MD vs VA

[Anonymous]

I'm an outsider considering moving my family to the DMV. I want to live somewhere family friendly and affordable on $300k income. Can someone run down the differences between MD and VA? Is one going to be cheaper?

[Anonymous]

Maryland will be cheaper. Virginia has personal property tax. You can get cheaper housing within reasonable commuting distance to DC in Charles County, PG County, Howard, and Montgomery than you’ll find in Fairfax, Loudoun, city of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Arlington.

[Anonymous]

If family-friendly for you includes good schools, DMV will not be affordable.
People usually live in this area because of work, and select locations based on commute. Traffic seems to be getting back to pre-Covid state, which was brutal. If I were a remote worker with kids in school, I would not move to DMV.

[Anonymous]

It depends what you do for work, I work in tech and there are more of those jobs in VA. MD has more pharma and healthcare jobs. MD is slightly more liberal and slightly higher tax due to the county level income tax they add on but both areas are very liberal leaning. I’m more moderate or slightly conservative and I prefer VA. If you make 300k and live in MoCo MD you will pay almost $10k a year more in income tax (they’re at a flat 3.2% at the county level) compared to VA. VA taxes you on your car’s value so if you have 6 figures worth of vehicles you’ll pay a lot… if you have an older cheaper car you won’t notice it much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends what you do for work, I work in tech and there are more of those jobs in VA. MD has more pharma and healthcare jobs. MD is slightly more liberal and slightly higher tax due to the county level income tax they add on but both areas are very liberal leaning. I’m more moderate or slightly conservative and I prefer VA. If you make 300k and live in MoCo MD you will pay almost $10k a year more in income tax (they’re at a flat 3.2% at the county level) compared to VA. VA taxes you on your car’s value so if you have 6 figures worth of vehicles you’ll pay a lot… if you have an older cheaper car you won’t notice it much.

DP. Good info, thanks! I do notice more of my newer neighbors being in tech.

[Anonymous]

Maryland has a saner state gov't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maryland will be cheaper. Virginia has personal property tax. You can get cheaper housing within reasonable commuting distance to DC in Charles County, PG County, Howard, and Montgomery than you’ll find in Fairfax, Loudoun, city of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Arlington.

Maryland has higher income tax and higher real property taxes, so not sure why you claim it will be cheaper.

[Anonymous]

-MD deep blue and you feel it
-VA more in the middle
-higher crime in MD - more petty stuff and violent crimes VS VA has more crimes of passion
-MD higher income taxes (county) of 3% - so if you lived in VA you would save roughly 180k over 20 yrs
-VA has car tax but as long as you dont drive an expensive car, its a wash after you factor in all the energy taxes and all the other crap MD will tax you for

[Anonymous]

VA has the crazy expensive tolls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:-MD deep blue and you feel it
-VA more in the middle
-higher crime in MD - more petty stuff and violent crimes VS VA has more crimes of passion
-MD higher income taxes (county) of 3% - so if you lived in VA you would save roughly 180k over 20 yrs
-VA has car tax but as long as you dont drive an expensive car, its a wash after you factor in all the energy taxes and all the other crap MD will tax you for

VA also has toll charges everywhere. It can get expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maryland will be cheaper. Virginia has personal property tax. You can get cheaper housing within reasonable commuting distance to DC in Charles County, PG County, Howard, and Montgomery than you’ll find in Fairfax, Loudoun, city of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Arlington.

Maryland has higher income tax and higher real property taxes, so not sure why you claim it will be cheaper.

As a longtime DC resident who is in the process of figuring out which suburb we will be moving to, I do think Maryland comes out cheaper overall, though you're correct about the taxes.

It might depend on the individual, though. When we run the numbers based on cost of housing in our preferred school boundaries, our tax rates, and commuting costs, Maryland is the clear winner. The things that push VA higher are the car tax (especially if you have two newer, nicer cars) and housing costs. VA suburbs are much more aggressively tearing down old housing stock to put up massive, expensive new builds, and that seems to drive up prices overall. Montgomery County has a lot more affordable homes (well, affordable to us) with good schools.

One exception might be Annandale -- we really like the housing stock there and it's affordable, but the school's are less popular and it doesn't get around the personal property tax. We also like Alexandria but housing costs are through the roof there and again, the reviews on the schools are just okay.

[Anonymous]

Virginia has many more, and generally better regarded, state colleges and universities, and those give admission preference to state residents along with lower in-state tuition. That might be a consideration in your decision if you expect to have one or more children applying in the future.

[Anonymous]

In terms of quality of life, Montgomery County has lots of parks and green space, even in the urban areas. It's much better when it comes to planning/zoning, as well. So you don't have stuff like gun stores next to schools.

But Fairfax seems to narrowly win when it comes to asian restaurants.

In reality, they are very similar. So pick what works best for your commute, i.e., least painless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:-MD deep blue and you feel it
-VA more in the middle
-higher crime in MD - more petty stuff and violent crimes VS VA has more crimes of passion
-MD higher income taxes (county) of 3% - so if you lived in VA you would save roughly 180k over 20 yrs
-VA has car tax but as long as you dont drive an expensive car, its a wash after you factor in all the energy taxes and all the other crap MD will tax you for

VA also has toll charges everywhere. It can get expensive.

This is completely dependent on where you live and work. I live in VA and almost never pay tolls. If you really want to avoid them there are always alternate routes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an outsider considering moving my family to the DMV. I want to live somewhere family friendly and affordable on $300k income. Can someone run down the differences between MD and VA? Is one going to be cheaper?

MD: higher income taxes, higher insurance premiums for your car. Higher transaction costs for real estate.

VA: Personal property tax for your car. Homes generally more expensive. Better public university system.