Moving for a New Job in Baltimore — Torn Between Montgomery County and Howard County for Our Family

[Anonymous]

I just reread and you say the office is “near” Baltimore. Where?

[Anonymous]

You will be miserable commuting from Mont Cty. Baltimore Museum of Art and Walters Art Gallery in Bmore city are great and free. Also good zoo, science museum and great aquarium. Absolutely second suggestion you look at Ruxton in the county or Roland Park in the city.

[Anonymous]

Np, I live on Baltimore city. Most people who work in the city either live here or Baltimore county. MoCo is not a realistic commute and Howard county commute is much better but not great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We’re currently living in a suburb of Boston and really enjoy aspects of city life—exploring different restaurants, museums, and cultural activities.

I might be underestimating the commute. My current commute is around 70 minutes on a typical day and can stretch to 1.5 hours on bad days. From what I’ve heard, commuting between DC and Baltimore can be pretty brutal—is it not considered counter-traffic?

There will be more traffic heading towards dc but there is rush hour traffic going into and out of Baltimore city. 695, which you will need to take from Howard county, gets particularly bad.

[Anonymous]

At least look at Baltimore before deciding you don’t want to live there. Howard county is fine but not exactly a hotbed of culture.

[Anonymous]

I would definitely move to Baltimore.

[Anonymous]

I’ve lived in Baltimore, DC and Boston. DC lacks some of the parts of Boston that Baltimore has. For example, Baltimore has the National Aquarium, Science Center and Children’s Museum, all of which DC families travel for. (DC’s KID museum and children’s museum are small and don’t compare to the ones in Baltimore and Boston).

Baltimore also has the Peabody whereas DC doesn’t have a comparable conservatory. This is good both for music lesson s and concerts.

Baltimore has much better university programming for youth. John’s Hopkins runs the Center for Talented Youth and other youth programs, similar to the way MIT runs youth programming. DC’s universities have summer programs but they’re not nearly as rigorous.

+1 to Ruxton or Roland Park. I would actually choose Roland Park as a first choice.

[Anonymous]

We live in Baltimore city. I would recommend it over Howard County. When we moved here from Chicago, we looked at houses in both and quickly realized that Howard County was too suburban for us. I suggest visiting both. Also, don’t do Montgomery County. Way too far of a commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve lived in Baltimore, DC and Boston. DC lacks some of the parts of Boston that Baltimore has. For example, Baltimore has the National Aquarium, Science Center and Children’s Museum, all of which DC families travel for. (DC’s KID museum and children’s museum are small and don’t compare to the ones in Baltimore and Boston).

Baltimore also has the Peabody whereas DC doesn’t have a comparable conservatory. This is good both for music lesson s and concerts.

Baltimore has much better university programming for youth. John’s Hopkins runs the Center for Talented Youth and other youth programs, similar to the way MIT runs youth programming. DC’s universities have summer programs but they’re not nearly as rigorous.

+1 to Ruxton or Roland Park. I would actually choose Roland Park as a first choice.

Also DC does not have a science center. The air and space museum or Natural History Museum are the closest, but they’re narrower in scope and much less engaging and interactive.

[Anonymous]

Bethesda is the best

[Anonymous]

Howard county with out a doubt.

[Anonymous]

This is a no-brainer. Howard county!

[Anonymous]

We’ve lived in Howard County 30 years and both commuted to jobs in Baltimore. Granted, we live in the eastern part of Columbia so it’s very easy to get to 95 which is a straight shot to Baltimore.

We don’t have kids in the school system right now, but I’ve heard there were recent budget cuts that affected the 3rd grade strings program and maybe some cuts to GT positions. Of course you’ll be researching the schools, just wanted to give a heads up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We’re currently living in a suburb of Boston and really enjoy aspects of city life—exploring different restaurants, museums, and cultural activities.

I might be underestimating the commute. My current commute is around 70 minutes on a typical day and can stretch to 1.5 hours on bad days. From what I’ve heard, commuting between DC and Baltimore can be pretty brutal—is it not considered counter-traffic?

Commute from MoCo isn't so bad once you hit the ICC. I go early and there isn’t much traffic most days.

I agree that HoCo makes more sense for your commute. But I hate HoCo and would pick Rockville over that any day for the life style.

I also love all that MCPS has to offer for kids. My third has just graduated and each of my kids had very different school experiences because of what they elected to take advantage of.

[Anonymous]

I commuted from Olney/Sandy Spring/Highland to Baltimore most days of the week for years. That was okay, but long. I wouldn’t want to go farther out, like Bethesda or Potomac. I would absolutely choose HoCo over MoCo in your shoes. Baltimore is a really awesome city in its own right. You might find you really like it!