1fox3]

^ someone was bored on their lunch break!

I like how IL made "the list" (3) times.  Not to mention one of those being #1.  LOL

 

[MA_PE]

who said anything about being "on thier lunch break"?

 

[Road Guy]

Alabama had only 1 murder?

They should really do it by City instead of state, I am sure the #'s from California is LA, Texas is Houston, and GA is Atlanta (where the actual murders take place)

I cant get the FBI site to work for some reason, but I think the overall violent crime data would worry me more, a friend of mine is a City of Atlanta cop and he used to tell me that something like 90% of all their murders happen between midnight and 2 AM, so using the odds, just don't be out in a big city after dark...

 

[csb]

It looked like Alabama reports differently, rather than it being some safe haven. 

 

[Road Guy]

Its fairly nice outside of Montgomery and Birmingham. I'd live in Northern Alabama in a second if there was anything to do there other than kill cows and chickens (sort of like Wyoming)

 

[csb]

We also have snowmobiling!

 

[Road Guy]

Was meaning career wise, not for fun