DC area??

[llij]

I just wanted to wish you luck with your decision! I'm not that familiar with MD, but it looks like you've gotten a lot of great advice so far!

 

[Christine]

I just wanted to chime in from the Virginia side (in case the Pentagon is where your DH gets assigned).

I live in Woodbridge, VA (Prince William County). We are about 25 miles south of the Pentagon and a TON of Pentagon workers live here. There is good public transportation to the Pentagon (via direct bus service, the Virginia Railway Express, or "slug" lines/carpools). I think other posters pointed out that Fairfax County has the best schools in VA and they are correct--their schools consistently outscore the ones in Prince William (but we are not far behind). I haven't been all that thrilled with the public schools here, but I think my expectations are fairly high and my kids are kind of average students. But many people are very happy with them.

To give you a price example for housing, I live in a 2,500 square foot home on a 1/2 acre lot. My house is almost 12 years old and it would sell for about $550,000. There are many homes that are more expensive and a few that are less. The townhomes run from the mid 300's to 400K. If you settle in Fairfax County, add about $100,000 to anything comparable in Prince William County.

The commute STINKS for me because I have to be a solo commuter because of my kids' schedules but if you can carpool, it's really just fine.

I moved out of Maryland 12 years ago (P.G. County). It was having serious problems back then. There is really no way that I would move their with children. I have plenty of friends (no kids) that live there and that is okay, but the schooling (even private) is bad for kids.