Every Bethesda MD Neighborhood Explained
Bethesda Maryland is one of the most popular and well-known suburbs of Washington, DC. Just because it’s a suburb though doesn’t mean it comes with a grueling commute. People love Bethesda because it’s super close to everything! Today I’m going to talk about the three different high schools that Bethesda kids attend, what neighborhoods feed to those high schools, and I’ll tell you where you should live if you hate McMansions – because Bethesda does have its share of teardowns! Along the way, I’m going to dispel the widely believed myth that “Walt Whitman High School is the best of all the schools in the universe.”
Bethesda is well-known for having pricey homes and famous residents. If you don’t hobknob with the rich you don’t have to be afraid. There are affordable areas in Bethesda. Everything is of course relative, so “more affordable” is still going to put you in the low to mid $1M’s. Let’s go through the neighborhoods of Bethesda. I think you will be surprised that there are quite a few that aren’t over the top in price and space!
Bethesda’s Location
Bethesda’s southern border is Western Avenue, which separates DC and Maryland. Bethesda continues up to the beltway or 495. It’s considered to be mostly “ITB” or Inside the Beltway, but there are some areas outside the beltway that have Bethesda mailing addresses even though many may consider that to be “Potomac.”
I’m covering the large neighborhoods here. This is not an all-inclusive list but it’s darn close. There are smaller pockets of streets that have their own area name and if they don’t have a significant number of homes then I didn’t include them.
I’m breaking the neighborhoods into high school pyramids because this is more commonly how people divide and conquer when it comes to Bethesda. You don’t hear people say they want one specific neighborhood as much as you hear, “Well, we want to be in Whitman” which is usually what you hear. I’ll get to that in a moment. We’ll start with the downtown high school and the feeder neighborhoods.
Bethesda Chevy Chase High School Neighborhoods
Brookdale
Let’s start at the Western Avenue border with DC. The neighborhoods here are Westmoreland Hills, Westgate and Brookdale. Brookdale straddles the east and west sides of River Road. Homes here are on smaller lots and have a smaller footprint. They usually work well for those who don’t need a lot of space. The homes that have not been expanded will usually offer under 2000 square feet, may not have a basement and are usually priced in the low $1M’s.
There are homes that can be added on to depending on the lot size and you will see these homes in the $1M’s to $2M range with an average price of $1.45M. Houses are mostly brick and built in the 1930’s – 1940’s.
Westgate
Westgate is the next neighborhood to the west of Brookdale and ends at Massachusetts Avenue. Similar story here on the homes like in Brookdale. Westgate has small lots, the houses are close together and there isn’t much in the way of lawns. Homes on some streets can have space for adding on, which is what most people in Westgate choose to do. You will see the prices more commonly in the $1.3 – $2M range with an average of $1.45M. Houses are mostly brick and built in the 1930’s – 1940’s.
I have a frient, that’s friend turned client, who bought here in Westgate and they love it. And they were city people. When they began to look for a bigger home, I was surprised they landed in Bethesda. And they love it. When they outgrew their home, I suggested they add on. We looked at other homes, but they didn’t want to leave the neighborhood. They love their neighbors, they said the neighborhood was great for kids and the idea of leaving made them sad. They have now added on by adding a level.
Westgate is super friendly, is so centrally located that you can walk to Friendship Heights, Spring Valley in DC, the Little Falls library. Westgate has its own neighborhood pool which is a huge draw for the neighborhood. When something hits the market, you have to act fast and be aggressive.
Fun fact, the Mushroom House is here! I’ll link to this so you can read all about it’s deliciously sordid design history.
Westmoreland Hills
Westmoreland Hills is to the west of Westgate just on the other side of Massachusetts Ave. The homes are larger in here and vary in style but they do have more space both inside and out. The prices are mostly in the $1.5M – $2M range here with the average just under $1.8M.
I have no idea how Westmoreland Hills was named but I can tell you this. It’s one of the westernmost neighborhoods in Bethesda, it’s hilly and the homes have a lot of land. It appears to be very aptly named. People say that it feels less like suburbs and more like the country for these reasons. There’s more wealth here, you see fewer residents out in the streets. While it’s zoned for Bethesda Chevy Chase High School along with Brookdale and Westgate, families here have money to go to private school, and many do.
Some homes back up to the Capital Crescent Trail which I will cover in a second. The neighborhood is also walkable to Spring Valley in DC where you can find Crate & Barrel, Millie’s Restaurant and Wagshals Market.
Westmoreland Park is in the neighborhood and has a playground, tennis courts, basketball court, and baseball field. Little Falls trail is also a nice little trail for bike riding and dog walking.
The parkland that separates these three neighborhoods from the rest of Bethesda is where the Capital Crescent Trail traverses. I’m in this park multiple times a day. You will always see bikers, runners and walkers on the trail that goes from downtown Bethesda to Georgetown in DC. This is a huge selling point for many people.
Downtown Bethesda
Being close to the action will always cost you. Homes near Bethesda Row and the surrounding streets average $2.3M. There are some townhomes which you can get into for under $1M but it’s not super common. Any single-family home under $1.2M is usually a teardown. There’s a mix of home styles here as well to include craftsman, bungalow, and colonial.
Walter Johnson High School Neighborhoods
These neighborhoods offer walkability to NIH, the National Institute of Health, as well as the metro.
Maplewood / Alta Vista
This is a small-ish neighborhood on the north end of Bethesda between Wisconsin Avenue and Old Georgetown Road, Cedar Lane on the south and the beltway on the north. In the center of the neighborhood is Maplewood-Alta Vista Park. There is a playground, soccer fields, tennis and basketball courts. The YMCA Bethesda – Chevy Chase is in Alta Vista. You would also arguably have a closer walk to the metro from Alta Vista since it is close to Wisconsin Avenue.
The houses in Alta Vista are 1950’s – 70’s era and you will find Colonial, Split Level, Ranch, and Dutch Colonials. Prices range from $1M – $1.7M with the teardown outlier over $2M. You will see one to two teardowns a year. It’s not as common to see teardowns here as in other adjacent Bethesda neighborhoods. The average price of homes in Alta Vista is $1.3M.
Wyngate, Ashburton & Alta Vista Terrace
These three neighborhoods are clustered together, on the other side of Old Georgetown Rd from Alta Vista. They all feed to the same school – Wyngate Elementary. Also, remember how I said the YMCA Bethesda was in Alta Vista? Well, 1000 feet away you have the YMCA Ayrlawn so it’s not like you’re lacking for recreation if you don’t live in Alta Vista. Personal note here, this was where we were hard-core house hunting when it was time for us to upgrade out of a condo 10+ years ago, so that’s a testament to how much I like it and also, its affordability.
The average price in these three neighborhoods is $1.4M. When you look at the map it seems crazy to break them down into individual neighborhoods but crazy is what I am so let’s zoom in even more because there are some different stories to be told here.
Wyngate
There are more teardowns in Wyngate compared to the other areas, mostly due to the smaller house size that was originally built in this neighborhood. The average price is $1.475M and you will see a variety of home types including colonials, cape cods, ranches, split-levels and the teardown and rebuilds. You will see people move from smaller homes to the larger ones within the neighborhood. What I loved about Wyngate and Ashburton is what it’s still like today – family friendly, streets that feel safe for kids to walk from one house to another and a lack of pretension.
Wyngate has a Citizen’s Association and a Neighbors Helping Neighbors group which includes Maplewood-Alta Vista in the territory. There’s a 4th of July Parade, gardening groups, book clubs, knitting groups and walking clubs.
Ashburton
The teardown bug hasn’t really gotten over to Ashburton. And here’s why I love that. There are some really cool mid-century homes here that thankfully haven’t been touched. We looked in Ashburton and Wyngate for a while and while Wyngate has changed a bit with the teardown activity, Ashburton has not. There’s still a hodge podge of homes here so it’s not like every single home is a Mid-Century gem, but you can find them.
One thing people ask about Ashburton and Wyngate is if the homes that are next to the beltway can hear the traffic. Yes. They can.
Alta Vista Terrace
In Alta Vista Terrace, there is a huge mix of house type. Prices have one of the widest spans I’ve seen – ranging from the high $700’s to $2.5M. The average price is $1.5M. There are quite a few teardowns here as well.
Walt Whitman High School Neighborhoods
South of Greentree Road is currently the boundary for Walt Whitman High School which many people believe to be the best of the best. Don’t believe this though. The other high schools in Bethesda are equally as well ranked. You will want to peruse the annual September/October Bethesda Magazine issue which outlines the college application stats for the top high schools in Montgomery County. I’m going to pick three random “top” colleges and give you info for them.
Cornell: 39 applied from BCC, 6 accepted. 55 applied from Whitman, 3 accepted. 66 applied from Walter Johnson, 8 accepted.
Harvard: 22 applied from BCC, 34 from Whitman, 34 from Walter Johnson – none accepted
UVA: 81 applied from BCC, 10 accepted. 81 applied from Walt Whitman, 6 accepted. 80 from Walter Johnson, 11 accepted.
I’m no expert in college admissions. But if you send your kid to a high school where there are 100 other kids getting the same GPA and considered “top” students who will be competing for those same seats at college or they go to a high school with only 30 other “top” students, how do you expect college admissions to work out?
Huntington Terrace & Bradmoor
There are a wide range of homes here. There is the occasional $800,000 home all the way up to $3M new build homes. The proximity to Suburban Hospital and NIH must be mentioned because that can be a pro or a con. Suburban Hospital is a trauma center so you may have the occasional helicopter arrival of a patient, but that’s something a lot of us are used to by way of living in metro DC. The Greenwich Neighborhood Park and the Bradley Hills Park are on either end of Huntington Terrace and both offer playgrounds for the littles.
Bannockburn
Bannockburn does not have a lot of turnover – in the past 2 years only 10 houses have sold. It’s a leafy more suburban feeling area with a mix of home styles. The average price of homes sold here is $2.5M. The lots are large, almost half an acre compared to other areas in Bethesda where the lots can be smaller or overbuilt. Bannockburn also has a pool in the neighborhood – Merrimack. It is private and there is a waiting list. “In boundary” families who live close to the pool get preference.
Sumner
The Sumner neighborhood is just north of Little Falls Park and west of Massachusetts Avenue. Homes here were built in the mid 1900’s as summer cottages for the people in DC to escape the heat. Now these “summer cottage” homes start in the mid $1M’s and climb to $3M. What people love about Sumner is that you have such easy access to the Capital Crescent Trail. If it’s only a pool you want, then you can join the wait list at Mohican Pool. There are tight boundaries here but Sumner and Woodacres are included.
Woodacres
Woodacres homes are smaller here as are the lots. The average price is $1.3M which seems low for Bethesda, right? Woodacres has covenants and architectural guidelines that require homes keep their brick façade and as a result, there are lots of homes here that look the same. You will get a home here that hasn’t been McMansioned! People do add on though, so many homes have additions. You are also close to shopping at Westbard.
It’s very leafy here, hence the name Woodacres. Reports of fantastic trick or treating, a 4th of July festival and the neighborhood park in the middle of the community make it pretty family-friendly.
Woodhaven
The average price of homes closed in Woodhaven is $1.7M. There are lots of colonials, split levels and of course the McMansions that we would call craftsman homes. The lowest priced home in the past year sold for $1.2M so this isn’t exactly your entry-level Bethesda neighborhood. Walkability here isn’t the best – but people do use Pyle Middle School or Burning Tree Elementary for the fields and greenspace.
Westwood
Between Massachusetts Avenue and River Road, you will find the Westwood neighborhood which currently has an exciting new development by a local builder. There’s quite a bit of retail here, with a Giant Grocery Store, Bowlero, Starbucks, Tatte Bakery and the McDonalds I go to 14 times a day.
There’s also a Whole Foods here on River Road. When the kids were little, I went there once and decided I would never go again. This is the ground zero of all bad Maryland Drivers. It was vicious and there was a lot of bad driving in that parking lot. A few weeks ago someone crashed their car through the front door. Was I surprised? Not one iota. Existing homes here are in the $1.5M – $2M range with the average at $1.8M.
A Quick Note on Brookmont, Glen Echo, Cabin John
Brookmont is west of MacArthur right on the Potomac River. It’s a very small area just as you leave DC. Glen Echo is one of the few Incorporated towns in all of Maryland. It feels like a time warp because it is! They don’t have to jump with Montgomery County’s planning commission directives. The “Affordable Dwelling Unit” mission – doesn’t apply to Glen Echo.
Cabin John is just north of Glen Echo, also on the Potomac River. When you drive north on MacArthur through Brookmont and Glen Echo, you will get to a one-lane bridge. Welcome to Cabin John! It’s gorgeous here, but it can feel quiet, and for me, a bit isolated.
Conclusion
If you cast your net for Bethesda without a specific plan, you will potentially find your search to be a bit of a wild goose chase. If schools are important, buy the house in the school cluster that you want. The high schools are all great, but different. BCC has more of a city-feel since it’s in downtown Bethesda. Whitman is more suburban. Walter Johnson is somewhat in between those two types of neighborhoods.
