where to live in DC?

Try www.realtor.com for listings. Good luck, the capitol is pricey.

Arlington: Ballston metro stop inwards (Clarendon, Court House, Rosslyn)

DC: Dupont (cultural center), Foggy Bottom (GWU), Adams Morgan (Bars Bars Bars), Cleveland Park (walking distance to Adams Mo, Zoo), Georgetown

Maryland: Bethesda

If you want to keep your rent under a grand your best bet is to find roommates and shack up in a house/townhouse in Clarendon or Ballston.

Cheaper places: Crystal City, Capital Heights

At that income, there is no way you are going to be able to live on your own in Arlington or the District.

It really depends on if you work in Arlington or the District, and exactly where. If you work in Arlington, you can afford to live as far out as Fairfax and still have a manageable commute.

If you work in the District, you probably don't want to live any further out than Arlington.

It really does matter what part of these places you will be working for deciding where to live. I would recommend moving in with people already there- Craigslist is good for that.

Alexandria is not so bad, a lot of the apartment complexes have free shuttles to the metro. I make about what you will and get by fine although I do have a studio apartment.

You could look for an "English Basement" in Glover Park. Sometimes a homeowner will rent one for like a grand a month.

Stick with the following areas in the District:

Georgetown

Glover Park

Cathedral

Dupont Circle

Cleveland Park

Woodley

Foggy Bottom

Adams Morgan

Logan Circle

Chevy Chase

Friendship Heights

Anything else might be getting a little scary...

Cleveland Park....$3000 nice apartments. really nice areas to run in.

I live in Cleveland Park. I would say your main concern is what kind of lifestyle you want to have. I live in a fairly nice place, but it's older. It's really affordable, but I have two roommates. We all have plenty of space, and I can walk to bars/restaurants/grocery stores etc.

I used to live in Arlington in an even cheaper place, but I couldn't walk to the metro and the bus system is not quite as useful there as it is in the district. I had a car until about three days ago, but I don't drive to work nor do I approve of driving drunk, so public transportation was pretty important to me. Getting home from happy hour to my old place was tricky because the bus would only come like every 45 minutes later at night (and by later I mean 8:30). That's also something to think about if you move to a complex that has a shuttle to the metro...how late will you be working? will you be socializing after work? That shuttle often only runs during "rush hour."

You also want to check crime reports for the addresses you find on craigslist. The DC government page can help with that. Use wmata.com to see if it is close to public transportation or highways, depending on where you will be working. I would say in general that the neighborhoods people have mentioned before are good bets, but there are a lot of resources on the Internet, as well.

The most important thing is to be as close to a metro as possible, otherwise walking/getting anywhere will suck.

snowy cat wrote:

The most important thing is to be as close to a metro as possible, otherwise walking/getting anywhere will suck.

Not true, I live in Glover Park and I love life.

I can walk anywhere I need to go, and the buses are fine here.

Especially if he is working in Georgetown or Arlington.

God Bless the Blue-Buses.

Metro is overrated, and it smells like an ass.

I am anti-metro.

Bus and Cabs for me.

Yeah move to north Virginia, like Arlington. The trails out there are awesome and go on for miles.

Well, good luck getting helpful responces. Thing is, different places are right for differnt people, and you're going to get people who just post about how everywhere else sucks.

Example:

I'd rather die than live in Gaithersburg, but it's better than Reston! F*** those assholes in N. Virginia.

Get it? Basiclly, most people live where they do because they like it a lot more than other places. And even though it's all pretty close togethor, there are big differences.

A lot of people don't quite understand how much things in the DC area cost. If you want to live close in--meaning a place that feels like a city, not a suburb, it'll cost a lot more than a lot of other places in the country. Thus, beware of places where prices seem a bit too reasonable for their own good, they just might be a bit ghetto.

If you want a downtown sort of a feel look at:

DC (duh); Bethesda; Silver Spring; Arligton, especially Ballston and VA Square; Takoma Park; parts of Alexandria; Friendship Heights if you have money you don't know what to do with;

DC itself is obviously complicated all by iteslf. Hopefully this'll get you started.

I can't speak for Arlington... I don't know anything about that area. As for the city... the basic rule for finding a place within the District is to ONLY look in the NW. There are exceptions, but not many. The NW is more safe (especially Georgetown) and the running is far, far superior.

I live near the Cathedral, which is right by Rock Creek Park. (Woodly Park Metro stop.) I love it. If you look at the metro map, pretty much everything from on the red line from Dupont through Bethesda is really nice in terms of running and lifestyle but more expensive.

http://www.wmata.com/metrorail/systemmap.cfm

I have heard that Silver Spring can be nice, I know that living downtown is GREAT if you can afford it (Chinatown is a fun area), and Foggy Bottom is nice, too. Once you get to Judiciary Square, however, it starts to get a little sketchy.

Good luck!

Live over near RFK, that is real nice area.

Thanks for all the responses. I realize that what constitutes a good place to live is very personal, but I was just looking to get some names of places thrown out there as possibilities.

Looking for a place to live in an area you aren't familiar with is far different than in one that you are. The names on the rental listings just don't really mean much. But all this info was helpful, so thanks again.

theo wrote:

Thanks for all the responses. I realize that what constitutes a good place to live is very personal, but I was just looking to get some names of places thrown out there as possibilities.

Looking for a place to live in an area you aren't familiar with is far different than in one that you are. The names on the rental listings just don't really mean much. But all this info was helpful, so thanks again.

Well, it was all helpful except for the Anacostia post. I don't quite qualify for Section 8...