[setgree]

Contra this, I recommend that folks live in DC and commute to those areas if/when needed.

I lived in the Columbia Heights area for two years and I found it lovely. Dense, full of amenities, and within walking distance of Rock Creek Park which, IMO, is as good for running/walking/biking as any urban park I've been in.

By contrast, I find the suburbs around DC painfully bland and car-centric. Crystal City and Silver Springs in particular are places I can barely stand.

YMMV :)

[bane]

It's definitely true, despite the Metro, the area is painfully car centric, with some very difficult to navigate road systems. I've heard it called an area based on the civic planning model of "development denial" where the suburbs get defined, with all the nasty suburban roads/stroads types you can think of, then NIMBYs disallow further development, so new suburbs and added a bit further out, and that pattern has repeated since WW2. The DC Metro Area consistently rates in the top-10 for worst traffic in the country, and its patternless ebb and flow absolutely defies consistent planning when driving around.

Adding to your note, most of the people I know who've lived in DC proper end up with jobs out of the city, and usually after 2 or 3 years just give in and move closer to work. A trip from Columbia Heights or even Dupont Circle to National Landing (where Amazon's HQ2 is) is still frustratingly about an hour on the Metro, a driving distance of less than 7 miles. It's a reverse commute so I guess there that?

[compsciphd]

silver springs is in florida, not md ;)