If you are moving to the Northern Virginia area for a job or just new location, there are some things you should know before moving to here:
Top 10 Public School systems in Northern Virginia according to neighborhood scout:
1. Great Falls
2. Vienna
3. Fairfax Station
4. Oakton
5. McLean
6. Burke
7. Herndon
8. Fairfax
9. Clifton
10. Reston
The crime rate of Virginia in general, is much lower than the national average. The national average of violent crime per 1,000 residents is 3.9, in Virginia it is 1.9. The national average of property crime per 1,000 residents is 28.6, in Virginia it is 21.62. This helps put minds at ease especially for families moving to the area.
Traffic is a big topic of interest in Northern Virginia. Rush hour consists of 6-10am and 3-8pm. Special events and long weekend traveling affects the traffic patterns and varies those times. Some days there are lighter traffic patterns and of course there are those days when every highway seems to have an accident that is backing traffic up for miles.
You certainly learn to schedule your days around traffic. For example, you would not go meet someone for coffee or a site seeing trip in or around DC near rush hour times. You also learn to let friends visiting from out of state know not to travel around those times as well.
There are many different highways, back roads, and even HOV (high occupancy vehicle or “car pool” needing 2 or more occupants) lanes available on different high ways. There is also the Metro which is the subway system running into DC, and the VRE which is a train running from either Manassas to DC or Fredericksburg to DC.
Other options include car pool/ride share pick ups where you can add people to your vehicle or hop into another car pool to be able to use the HOV lanes and save money and gas. Of course there are buses as well.
Politics is in the air. Being the commuter area for the DC workers, many people living in Northern Virginia work for the government and have strong opinions. Those who do not work for the government have strong opinions about those who do. It is a good nartured crowd though, and although I am it sure causes arguments, people just agree to disagree.
Four Seasons 
Although we are a southern state, and our summers are hot, we still can get pretty snowy winters. Fall is GORGEOUS and spring brings the most popular time for visitors to tour DC with the Cherry Blossom Festival and the beautiful blooming flowers.
Strong Economy
Because of the large population, there are many jobs available. This helps boost our economy, even when other areas of the country are struggling.
There are countless other things you may be interested in knowing like the vast majority of biking/running trails available, or the very popular shopping areas like Tyson’s Corner. If you are considering moving to the Northern Virginia area and are in need of help with information about different cities, please give our team a call. We would love to assist you in finding the best place to live for your family.
