Potomac Maryland

Potomac, Maryland is in southern Montgomery County Maryland, just outside the beltway, bordering the Potomac River. There are dozens of smaller neighborhoods. Potomac is best known for being a DC suburb with luxury homes. With luxury comes higher price points. Stick with me until the end because I’m going to debunk a long-standing myth about Potomac.

Potomac is one of the first areas in Maryland where it feels more suburban than urban like neighboring Bethesda. The lots are bigger, the houses larger, there’s more riding lawn mowers and many homes where you can’t even hear your mailbox open when the postman arrives.

Transportation & Commute

Potomac is indeed a “close-in” suburb, but it will be a longer commute if you are heading downtown or to Northern Virginia. If you are commuting via 270, it could take 15 minutes just to get to the highway depending on where in Potomac you are. River Road is another major corridor out of Potomac and into DC. While it is a main road, there are many lights and speed cameras.

Real Estate

In the last year, 406 single family homes sold in Potomac. The average house in the past year closed for $1.496M. The median was $1.297M.

I have some things to say about Potomac Real Estate. This is not a place where people come and go every few years. People set down roots here and you will often find that the homes for sale have been owned by the same family for 20, 30, 40 years. That said, be prepared for homes that are well-loved but may have dated features like wallpaper, polished brass fixtures, or textured ceilings.

Prices here start at about $800,000 and they can go up into the $2M’s. There are of course outliers at higher price points as well as lower price points but this is generally the range of the Potomac home. You are getting a lot more land typically and a lot more house than in areas like Bethesda or Chevy Chase.

There are some townhomes here, as well as the Park Potomac Community just off 270. There are brownstone homes here as well as condos. These were built about 15 years ago and also carry the prestige you would expect from a Potomac address.

Food

In Potomac you have the Potomac Village Shopping Center at the River Road and Falls Road intersection. There is both a Safeway and a Giant grocery store here. Also, there are restaurants here to include two of my local favorites –  Potomac Pizza and Moby Dick’s House of Kabob. There’s also Renato at River Falls, which is Italian, and Lock 72 Kitchen & Bar. Across River Road, you will find Hunter’s Bar and Grill, Tally Ho Pizza and En Bistro & Sushi.

There’s another shopping area at Seven Locks and Tuckerman Road. This location has a Giant Grocery Store. There are a few restaurants here of note, my favorite from Connecticut just opened up – Colony Grill. There’s also Sister’s Thai and Gregorio’s Trattoria.

Then the newest of shopping areas is at Park Potomac where you will find a Harris Teeter Grocery Store, and several awesome restaurants – Founding Farmers, Gringos & Mariachis, King Street Oyster Bar.

Just on the edge is another of my local favorites, the Tower Oaks Lodge. I spent many of my single girl years at the Tower Oaks Lodge and it was the best.

Family & Fun

Potomac has country clubs, tons of trails, parks, and lots of green space. The hiking along the Potomac is unbeatable. Great Falls Trail and Billy Goat Trail have some amazing views of the river and the falls.

FUN FACT: There’s an annual 50 mile Kennedy Walk which goes to West Virginia, and it starts on the trails here by Old Angler’s Inn.

Potomac also has Cabin John Regional Park which has a lot of fun for everyone. There is a really large playground, an ice rink, and a train that has various themed rides through the year. The girls and I did the Halloween ride a few years ago for fun. It’s geared for little kids. There’s also a great dog park here too.

They like golf in Potomac. There’s Congressional Country Club (which has a Bethesda mailing address but falls inside the Potomac area,) Avenel and the Falls Road Golf Course.

Potomac Day happens in the fall, which is a fair for businesses, a car show, games, rides and a parade.

Schools

Potomac schools are well-ranked and sought after. This is as good as it gets. The Great Schools scores are all mostly 9’s and 10’s, even for middle school which we usually see take a dip.

Most of Potomac is zoned for Winston Churchill High School. Small parts of Potomac are zoned for Wootten High School on the north edge and Walt Whitman on the southern edge. These are all top high schools.

Ready for me to debunk the myth I mentioned? Locally there seems to be this cache associated with being zoned for Whitman. If you didn’t get a house in Whitman you were second-best. For public schools, this mad-focus on Whitman can actually derail people. I dug into Bethesda Magazine’s College Analysis for 2022. All the surrounding high schools sent the same percentages to top colleges, and in some cases, Churchill had more Ivy League Acceptances than Whitman. Take it all with a grain of salt when it comes to education.

Conclusion

If you want the suburbs, Potomac is the quintessential suburbs. Nice homes, great schools, and decent suburban amenities.