I'm probably not the best judge of neighborhood for the two of you because I LIKE downtown and I like being a minority in my neighborhood. I even enjoy the challenge of buying food in the tiendas that like to call themselves supermercados.

Your desire to be near the metro and your need for cheap is going to dictate where you *can* live more than anything else.

That said, of my friends who live in VA (Falls Church, Reston, Anandale, Ballston (Arlington), Manassas) the only one who wishes for a safer neighborhood is the one in Manassas (just off 66 past Centreville), which is further out than you would want to be anyway.