Yes, the City of Falls Church IS tiny. And cities are independent from counties in VA. So the schools are small, in the middle of all of the large to huge schools in Fairfax and surrounding counties. When my mom taught there, the schools had to travel very far to compete against others with a similar size, whereas I had 8 high schools closer to my house than the one I was districted to go to! And that was in the 80s.
But it really depends on the person. I would think that most unmarried people in their 20s would prefer Arlington. Older S lived in VA Square with a roommate and now in Clarendon/Courthouse with FDIL1. Younger S lives in the same building. It’s great for people in that demographic who want to live amongst the social scene, walkable neighborhoods, easy access to DC/Georgetown, easy access to Metro.
Who isn’t it good for? I could see homebodies (and this isn’t a bad thing) not wanting to live there. Maybe someone who needs cheaper or wants more space. If you like hiking/fishing/etc, it might be easier to live further out and easier to get to Burke Lake, Lake Fairfax, etc.
And re: expense. There is still a variation between prices. I don’t think what my kids pay for the 1BR/1BA in Clarendon/Courthouse is bad at all. Sure, they only have 1 BR for 2 people, but they are a couple. Their building isn’t the newest, but the apartments are all newly renovated. But they aren’t as glitzy as others. And they don’t have the pool, though they do have a decent gym that the FDILs use. Ss’ go to Golds. They do have to walk 5-8 min to a Metro, but I don’t consider that terrible. They live adjacent to a couple of cute neighborhoods where they walk the dogs.
They could live in my city for $700-800/month less with a little more space, but not only isn’t there as much to do around here (huge understatement), their starting salaries (combined) were roughly $7000/month more than they’d make here. Older S/FDIL are now likely $12K+/month higher. And that’s assuming they could get a job here at all. There are tradeoffs everywhere