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NonamerMedia t1_j7ie896 wrote

Depends on where you live and if you’ll bring your car…the southern part of Arlington is very urban, and though there’s lots of nice trails and parks it’s in the context of a large (and growing) city. Northern Arlington is a bit more suburban and is close to nice parks and trails, but comes with a notable price bump and longer commutes to work. Also parking is more expensive (ie at least $100 per month) the closer you are to a major urban area. If you’re looking for nature, go closer to Falls Church or Fairfax county.

There should be enough farmers markets to satisfy you in the entire Metro DC area…at least during the right seasons.

As for making friends, the good news is that, aside from perhaps Clarendon, Arlington is a hub for introverts that would be more interested in hobbies and other nerdy passions. The bad news…is that Arlington is full of introverts, so it may seem hard at first to find people who are quick to make friends. My suggestion (for Arlington and in general) is to look up groups on meetup or other sites for your interests and see if DC, Arlington, or NoVA come up. In my personal experience, all my friends are outside Arlington.

Arlington is very liberal on social issues, but is more moderate-left fiscally and militarily (lots of defense contractors live here thanks to the Pentagon). In general, people are very tolerant of differing viewpoints as long as you demonstrate a willingness to listen and respond respectfully. If your job involves working in the federal government (as a civilian OR contractor), you are likely to be discouraged (and possibly forbidden) from being overtly political.

I think Arlington right now is good, but not great, in terms of livability. Public transit and diversity of things to do can hardly be rivaled, and you have DC across the river in case you want something more culturally enriching. However, it is expensive, and people living here are very transient, moving due to better jobs or the desire to own a bigger home. I think Arlington and NoVA in general is a good starting point for living an urban lifestyle if you can afford it.

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leibesleid OP t1_j7ihrzk wrote

Thank you! This is super detailed and helpful. Some follow up questions:

Do you think public transit is good enough where I don't need a car?

Do you think it's reasonable to rent an apartment in Fairfax or Falls Church and commute into the office? I think my job will be flexible where I don't need to be at work at 9am every day...

Where do people move to? Is it to a nearby suburb or just out of NoVa altogether?

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ouij t1_j7itabe wrote

As others will say: public transportation is excellent along the orange/silver line corridor between Rosslyn and Ballston. It is very possible to live there without a car, as far as most of your normal needs.

Access to nature is...ok. Without a car, the closest you will get to nature will be Roosevelt Island, which is actually a nice park in the summer--a nice look into what the area would have been like before it was settled. A little bit of forest cover, a little bit of marsh, some nice places to sit and look out onto the river.

Living in Fairfax or Falls Church will put you outside the best public transport area. You'll need/want a car, there. Fairfax especially is extremely car-dependent, and what public transport exists (bus lines) is so infrequent as to be nearly unusable.

I work in DC and I moved from Fairfax into Arlington. The proximity and the ease of the commute has saved my sanity--at the cost of more expensive housing.

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leibesleid OP t1_j7lddcf wrote

Thank you for the transportation details! I can't drive right now and am debating whether I need to finally bite the bullet and get a license, car, all that hassle...

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FjordsEdge t1_j7lvo4k wrote

Depending on where you live in Arlington, a car can be it's own hassle. I would think coming without a car and getting one if you find getting to the outdoors too difficult without and you have a plan on where to park.

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ouij t1_j7ngr3b wrote

Within the Ballston-to-Rosslyn corridor, you will not need a car. If you expect to be traveling by air or train (either for business or pleasure) the Metro now connects to both major airports and the main intercity train station. So connectivity is actually pretty good--it's hilariously easier to get to, say, Paris from Arlington than it is to get to Leesburg.

The problem is that public transport quality decays VERY quickly as you get away from that Ballston to Rosslyn corridor. Buses on some of the suburban routes are scheduled for every 30 minutes--and cannot be relied upon to arrive at any given stop on time. If your bus journey requires a transfer, you can just forget about it--you're not going to get where you're going in anything like a reasonable time period.

Along the Ballston-to-Rosslyn corridor, especially moving east/west, there are multiple overlapping bus lines that add up to pretty good frequency. Of course there is also the Metro, which runs underground in this stretch. Headways/frequencies are down from where they used to be, but they're at about every six minutes during the morning and afternoon rush and every 12 minutes or so off-peak. That's acceptable as far as public transport. On the extremely rare occasions where the region gets crippling snow (more than a foot of snow), the Metro will sometimes restrict its operations to only the underground lines, and all of the Arlington stations remain operational.

A lot of the corridor is easily walkable/cyclable too. I live nearest to Courthouse Metro; but I routinely walk down to Rosslyn or up to Clarendon to run errands or just hang out. If I'm feeling lazy and I happen to catch it, I'll grab the 38B bus or the ART 55.

Transport north or south of the main Fairfax Drive/Wilson Blvd/Clarendon Blvd. corridor gets a little less good. Metro's Blue Line runs south to Pentagon and down towards Alexandria. I haven't really tried the north/south bus lines in the area, so I'll defer to folks with more familiarity, especially along Glebe Road (which will connect Ballston Metro to points South).

I have a car here in Courthouse. It is very much a nice-to-have, but not a must-have; I could do without it if I really had to. So my total miles driven per year is really really low.

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BoxFish2977 t1_j7z8dci wrote

How big a place do you need - do you have a spouse and children or are you alone? Apartments on the metro are expensive. Definitely look at the prices before you decide on your job. We have amazing access to restaurants with food from around the world. Most are very reasonably priced and having a car makes it easy to eat around the world. Some great choices for inexpensive ethnic restaurants on Columbia Pike. Many more inexpensive ethnic restaurants are in Fairfax County and not metro accessible. Access to DC and the Smithsonian is fantastic - it's easy to pop in just to see one work of art or make a last minute decision to visit. Bars are kind of expensive for cocktails - almost NYC prices! Eating and drinking in DC is pretty expensive overall but you can find inexpensive gems and lots of happy hours. Groceries are expensive (as they are everywhere!) but there are 2 Aldi supermarkets right outside of Arlington's boundaries. Lots of young people live in Arlington and Arlington is frequently on top of lists like "best places to live" "most fit population" "highest level of education" etc. That's what makes Arlington really amazing. Living Wage for Arlington is $50K for a single - that's meeting all basic needs. $100K would be very comfortable but keep on saving! https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/51013

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OllieOllieOxenfry t1_j7iofkq wrote

>Do you think public transit is good enough where I don't need a car?

Probably not unless you live directly on the ballston/clarendon corridor next to metro. Also, if you don't have a car access to nature is nonexistent.

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