Best Places To Live In Washington, DC
Which neighborhood in Washington, DC is right for you?
Washington, DC is rich with history and culture and there are so many great areas to live in the District. Here is a list of the top ten neighborhoods to live in Washington.
1. Foxhall – Palisades
2. Logan Circle
3. Adams Morgan
4. Georgetown
4. Columbia Heights
6. NoMa/ H Street
7. Kalorama
8. Capitol Hill
9. Foggy Bottom
10. West End
No matter if you’re fresh out of college, a growing family or just retired, the listings above can help you decide which miht be best for you.
Foxhall-Palisades is popular with families because it is a quiet community with tree-lined lawns, historic homes and a small main street area. Located in Northwest DC, this community is also close to many of the city’s attractions.
Logan Circle consists of row houses, condos and apartments and is accessible from almost every metro line. With an abundance of retail stores and restaurants, it is a great area for those that prefer to walk or take public transit.
Adams Morgan appeals to the younger crowd and is a great area for those that like to go out to bars and restaurants. The area offers a mix of cultures and is very popular with those in college and just out of school.
Georgetown is a beautiful area with expensive row houses and historic mansions located along the water which offers strips of bars and restaurants. You get a mix of college students from Georgetown University and families enjoying the beautiful scenery.
Columbia Heights is a neighborhood that grows in popularity each year. With playgrounds and great schools for families and bars and restaurants for younger residents, it’s a well-rounded area for anyone.
Finding Washington’s Finest
It is clear that Washington is beautiful—practically the entire state looks like a postcard. We also know that the people in Washington are laid-back and welcoming. For our study, however, we needed some solid, measurable data to determine just which cities were the best. After all, we wanted to take something subjective and settle the score once and for all. So we selected the following 10 criteria:
- Distance from five-star hiking
- Number of coffee shops per capita
- Number of seafood restaurants per capita
- Total amenities
- High school diploma attainment rate
- Commute time to work
- Average home value
- Median household income
- Crime rate
- Cost of living (100 is the national average)
Just like our other Big Deal Lists, we started our study of Washington with a list of the state’s 50 most populous cities and towns, and then ranked each with a score from one to 50 in each criteria, based on our research—the lower the number, the better.
As far as amenities go, we chose distance to five-star hiking, coffee shops per capita, and seafood restaurants per capita, as these three things are pretty good representations of a happy life in the Evergreen State. Then we used the total number of such amenities as well, just to keep things balanced for those cities with larger populations.
After we rated each city, we averaged the criteria together and gave each city an overall score. The lower the overall score was, the better each city ranked. From a complete list of how each of the 50 cities ranked, hop down to the end of this post.
Compass Real Estate
7200 Wisconsin Avenue
9th Floor
Bethesda, MD 20814
