Best place for a bachelor to live near Ft. Meade? (Baltimore: best neighborhoods, violent crime)

[YatNotFound]

I know there are a lot of these threads, but most seem to be families. Some background on me. I'm 26, unmarried without children, and have just accepted a job offer in Ft. Meade. I've lived in New Orleans for my entire life, so I don't know anything about the area.

Details:
- 85k salary
- Obviously, I'd like to live somewhere safe.
- It would be nice if there was some sort of night life or fun things to do within a reasonable distance. (Otherwise I'm not sure the girlfriend will agree to leave New Orleans with me :-D)
- 2 bedroom rental
- 30-45 minute commute to Ft Meade for work.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

You can live well in some of the best neighborhoods of Baltimore City for that money.

I'd start with Federal Hill and enlarge your search from there.

http://www.livebaltimore.com/neighbo...t/federalhill/

[YatNotFound]

I'm not sure how much statistics can tell me, but Baltimore itself is #5 in the US for violent crimes. That's bad even by New Orleans standards. That being said, I'm very aware of the situation in New Orleans. There are some neighborhoods that are great and some that you'd be very wise to stay away from.

Is the crime in Baltimore centralized to one or a few parts of town? I guess that's the whole point of this thread. There's only so much one can learn from census data. I need to know which areas are the best to live in, and which I should stay away from.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by YatNotFound

I'm not sure how much statistics can tell me, but Baltimore itself is #5 in the US for violent crimes. That's bad even by New Orleans standards. That being said, I'm very aware of the situation in New Orleans. There are some neighborhoods that are great and some that you'd be very wise to stay away from.

Is the crime in Baltimore centralized to one or a few parts of town? I guess that's the whole point of this thread. There's only so much one can learn from census data. I need to know which areas are the best to live in, and which I should stay away from.

I've been to New Orleans a few times. The two cities are actually sort of similar, in terms of crime and perception of crime. Don't get hung up on crime stats too much. It's pretty easy to avoid the bad parts of town much as it is in N.O.

Crime in Baltimore is not centralized but it's in places you won't have a reason to go to. I've been here for over 3 years and haven't had a problem.

I recommended Federal Hill based on your preference to be near nightlife and also on its convenient location for commuting south to the base. Other safe bets include Canton and Mt Vernon, but there are others.

You can live out in the suburbs too, if that's what you want. There's less fun stuff to do there, of course.

[RogueMom]

Check out Pasadena, Maryland.

[KLynch10]

Federal Hill is the place you want to be. I've lived here for 7 years, nothing even close to a problem. The neighborhood is filled with young professionals, sports leagues, tons of bars, attractions, and two pro sport teams.

At your salary, you should live a pretty good life here. It's about a 20 minute drive to Ft. Meade, depending on Traffic.

[diplomat74]

Federal hill is definitely where you want to look into

[YatNotFound]

Thanks for all the advice. I'll certainly check out Federal Hill.

[(-)]

just to play the contrary role, i'd like to suggest a few other alternatives. I'm in my early 30's but I lived in the city when I was around your age. I still own property in the city. Outside of Federal Hill you can check out:

Canton - I actually think the women are hotter in canton (if your straight) if that helps. Plenty of bars, access to the waterfront, access to the highways.

Patterson Park - Not too far from Canton, surrounds one of Baltimore's best parks. Strong community group. Plenty of young folks that don't want to pay canton prices but want to be close to canton.

Charles Village - Your 26, which puts you into the grad student age. Charles Village has a plethora of things to do for folks in your age bracket. Your income separates you from the struggling college student, which will probably look really good to younger John's Hopkins or Loyola students. Not close to highways.

Nothing on the Anne Arundel side is really geared towards younger folks in your demo. If you were 26, with 2 kids, making 5k a year i'd suggest Brooklyn or Curtis Bay but you're in an entirely different category from them.

[KLynch10]

Good assessments of those neighborhoods, I think they are all great, but Federal Hill is the closest to 295 by a good 10 minutes. I'd say Federal Hill is slightly more Preppy and Ivy League than Canton, but they are both pretty similar and both have extremely attractive women.