Where are the safest/coolest places to live in SE Washington, D.C.?

Question

I'm moving to D.C. in a few weeks and will be working in Maryland in an office located on the metro green line. I'm looking for suggestions for good neighborhoods located along the metro green line in either NE or SE D.C. Thanks!

Answer 1

You didn't mention which end of the Green Line you'll be working in Maryland, but the Green Line also runs through the northwest and southwest quadrants of the District.

U Street/Cardozo, Petworth and Columbia Heights are NW neighborhoods you should investigate on the Green Line. I'd suggest that Columbia Heights and/or U Street offer more dining, nightlife and cultural advantages (i.e., "cool" things to do).

There is also major new construction (apartments and townhouses) at the Fort Totten Metro station (NE), but services are not as readily convenient.

For southeast and southwest, I'd suggest the area immediately around Waterfront station. Several clubs, Arena Stage and restaurants are located nearby. The area around the new ballpark (Navy Yard) hasn't developed enough yet to offer much in the way of housing and entertainment. I'm not familiar enough with the Metro stops in southeast beyond the Anacostia to offer suggestions there.

The Washington Post offers a handy interactive guide (below) for searching services and finding crime statistics for District neighborhoods.

Answer 2

I do not live in DC, although I have been there before, so I can speak from experience when I say (and every other sound-minded person says) that the NE and SE sectors of the city are the most crime-ridden, unsafe places in the Capital area. These are the regions that make DC so infamous for its crime. Definitely, without a doubt, stay out of the Anacostia area of the SE sector. Also, there are definitely parts of the NE sector you will not feel safe in, but next to the Catholic University of America isn't quite as bad (Metro stop: Brookland-CUA, red line only). If you're intent on living in the SE sector of the city, be close to the capitol building, using the Capitol South Metro station (Orange and Blue lines). In both the Brookland-CUA and Capitol South instances, you would have to transfer to another train on the green line, as neither of those stops are. If you absolutely must live along or near the Green metro line, from what I know, you would be best off near Gallery Place-Chinatown, Archives-Navy Memorial, L'Enfant Plaza, and Waterfront stations, or go across the DC border and live in Maryland around the Greenbelt and College Park stations.