Is there such a thing as a good, affordable neighborhood in commuting distance to Washington DC?

What do you consider affordable and what’s a reasonable commuting distance. Considering people commute here from Pennsylvania and West Virginia, there is a lot of room for various parameters.

The further out you go, the less expensive it is. The trade off is a longer commute with some pretty hellish traffic. MD, has MARC rail heading into Union Station where you can pick up Metro. VA has VRE that does the same. Stations can be found pretty far out.

Certain areas are known for high crime. I think it’s Prince George’s county in MD. Parts of Chantilly and Woodbridge in VA.

Ashburn and Leesburg have some nice, fairly reasonably priced areas. Gainesville is much more affordable but the commute is a hassle.

If you give a better idea of what ranges you’re looking for, I can narrow some things down for you.

2 bedrooms, 1 bath

Commute only by train or public transit no cars. Prefer 30 minutes or less.

Rent $1500 or less.

I can speak more about VA than MD. For that rent, you can find places in Fairfax, Fair Oaks, Reston, some of Falls Church, Merrifield, and Tysons. They should fall within your commute range. Some of those areas don’t have immediate Metro service, but all have bus service to Metro. All have shops, restaurants, movies, etc. pretty close (many within walking distance. Give it a glance area apartments

I hope I did that link right.

Thanks. Actually I could not get the link to work, but I will check. I had gone on CraigsList and was a little bummed out by what I saw.

I have lived on both sides, but was leaning toward Maryland.

The link was just a quick apartment search. You can go to apartments.com or WashingtonPost.com and get the same info. I don’t know as much about MD. I’m sorry. If I can be any help, send me a PM. I’ll be happy to dig around a little for you. I do know a couple of great realtors in VA. The only realtors I know in MD are on the Eastern Shore. Good luck.

Found these the other day and they really helped me narrow down a housing search, worth a shot…

http://www.myapartmentmap.com/
http://padmapper.com/

Good luck with the search.

@Marina: There are commuter buses from Kent Island, Maryland but I don’t know many details. There are a flood of rentals on the market right now on the island. DC is 40 minutes away. Rent on the Eastern Shore will be less than in Annapolis, which is on the western shore and 10–15 minutes closer to DC.

Marina might be coming to my neck of the woods? Swoon. : )

Check out Frederick, Maryland. It’s my old hometown, and a great place to live. If you want more Maryland info, I can get some for you. Just let me know.

@Marina: Augustlan is right, Frederick is very nice; it’s a booming area but there are still enclaves of reasonably priced homes and it’s full of commuting options, too.

@bythebay and augustlan: Thanks to both of you. I’ll check it out. I’ll also keep you posted on if and when.