Loudoun County is No.1 in wealth

I don't feel like I live in the wealthiest county in America. Yet, Forbes says households here have an income of about $110,000, making it the richest place in the U.S.

Loudoun County, Va., is a nice place. If you live in the populated eastern end, you're less than 30 miles from D.C. If you live farther west, you have views of mountains, wineries and horse farms. Scattered throughout the county are high-end stores, restaurants and major companies.

Two miles from where I live, in a more modest townhouse community, is the Donald Trump Golf Course. It winds its way along the Potomac River. However, two miles in the opposite direction are some low-income housing complexes. A little farther away, across Route 7, lies the community of Sterling Park (not part of Sterling) -- a place known as the home of illegal immigrants, lots of gang activity and rundown homes.

The weather here isn't as nice as La Jolla, Calif. There are no views of the ocean like in Palm Beach County, Fla. You might run into the occasional politician or Washington Redskin football player out and about in Loudoun, but you aren't likely to see any celebrities of note as I did when I lived in the suburbs of New York and occasionally would run into Al Pacino or other famous people.

The beautiful people do not live in Loudoun County, but that's not to say there isn't some old money to the west in horse country. Yes, there is plenty of grooming and lots of fitness gyms here, but no starlets fluttering about at any New Age spas or young guns cruising the boulevard. You will see a lot of luxury cars, but they are usually stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic or driven by people who should have never been granted a license. A vanity plate will on occasion indicate that someone has too big of an ego for these parts. But there are showoffs everywhere. Big fish in little ponds.

Life in Loudoun County is about making money and raising kids. That's its focus. It doesn't attempt to be the tourist capital of the world. It doesn't pretend to be enlightened or artsy like a Santa Fe or San Francisco. It is well educated, a bit arrogant and not the friendliest of places.

Crime is low in Loudoun but taxes are high. On the eastern end there are lots of Arabs and Indians, but few African-Americans. Like most places, there is a mix of Hispanic folks from various countries. It is more of a melting pot than many other affluent areas around the nation.

Dulles International Airport continues to grow, giving the county another boost. New terminals and airport transportation systems are being built. A Metro train rail will connect the airport to downtown D.C. by 2016. Already-high property values are expected to shoot up once that project is completed. Unlike Reagan Airport in D.C., Dulles has international flights. Because there are a lot of foreigners living in Loudoun, the airport is a major convenience when they want to travel. Businesses throughout Northern Virginia benefit from having an international airport. Dulles also has some of the longest security lines in the country.

Unemployment is low in Loudoun. Most of the jobs are in technology-related fields, but of course lots are jobs are tied to the federal government. There are also plenty of service-industry jobs. I am not sure how people working in lower-wage jobs can afford to live here. When I was working at USA Today (12 miles from here in Fairfax County), I needed every penny of my salary to maintain my home, pay my taxes, etc. Now that I've been unemployed for awhile, it's becoming less and less feasible to live in Loudoun. There isn't anywhere in Loudoun to go that would be safe and affordable.

Overall, I like living in Loudoun. After my 9 years here, I'd have to say it's one of the better places I've lived. I hate the traffic. Don't appreciate the rudeness. And I do get worn out by all the kids. But I figure most places have their drawbacks. I like feeling safe in Loudoun. I like living in a place without too much ignorance. I like mountains and rivers and eateries that aren't run by large corporations.

I wish Loudoun had more of a sense of Virginia about it. You're more likely to hear an Indian accent here than you are a southern accent. Of course, you are less likely to see a moonshine bust in Loudoun than you are in Danville, Va., 200 miles south of here. Dental health is generally pretty top-notch in Northern Virginia, too. Kids from Loudoun tend to go to college. That's not the case in say the southwest part of the state.

I don't think most Loudouners think of themselves as living in a highly exclusive area. Greenwich, Conn., has far more snob appeal than Leesburg, a historic town located near the center of Loudoun County. But Loudoun has a sense of livability and convenience that seems to attract folks of means -- folks who would not be as comfortable living in more rural or more urban places. We have our fair share of blue-bloods and residents who feel entitled to, well, everything, but I suspect Beverly Hills has more. As I mentioned, Loudoun is largely about families. And regardless of how much a person earns or how often they go to the tanning salons, you can only be so snobbish when immersed in raising kids. By the way, Loudoun has one of the highest rates of multiple-kid families in the country.

Unfortunately, growth has also made Loudoun less desirable to folks wanting more elbow room. Like the other D.C. suburbs, sprawl is becoming a problem here. The infrastructure is not in place to handle all the new subdivisions. Schools are constantly being built to keep up with the growth rate, therefore taxes go up each year. Some older people without kids are beginning to move away, tired of paying for schools that don't benefit them directly. County leaders can't seem to say no to any developer. As a result, some of the charm of Loudoun County has disappeared.

I like that I don't have to go far to get almost anything I need. Sure, if I want great crab cakes, I still need to drive the hour or so to Baltimore. If I want world-class museums, I need to go to Washington. But from Loudoun, those places are accessible. Loudoun has nice parks, a decent mall, good medical care and some of the best wineries on the East Coast. We even have not one, but two Wegman's food stores. Many universities have satellite campuses here. There are still quaint towns like Waterford and Middleburg that are nice to visit for the day. And parents rave about the public school system.

I am sure there are glitzier places that would appear to be wealthier than Loudoun. I know there are friendlier places and states and counties with nicer weather and lighter traffic. Loudoun County is very good at providing for the upper-middle class. And as long as you have a good job and can tolerate an area that seems to have more than its fair share of Type A personalities, life in Loudoun is very doable.

With that said, I think Loudoun needs to pay more attention to quality-of-life issues and not shut out the middle and lower-middle class folks who want to live here. School teachers, police and county government workers should be able to afford to live in the county they provide services to. This should not become a county just for members of the Trump country club. Too many businesses in Loudoun still underpay their employees. A lot of the money made by Loudoun residents comes from D.C. and surrounding counties in Virginia and Maryland. Salaries in a place like Leesburg are still relatively low compared to salaries in McLean, just 20 miles away in Fairfax County. One of the reasons why traffic is so bad in Loudoun -- and why people are so cranky here -- is because they have to commute to get the big bucks to afford homes and taxes.

If I have to leave Loudoun this year because of not being able to find a job, I will be disappointed but not entirely devastated. Loudoun isn't a warm and fuzzy place. It's a functional county but not one that creates a lot of sentimental feelings. I personally don't know of any adult who grew up here. Few people have roots in Loudoun. Most of Loudoun's growth happened in the last 15 years. So there are people from all over the world who now call this home, but they don't really have any serious attachments to the area.

Still, I would rather stay than be forced to leave. Living here is a mixed bag, but it's more good than bad.

Yeah, we're No. 1 in household income. We have lots of new buildings, some scenic vistas to the west, lots of college-educated people. Whether Loudoun has a soul remains to be seen. Whether or not people who want to stay or move here can afford to do so also remains to be seen. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am wary of anything that gets too big or is ranked too high. There is only one place to go once you've reached the top.

Read more about Loudoun's No.1 ranking.