I spent two years in northern Virginia (not working as an EA or in policy, but rather an aerospace engineer) -- I loved it and I have always thought there should be a bigger EA/rationalist hub in DC given its obvious geopolitical significance. I remember being surprised when I moved to the city at how it felt so energetic and full of young people, very different from my image of how our top political leaders are all in their 80s.
I also want to reiterate how, coming from the west coast (previously lived in Colorado and northern California), the quality of the museums and sights is just amazing—not only do you have a ridiculous array of totally free Smithsonian museums (and a lot of non-Smithsonian museums too… the museum of the Marine Corps is very cool and underrated!), you also have a ton of assorted beautiful monuments / gardens / architectural marvels / etc all around the city, like the beautifully-decorated and largest church in North America, the Lotus festival at the National Aquatic Gardens, etc. It is not like San Fransisco where you visit the Exploratorium and maybe an art museum and then you’ve seen most of the cool stuff—in DC, you can literally make it a hobby to spend every other weekend perusing a new museum full of amazing cultural treasures, and you won’t run out for over a year.
Another thing that I loved about DC was the amount of interesting stuff that you could visit within a short drive of the city itself. In Colorado, Denver/Boulder are really fun and have great mountains, but if you want to go anywhere besides that you’ve basically got to drive 1000 miles. In DC, you can take weekend trips to Baltimore, Richmond, Pittsburgh, New York, civil war battlefields, Monticello, the historical sites and theme parks near Jamestown and Williamsburg, etc.
Two potential downsides to living in DC:
1. Lots of people are in DC for only a short time, driven by their careers. This reflects the city’s ambition and energy, but it does mean that it might be hard to put down permanent roots there, and social relationships feel more ephemeral than they might elsewhere, because it feels like anyone might move away at any moment. To some extent being in the EA/rationalist community mitigates this, because you are slotting into an existing culture with so much shared background knowledge & values.
2. Although it is close to lots of amazing cultural sites and world-class cities, it does not have that much access to nature. Shenandoah and chesapeake bay are cool (did you know NASA sometimes launches orbital rockets from Virgnia?), but they are obviously a far cry from the natural beauty of Colorado or California. The weather in DC is also kind of meh, with hot and humid summers and winters that can get inconveniently icy/slushy. But the weather also has its upsides—the year-round average temperature of DC is just right (unlike eg New York which is on the cold side), so you get beautiful springs and falls there, a real four seasons that you don’t get on the west coast.
A counterpoint to the icy/slushy winters is that people and institutions here are EXTREMELY wimpy about winter precipitation and no one will expect you to go anywhere at the first sign of a flurry. Schools close, telework is allowed, the garbage will not be collected. Get your cup of cocoa and curl up by a fire.
I spent two years in northern Virginia (not working as an EA or in policy, but rather an aerospace engineer) -- I loved it and I have always thought there should be a bigger EA/rationalist hub in DC given its obvious geopolitical significance. I remember being surprised when I moved to the city at how it felt so energetic and full of young people, very different from my image of how our top political leaders are all in their 80s.
I also want to reiterate how, coming from the west coast (previously lived in Colorado and northern California), the quality of the museums and sights is just amazing—not only do you have a ridiculous array of totally free Smithsonian museums (and a lot of non-Smithsonian museums too… the museum of the Marine Corps is very cool and underrated!), you also have a ton of assorted beautiful monuments / gardens / architectural marvels / etc all around the city, like the beautifully-decorated and largest church in North America, the Lotus festival at the National Aquatic Gardens, etc. It is not like San Fransisco where you visit the Exploratorium and maybe an art museum and then you’ve seen most of the cool stuff—in DC, you can literally make it a hobby to spend every other weekend perusing a new museum full of amazing cultural treasures, and you won’t run out for over a year.
Another thing that I loved about DC was the amount of interesting stuff that you could visit within a short drive of the city itself. In Colorado, Denver/Boulder are really fun and have great mountains, but if you want to go anywhere besides that you’ve basically got to drive 1000 miles. In DC, you can take weekend trips to Baltimore, Richmond, Pittsburgh, New York, civil war battlefields, Monticello, the historical sites and theme parks near Jamestown and Williamsburg, etc.
Two potential downsides to living in DC:
1. Lots of people are in DC for only a short time, driven by their careers. This reflects the city’s ambition and energy, but it does mean that it might be hard to put down permanent roots there, and social relationships feel more ephemeral than they might elsewhere, because it feels like anyone might move away at any moment. To some extent being in the EA/rationalist community mitigates this, because you are slotting into an existing culture with so much shared background knowledge & values.
2. Although it is close to lots of amazing cultural sites and world-class cities, it does not have that much access to nature. Shenandoah and chesapeake bay are cool (did you know NASA sometimes launches orbital rockets from Virgnia?), but they are obviously a far cry from the natural beauty of Colorado or California. The weather in DC is also kind of meh, with hot and humid summers and winters that can get inconveniently icy/slushy. But the weather also has its upsides—the year-round average temperature of DC is just right (unlike eg New York which is on the cold side), so you get beautiful springs and falls there, a real four seasons that you don’t get on the west coast.
A counterpoint to the icy/slushy winters is that people and institutions here are EXTREMELY wimpy about winter precipitation and no one will expect you to go anywhere at the first sign of a flurry. Schools close, telework is allowed, the garbage will not be collected. Get your cup of cocoa and curl up by a fire.