Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A separate cost that you need to add in is your vehicle. I drive from Charles Town to Herndon daily, approximately a 100 mile/day commute. That's roughly 25K miles onto your car per year. I estimate that my gas cost for commute is $350/month. Berkley Springs is probably another 40 - 45 miles west of me. You can consider something with AWD at least for the winter. Bouncing between two cars is probably not a bad idea.
You're looking at an easy 2 hrs commute each way. Rt 9 east from Berkeley Springs is a two lane highway until roughly Leesburg. So that's not too feasible. As Westsideboy suggests, you can go north to RT 70, over to Frederick to RT 15 south. But that Rt 15 stretch is constantly clogged. I'm generally on the road by 4:30 am each day and traffic is heavy and flowing fast at that point. Rt 9 into Leesburg is always clogged up, Rt 7 into Leesburg is moving until around 6 am. (Pre covid driving).
If you're able to work an off-hours shift that lets you avoid morning traffic between 5 - 8 am, and 2 - 6 pm .... then your commute might be doable. If you're planning to make this commute for a couple of years and then find something closer, then it might be a decent idea. If you're thinking about doing that commute for the next 20 - 30 years, I'd consider a new plan.
There are certainly pluses for living outside of NOVA and in WV. The weekends are great, plenty of outdoor activities a gorgeous environment to live in. Berkeley Springs is beautiful. Generally I find my weekends much more relaxing in WV than I did in NOVA.
I may have missed this but where exactly are you commuting to in Northern Virginia? Morgan County is a hike to even Leesburg so I can't even imagine doing a commute to say Reston / Herndon or Tysons. Hopefully you have some fairly non-conventional work hours because the commuter routes into Northern Virginia get busy really early.
I may have missed this but where exactly are you commuting to in Northern Virginia? Morgan County is a hike to even Leesburg so I can't even imagine doing a commute to say Reston / Herndon or Tysons. Hopefully you have some fairly non-conventional work hours because the commuter routes into Northern Virginia get busy really early.
The places I'll be commuting to will vary with respect to work assignment , but will mainly be confined to a 5 county area as far as I know .
The places I'll be commuting to will vary with respect to work assignment , but will mainly be confined to a 5 county area as far as I know .
I think everyone here has had their say and they're all trying to talk you out of Morgan County. You're going to be living in a car and driving for substantial portions of your day. And the traffic is a nightmare. Any cost that you may save in housing by going with the cheaper Morgan County (which is actually minimal if you look in rural areas of Jefferson County) is going to be offset by the additional wear and tear and gas that you'll put into your car. Not to mention the additional time and cost of doing anything else (shopping, groceries, etc.) Also as someone else mentioned, Morgan County is very hilly and gets a good amount of snow. You could get snowed in and it would also extend the drive times even more. You mentioned commuting to Fairfax County from there as part of your 5-county area. I can't imagine spending 4+ hours a day commuting for work, but to each their own.
So ultimately, the choice comes down to how much does the rural living appeal to you. I'm extremely familiar with Jefferson County and I think it would be more than sufficient. It's not growing at any substantial rate for you to see it get "built up" or anything in your lifetime. As I said, the majority of the county is still farmfields and rural areas. It's only grown by 4-5k people in the last decade
If I were you, I'd go explore rural Jefferson County for a day (Moler Crossroads, Duffields, Kearneysville, Leetown, Middleway, Summit Point, Rippon, Kabletown, Shannondale). I'd also attempt the drive from Morgan County to Fairfax during a time that you'd be typically travelling (either rush hour or if you could do off-peak hours for your normal commute). I think doing both of those things will convince you that Jefferson County is a MUCH better decision for relocation than Morgan County given your situation.
The places I'll be commuting to will vary with respect to work assignment , but will mainly be confined to a 5 county area as far as I know .
I would really press them on specifics- If they're considering Frederick County/ Winchester area or Clarke County as 'Northern Virginia' that's one thing but if they're wanting you to go to Fairfax or Arlington or Alexandria then that is a completely different animal. Eastern Loudoun County is even pushing it in my opinion from Morgan County but again to each their own. If you've never commuted in the Northern Virginia / DC area before then you will be in for a real shock as to how bad the traffic is here and how far out it goes. I work in Tysons, Virginia (Fairfax County) and we had several people on projects over the years coming from Martinsburg and Hagerstown- given the nature of the work we couldn't give them too much flexibility on the hours but it routinely took them at least two hours each way and that was basically the norm- if there was rain, snow/ ice, etc they would either get a hotel room or face three plus hour commutes home. Morgan County is even farther and gets worse weather due to elevation. Granted we're still in a weird spot because of COVID but eventually we will largely all be returning to an office at some point.
I'm with 304eer- there are plenty of rural parts of Jefferson County. They are more stringent on where development can occur compared to Berkeley where the answer seems to be 'the whole county. Not saying one is more right than the other but Berkeley will be growing much faster in the long term than Jefferson.
Last edited by NOVAmtneer82; 09-08-2020 at 09:50 AM..
I'm also familiar with Jefferson County , however just like Berkeley it's still too dense for my preferred taste .
This is off topic as far as this thread is specifically concerned , but do you all think Hampshire County would be perhaps better suited to a NOVA commute ?
I could be wrong , but it seems to me that it wouldn't be so hard to drive into Frederick County from ( say ) the Capon Bridge area .
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
