OP, you really need to find some reliable crime statistics. Do you not believe what you hear? Some people don't mind never going out at night, for example.

We left Bowie because we were unhappy with the schools. We moved to Montgomery county. With multiple children it didn't make sense to pay for private school.
That was 95% of the reason we left. In terms of shopping and things to do, there were plenty. In fact I felt like there was much more to do with close proximity to Annapolis,Baltimore and DC than we now have in Montgomery county. I was very happy with my shopping options as well - wegmans, Macy's, MOMs organics.

FWIW Hyattsville (east more than west) and College Park are nice neighborhoods with a lot of diversity. The new Arts District in Hyattsville has some good restaurants and very nice neighborhoods of new condos and older single family homes. It has a s ort of Takoma Park feel to it and the people are nice. I don't know about the public schools, but there are some good privates that won't break the bank.

DCUM skews weathy. People on here like Bethesda, Chevy Chase, NW DC, and North Arlington. If you can't afford these areas (and most mere mortals can't), you're in trouble, because everywhere else is in the ghetto or the dreaded "exurbs." If you say you're happy living in these other areas, you are lying.

Here are my reasons:

Crime
Lack of diversity (I like the international feel of Fairfax better as suppose to the monoracial social settings)
Terrible Schools (my uncle who currently teaches in PG County talks all the time about how terrible it is to teach there and he taught in DCPS for years)
No great shopping, restaurants, or cultural amenities like the other surrounding counties
Corrupt local leaders
Mentality (there is no desire or focus on change there. It continues to decrease in regards to quality of life)
DC gentrification (As DC continues to gentrify many of their cesspool of criminals, Section 8 government dependency types, and ghetto fabulous types seem to flock to PG County which is another reason for the crime and poor quality schools.)
Police Department

Also, this may not be PC to say, but I'm going to say it, "I really don't care to live around African Americans who continue to ignore the pathology that exist within their communities and I am African American. It's just sad to see the pathologies in PG County and to accept it as the norm. Even talking to relatives whom reside there they seem to accept the dysfunctionalism as normal life. It drives me totally insane to see my people settled for less than what they deserve. I mean PG isn't Baltimore City or Southeast DC, but the Washington DC area have better options for families to live. There is a reason why the homes are so cheap there.

I'm a resident of PG County- having moved here from NOVA. I don't really understand all the negativity surrounding PG County at all. First, Maryland as a state is more diverse and liberal than VA- which we greatly appreciated. The commute from our neighborhood into DC or Bethesda is a cinch- either by rail or car. Our commute from Pentagon City on the blue line downtown was god-awful... trains were always packed and delayed, and the summer tourists are disgusting. Then there's the good part of Arlington that is a concrete jungle- complete lack of green space. It is the complete opposite in MD... there are so many public parks, with real playgrounds and space and splash parks, etc. Homes in University Park are beautiful, same as Arts District Hyattsville, and Historic District of Hyattsville.
The only thing that stinks is the high property tax rate... but we aren't moving back to NOVA just to save 2k/yr on property taxes.
I should also mention... public schools in PG are NOT all bad. And Prince Georges has some very nice private schools that don't reach 30k a year.

Schools not as good as MoCo
Nowhere near either of our jobs
Not close to any of the store or restaurants we frequent
Not as accessible to the areas of the city and northern VA where we go
Higher crime

There is almost no shopping in PG. There are also very few restaurants too.
As the more dangerous parts of DC have been taken over by yuppies and hipsters, the poor people and the crime have moved to PG.
PG has about 80 murders a year. Montgomery County has about 15.

Why so many folks on here against the area? Not asking to be argumentative, looking for some solid info from people in the area.

PG is majority African American and parts of it are relatively poor. Property values are generally lower than in other area jurisdictions which impacts tax revenue and school funding. As you would expect, poorer localities suffer from higher crime rates. A lot of the negativity here, IMO, is knee jerk reaction to Fox (and other) news reports of incidents of crime "in PG County" and the broad paint brush is applied to the County as a whole. There are very nice parts of it too, certainly. Spending time there and making up your own mind is really the way to go if you're thinking of moving there.

I have a friend with a middle-school aged son who lives in PG. She is planning to move to either MoCo or Howard at the end of this school year - the schools aren't just bad, they are APPALLINGLY bad. Teachers cursing and making sexually explicit comments in class. Admins who can't find student records for months on end. Massive overcrowding in classrooms with teachers who can't handle it (and who can handle 35 students in a class, really).

You may see people on here who say that there are bad schools in MoCo. But I have never heard or read anything that comes close to her son's experience.

I have a friend who bought a new house in Accokeek (sp?) She says her family (who are latino/white) have had a hard time fitting in with neighbors. Also they are using private schools because the public elementary is huge and has huge class sizes. She also complains about crime.

I live in DC and I'm sure the crime is way worse in my neighborhood. A lot of schools in the district are bad, but a savy parent can navigate them. My feeling is there are fewer options in DC (like no out of boundary and fewer charters).

I think she regrets buying in PG and would have in retrospect bought in Charles County or Anarundel, even though those are further out.

I should also add that we did not just shop for a house. We shopped for neighborhood, walk score, and amenities. As long as you find what you are looking for in those things in PG, go for it. I have heard great things from friends in College Park, Hyattsville, and other nabes.

lousy schools and crime.

Compared to Montgomery County, the schools are not as good. A lot of people complain about Mo Co Schools, but we are very satisfied. Note that there are people here who will not be satisfied with any school experience ever, so you can't come here hoping for consensus on schools.

The commute into DC is too long, and that's where I work.

Looking from afar (on line), not from area but will be moving soon, I see some very nice houses (on line of course so could be misleading) in PG county. Why so many folks on here against the area? Not asking to be argumentative, looking for some solid info from people in the area.

I know many folks complain about the lousy schools, but from what I can see the DC metro area is littered with lousy schools (based on posts and comments on this forum, not from personal experience)

So help a girl out, would ya?

Thanks!