I do think thread was started by a troll. And lack of clarity from OP on work/school locations, despite many requests for that, tends to confirm that suspicion.

The tolls analysis is bogus and was rigged to produce highest possible dollar costs. There are non-toll paths along all of the tolled routes, and they do take a bit longer, but not as dramatically longer as PP claims.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is patently false. Maryland has a significantly better top-10 public (leagues better than UVA).

Literally nobody thinks U. Maryland is better than U. Virginia.

Times Higher Education (UMD is 114, UVA is 166)
CWUR (UVA is 71, UMD is 79)
QS (UMD is 169, UVA is 260)
USNews Global rankings (UMD is 57, UVA is 119)

Ah, yes, so we have a "leading consulting organization" (which ranks UVA higher), some Chinese thing (QS), and the US News global rankings (their normal rankings have UVA 24 and UMD 46). I'll spot you the Times Higher Education thing, which ranks both behind such notables as Yonsei University, Leiden University, UNSW Sydney, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Tubingen, University of Southampton, and University of Alberta. Cool.

Rankings aside, your original claim that UMD is "leagues better" than UVA is simply not a conclusion that a serious person can reach (to say nothing of the non-flagship schools, which are significantly stronger in VA).

Anonymous wrote:

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.

How much are people paying in tolls a month?

Taking the Dulles Toll Road to quickly get from Fairfax County or Loudoun County to Arlington (and back) is a max of $6 each way (free routes can be much slower during rush hour). Take it 20 times per month and that’s $240.

However, the express lanes to get from NOVA to DC use dynamic rolling and routinely cost $25 to $45 each way during peak rush hour. Do that 20 times per month and you could have a toll bill of $1200 to $1600 per month. If you qualify for HOV-3 (commute with two others ), you can take the express lanes for free. One obviously doesn’t have to take the express lanes to get into DC, but it can make the difference between a 30 minute commute and a 60min or longer commute each way.

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.

How much are people paying in tolls a month?

Compare policy and actions of Governors.

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.

+ 1,000. This is a known fact.

CPA

I think these threads with generic prompts are started by trolls just to start fights.

In order to give productive advice, we need more information like job location, children, likes/dislikes, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is patently false. Maryland has a significantly better top-10 public (leagues better than UVA).

Literally nobody thinks U. Maryland is better than U. Virginia.

Times Higher Education (UMD is 114, UVA is 166)
CWUR (UVA is 71, UMD is 79)
QS (UMD is 169, UVA is 260)
USNews Global rankings (UMD is 57, UVA is 119)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is patently false. Maryland has a significantly better top-10 public (leagues better than UVA).

Only Virginians think UVA is a top school.

And US News.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is patently false. Maryland has a significantly better top-10 public (leagues better than UVA).

But it only has one major public university. Virginia has several.

At the end of the day, does it really matter?

For undergrad, MD is still a decent deal.

In-State Tuition per year:

UMD College Park $11,000
Towson $10,500
UMD Baltimore Co $12,000
Salisbury $10,000

UVA $19,000
W&M $24,000
Tech $14,000
VCU $15,000