Agree with a lot of this post. I lived in DC from 2008-2010 and various short periods before and after and overall I liked it (though I'd probably like it a bit less today and expect a lot of EAs to like it less than I did).

The features of DC that most affected me: -DC felt like a company town. This had advantages. I liked having tons of friends who were think tank analysts or worked on the Hill and were trying to change the world (though I suspect polarization has made the vibe a bit worse). It also had disadvantages. Relative to NYC (which I knew best at the time) I knew relatively few people living in DC because they wanted to make DC great and this meant things like a worse music scene (despite the fact that I grew up on DC punk music). -Lots of people, especially young people, only stay for a couple of years so it was hard to maintain a friend group. I think this was a big deal. -DC is small relative to a place like NY. Overall this felt like a disadvantage to me though I expect it would be a feature to some other people. DC felt like more of a bubble and there were fewer places to explore. There was a concert I'd be interested in ~once a week instead of a couple per night. On the other hand, several houses full of friends and co-workers lived within a five minute walk which was great. That said, it's still one of the biggest metro areas in the US. -I thought it was cool/exciting to live in a city where policy and politics were happening (though I think I'd enjoy less today). -I think there were some disadvantages to everybody being very networky and the culture being kind of conservative.

Hell yes to all of this. I'll also add that as someone who grew up in a small town (not a universal experience but probably a shared one) I found mega-cities like New York or London to be so overwhelming in their scale that just trying to get around was stressful.

DC is, as Anon mentions, a pretty compact city, and young professionals tend to live in a small number of neighborhoods (Petworth, Shaw, Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Mt. Pleasant, H St — I'm probably dating myself with this list) that aren't far apart from each other. You can walk from the center of AdMo to the center of Petworth in about 40 minutes. I found that really helpful in getting used to living in a city in general, and getting good at living in a city is useful for doing impactful work.

Anyway, excited to see you all at EAG this month :)

I mostly agree but a few counterpoints (I've been in DC for about 1yr total now). 

1. The summers are absolutely miserable if you dislike humidity. 
2.  In general compared to SF and even Berlin I've found people (outside of the EA community) to be much more reactive and zero sum in their thinking than people who dream big and have visions of the future they want to build towards.
3. Echoing the company town comment- I feel like every conversation is about politics/policy/international affairs, which bugged me in SF about tech (there's so much more to life! ) and was one of the things I loved about Berlin where I felt there was a much better mix of artists, tech people, government workers,  etc.
4. I have mixed feelings about OP's #4 as I have met quite a few mission oriented people, but I also meet a lot of very cynical and burnt out people, especially at work. 
5. Many meetings feel very transactional (I see jokes all the time about people wondering if they're on a date or networking) and people cycle in and out of the city quickly and often.

On net however, I think it's a decent American city to live in and it certainly does punch above its weight for museums, architecture, restaurants, and even flights given its status as the capital. 

I just want to emphasize this point: "Non-EAs living in DC tend to be pretty impact-oriented and ambitious"

One of the main reasons that DC has a reputation as a bad place to live is that most people find this aspect of DC culture to be annoying and off-putting. And while I disagree with those people, I agree with their judgment that it is a distinctive feature of life here. DC people talk a lot about their jobs. They very sincerely believe their work is important. People who would never in a million years identify as EAs would still tell you (and genuinely believe) that they are dedicating their lives to doing good in the world. They network quite aggressively on behalf of those goals. Lots of people really hate this and spread anti-DC rhetoric around the country. But it's important to tune out the normative judgment and focus on the object-level take. DC is full of people who care a lot about the impact they are having on the world and who will not think you are crazy if this is something you want to talk about. If that sounds attractive to you, you will like it here.

I moved to DC in January and it's great so far. I'm now starting a new EA-aligned community center here. I'm expecting more EA momentum in DC in the next couple of years.

DC has the most equestrian statues of any city in the country, and once they erect another one it'll tie Paris for the most of any city worldwide. Another plus.

+10 as someone making the move from Berkeley to DC :)

I broadly agree, but to further add some color: if you like nature, what you have easy access to in DC is methadone compared to the Bay area, or really anywhere in the western US. Shenandoah National Park is... nice; the Chesapeake Bay is... nice. Further afield, Western Virginia has some pretty bits, and you're not too far from the beautiful areas of Appalachia, the South, or New England. But you're not that close either, and you certainly won't find any Yosemite. Unless outdoorsy activities are a very important part of your overall wellbeing, this probably shouldn't overrule other factors, as ultimately there are nice things around to see and do (be glad you at least have methadone!), but for some people it is in fact a clear and somewhat painful tradeoff that you will be reminded of acutely every time you go visit friends in the Bay area.

I would add that another factor in DC's favor is diversity. Of course, DC is one of the most international cities in the world, and certainly the country, in large part due to its importance to international affairs, so you will easily hear 5-6 languages spoken in a day out on the town. This is not necessarily all that different from the Bay area, though I think DC's international connections are in fact significantly more diverse due to the range of countries from which people often come to DC. In my experience, the social and professional circles of most EAs in DC are also significantly more demographically diverse than the Bay area. Personally, although I am white, I prefer living in a place where I feel like people of any race or ethnicity would feel comfortable, which is often not how the Bay area feels to me; DC seems significantly better on this dimension. If you are Black in particular, the Black community which makes up a plurality of DC's population could be a strong positive factor for you. On the other hand, it's worth noting that DC has a much smaller Asian population than the Bay area, so if those communities are important to you, this could be a downside (for example, there are very few Buddhist temples in DC).