I grew up in Reston. Like other people have said, it’s not the most exciting place to be if you’re young, and it is fairly expensive, but on the bright side, there are nice walking and bike trails, and it’s within striking distance of a number of more interesting places.
I’m pretty sure there’s still a great little used book store at Lake Anne Center (it has been a while since I’ve been back, so the place may have closed, but it was still going strong last time I looked).
I’m not saying that people are perfect, but I’ve seen behavior like that everywhere. I’m sure that there are assholes there with entitlement issues but I’ve seen that kind of behavior everywhere. Anyhow while Reston is a pretty nice area it certainly isn’t the richest part of Northern Virginia or even Fairfax County.
I was in Reston on business this afternoon. I generally agree with An Arky’s take on the area’s demography.
I strongly recommend that your daughter find a place to live in Reston, for two reasons:
1- To save herself from the maddening commutes that most who live here must subject themselves to. When US metropolitan areas are ranked by average commute time, the DC area perennially lands in the top three.
2- Reston proper is among the neatest, safest, best-looking suburbs you’ll find anywhere. The whole town abounds with foliage, and to me looks almost like parkland. A very pleasant environment, though admittedly somewhat bland and whitebread.
OK, three reasons:
3- It’s much quicker, and less stressful, to drive from Reston to Arlington/DC at night, for socializing, then to drive from Arlington/DC to Reston during rush hour, for work. A happy life here should include as little time spent sitting in one’s car as can possibly be arranged.
OK, I know that’s really only two and a half reasons.
If your daughter is an imbiber, though, please disregard this advice - it’s better to drink within walking distance of home, and as others have noted, Reston has virtually no night life. Ballston/Clarendon would be my suggestion in this case - lots of nightlife, lots of condos. 
It is so strange reading about where one lives. I’ve lived in Reston (though I am now temporarily in Egypt) since 1989 while my family members have been there since late 70s. Description about foliage and bike paths are spot on. you can ride from the District all the way to Manassas and probably beyond. It is a lovely bike path and very busy. My neighbours for years worked at State Department and rode to work every morning, even during winter (yes they were a bit extreme).
There is some night life in Reston, as someone poinnted out above, the Reston Town Cennter has LOTs of Bars and Restaurants (Clydes, Paolos, M&S grill, McCormick & Schmit Rest, American Tap room, Unos etc. At 70K per year she will fit in with the prices of drinks. BUT you can have a beer for $2.00 during happy hour at M&S Grill and some really nice mixers. There is a vietnamese restaurant at Tall Oaks shopping center along with one Chinese and Japanese joint. There are two take out pizza (dominoes and vocelli) and a small european restaurant that was rated number one Pizza in D.C. area couple of years back. There is also a mom and pop dry cleaner that has been there since the late 80s and a veterinarian/pet spa small busisness owner thats been there through three chow chows we’ve owned at separate times over the years.
North point has more chain stores like blockbuster, GNC, Payless (see, not everyone is rich in Reston), Martial Arts and I think Ben & Jerry’s plus another Chineese restaurant that does really good Dim sum on sundays. There is also a Trader Joes (which is an organic and locally bought produce supermarket).
Lake Anne has an independent USED book shop that has actually GROWN over the years. They now occupy twice the space they did when I was younger (I bought all my cheap romance novels there and they also take your books for exchanges. GREAT Place). There is also a local mom and pop Spanish store at lake anne and a barber shop and beauty salon. also a great small art gallery for local artists. The small mom and pop drug store with an old fashioned counter for milk shakes and burgers along with the raised prescriptionn drug area like the old Peoples Drug used to be. Very mom and pop. A small post office is also located in this store and the one older lady has been working behind that counter since 1989 (I hope she’s taken a break!:))
South Reston has the usual chain stores and the “Bad” neighbourhood. Which means some drug deals go down there and section 8 housing is available (my cousin was shot and killed in this neighbourhood one and half year ago). Cedar Ridge in North Reston was another bad neighbourhood but now its mostly immigrants and has become quite respectable. There is China Star chineese restaurant off Sunset hills near the Large post office (which got shut down some years back for having rat droppings in the kitchen, but I still loved it). They have since reopened. Further down sunset hills, after the Target, there is a huge shopping center with mostly mom and pop places. Bakery, chinnese restaurant, martial arts and gymnnastics etc.
Right now you can find a decent apartment in reston to rent for 800/month. Currently, condos around the Reston towncenter have dropped to 400K but further away you can find them for around 250K which is definitely affordable with a 70K salary. I know of several good deals for condos Right Now in Reston that are affordable (it being a buyers market and all).
Former coworker was big into D&D and goth but is now a police officer in Manassas. She lived in Sterling which is a blink away from Reston so there are definitly options for that scene if she is so inclined. My sister works in D.C. and takes the bus to the metro. She leaves the house at 8:30 and arrives to work at 9:00. This is just to show how easy it is to be down town enjoying a more urban scene from Reston and the metro goes till 2 am. Oh, and Pot Bellys on Sunset makes the best milkshakes EVER! And sadly, the Reston rapist has never been caught. He would climb up to second story balconies, which peoeple leave open in Reston, and do his business…keep that in mind when locking up for the night.
Thought I’d pop back in to mention that one of my favorite restaurants is Sweetwater, in Sterling, which as mentioned is a short hop from Reston. Sweetwater home page
I also like Pacific, also in Sterling. It’s asian fusion. Love their asparagus with honey walnuts.
Susan
Those people were visiting from Central VA. 
I just looked at Sweetwater’s menus, and I know where I’m going to eat when I visit Lisa in her new digs!
Thanks for the replies, everyone. She likes the idea of riding a bike to work in good weather.
Hehe, no we’re not like that down here. Except maybe Charlottesville. NoVa is like another state, and it’s creeping southward to Fredericksburg, the West end of Richmond, and Culpeper.
Susan, my family loves Pacific! My parents still live in Sterling and they go there all the time.
Reston? Stay away from the monkeyhouse.
Actually, Ebola Reston doesn’t harm people.
Also, that building was torn down 12 years ago.
The Reston Regional Library is nice; it’s almost across the street from the Barnes & Noble.
If your daughter is Caucasian and rides the buses in Northern VA, she’ll feel really out of place; I use them every day, and almost always I’m the only person on the bus who isn’t black or Hispanic.
I grew up in Reston and lived there from 1971 until 1979, when I left for college. As a teenager there, I really hated it; visiting since, I’m stunned at how beautiful the place is and at how little I appreciated it.
Reston Town Center had not yet been built, so there were thriving shopping centers throughout the town, like Lake Anne (now a ghost town), Hunters Woods (which has since been bulldozed and replaced with a strip mall), Tall Oaks, International Center, and Fox Mill (Ghost town, ghost town, generic strip mall). Reston Town Center basically looks like the Gotham City lot from Batman plopped down in the middle of a gigantic suburb. Very successful, but it drove every other shopping center in town out of business.
The only “bad” neighborhood I recall was Stonegate, where my girlfriend lived; not sure how scary that place is any more. Some neighborhoods were borderline slummy but went condo and experienced tony upgrades (I’m lookin’ at you, Winterthur Ct. and Old Trail Dr.!). My own neighborhood, large Ryland homes on half-acre lots, was heavily CIA families (I didn’t know that at the time, but “George Bush” bumper stickers in 1979 should have been a tip-off).
If I had the dough, I’m not sure I’d move back there. Vienna and Great Falls have more of the good qualities and fewer of the bad ones. I even kinda like Herndon, except for the Salvatrucha graffiti and day labor swarms (This is not an anti-Salvadoran rant; the Centroamericano influx is also responsible for a lot of good stuff, like those wonderful chicken restaurnants on Spring Street).
A telling story: I was visiting a friend recently, whose address was on North Shore Dr. We phoned out for pizza, to some place at Tall Oaks. The dispatcher wanted to make sure of the spelling: Was North Shore one word or two? “Your restaurant is on North Shore Drive! I’m down the street from you! How can you not know whether it’s one word or two?” Turns out the dispatcher was outsourced labor from Arizona.
Speaking of neighborhoods, if your daughter’s decided to live in Reston, it may help her to know that housing in south Reston is cheaper than housing in north Reston.
I like Northern Virginia, I went to HS there and still have family living in Fairfax county. I’d consider moving back if it weren’t for the traffic, which I cannot abide.
That said, there is a phenomenon that seems pretty pervasive there, especially among the Asian and White families - competitive childraising. Part of it has to do with the population growth and competition for college spots - I was accepted to the U of VA with an application that wouldn’t get me a second glance these days.
It seems that kids there are very pressured to excel at something, preferably several things. Dance, sports, art, music, etc. There is a thriving industry catering to the kids of the middle and upper classes. I would guess that the number of kids enrolled in dance classes in Fairfax County alone equals the number of “professional” dancers in the country. My daughter plays soccer competitively, and goes to two or three national tournaments every year. At the last two, teams from NOVA were in her team’s bracket. Both times, the kids from the VA teams all showed up, along with coaches and parents, to scout the opposition before they had to play them. The kids obviously didn’t want to be out in the hot sun watching a bunch of anonymous 15 year olds play soccer, but the parents were saying stuff like “watch # 15, she only uses her right foot!” and taking it like they were trying out for the pro’s.
My sister is definately guilty of it. She often says “It’s so hard to raise a kid in this area!” I roll my eyes.
Just something I’ve noticed.
Oh yeah, my family loves it too. The first time we went there was Christmas a couple years ago. We ended up eating there for 4 of the 5 nights that my parents were visiting.
Susan
Do not skip the bread basket when you do. Trust me - they have these little bread balls that are heaven.
Susan
Oh my God, were we neighbors? I and my neighbors on each side–and about four other classmates on my block–all got into UVA in 1979. That would NEVER happen today!
I gather my alma mater, Herndon HS, never really rebounded from losing all the rich Reston kids to the (then) new South Lakes HS. And I chuckle at the current name of my old elementary school: Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences. Hee hee!
A buddy of mine, back living in Reston, shelled out big moolah to get his 5-yr-old daughter into a kindergarten that would “challenge her academically.” He went on for a bit how all the counselors there told him how extremely “gifted” she was. So I beamed at the little angel and asked her what her favorite book is. She scowled at me and said “I can’t read!” Gifted sure ain’t what it used to be.
I wouldn’t disagree with anything I’ve read here.
The only question is whether you want to live around people who say things like this:
or whether you’d rather live where there’s a little more “riff-raff”.
If I was that age, making 70K, I’d try to live in (or near) the city, and commute to the burbs. Of course, I currently live in the (other) city and commute to the burbs, so I’m biased. She’s still going to be in traffic, but at least she’s MOSTLY going against it.