[TimC123456]

Another counterpoint to this:

I live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of DC and work (remotely) in tech. I would highly recommend—as have others here—that if you enjoy a nice walkable city, you should try living in DC proper, too, and if you _have to_ commute to one of those bland suburbs where the big HQs and startups are located, you'll be well positioned to reverse commute if you're near a Metro station in DC.

I moved here from San Franciso, where I had a similar reverse commute from SF down the peninsula to Cupertino for work in tech. I love DC for a lot of the same reasons I loved living in SF rather than in Silicon Valley—I much prefer city life to suburb life—even with all the grit and rough edges. If you do, too, I think you'd prefer DC proper to any of the suburbs.

[torstenvl]

The suburbs are not bland, DC is. The idea that DC is a richer experience than Alexandria or Manassas or Frederick or Fredericksburg is absurd. These are places with centuries of character, not the transient facade you find in DC.

[TimC123456]

Sorry, I was referring to the previous commenter's list of suburbs, like Pentagon City, Clarendon, Rosslyn, Tysons, Reston, Herndon, etc. in that corridor out to Dulles.

(Downtown) Alexandria is lovely. Manassas and Fredericksburg (VA), and Frederick (MD), are very distinct from DC and the DMV suburbs, though—to me they feel much more like separate cities/towns in Virginia and Maryland (with all that Civil War history you're referring to).

[mixmastamyk]

Those were not recommended upthread.