Moving to Maryland from Canada --- Pls advice (Baltimore, Eldersburg: low crime, homes)

[Maxfacs]

Hi everyone,

We are planning to move to Maryland from Ontario, Canada in the Summer and need your input on best/good place to live with best/good elementary schools, recreation centres,low crime, etc..
My husband will work in Baltimore downtown area.School is super important so hour and half each way commute to work is not an issue (hahaha… like to see him when he reads this!! ). Looking for suburb setting but not middle of no where

Thank you all in advance.

[Gabrielle]

I would like to recommend southern Carroll County (Eldersburg, Sykesville, Mt. Airy). The school district is excellent, commute to Baltimore is 30-45 minutes. Very low crime. It's just an all-around great place to live.

[StupidityPolice]

Compared to Canada I dont think you are going to find many areas one could consider low crime. Small US cities have more murders and crime than large Canadian cities with millions of people. Good luck.

[J_Lurk]

We moved here a couple of weeks ago. Everyone told us to look at Howard County and that the "schools are nationally ranked." We tried to rebel and also looked at quite a bit in Anne Arundel and Baltimore County as those areas were closer to my husband's work. However, we wound up in Howard County. So far we are very happy with the elementary school; it is small, close-knit, and more academically demanding than my child's old school. There are a lot of community activities here. I'm not sure about crime, but we haven't been mugged yet .

[Maxfacs]

Thank you. We will look into these areas for sure. I found this site: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/MD/schoolrank.aspx?pagetype=top10 not sure how realistic the rankings are , and how practical it would be to find home based on this fact

[J_Lurk]

GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community is a good site for evaluating schools, as it has a good combination of test scores and reviews (though you want to check the date on the reviews and take them with a grain of salt; I've seen reviews that refer to principals from years ago).

[Maxfacs]

So far:
1- Southern Carroll (Eldersburg, Sykesville, Mt. Airy).
2- Howard

anywhere else you suggest?
are all cities/towns good to go in those counties?

[Maxfacs]

Originally Posted by J_Lurk

GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community is a good site for evaluating schools, as it has a good combination of test scores and reviews (though you want to check the date on the reviews and take them with a grain of salt; I've seen reviews that refer to principals from years ago).

oh thanks, that's great

[teleblazer]

Since you have already submitted to the fact that you will spend a while in the car it opens your options up to other areas in which you can look for good housing, schools and children friendly neighborhood. We're actually leaving an area called Mount Airy (also spelled Mt. Airy which I think Gabrielle mentioned). It is loaded with schools and kids.

Not knowing your budget for a home, I should warn you that the cost of housing is pretty high in many MD areas even during these economic times, so expect to pay a pretty penny for whatever you get but there are deals to be had.

Ultimately you get what you pay for and the luxury of the good neighborhoods and good schools often translate into home values shooting through the roof. In our neighborhood we have homes from the mid 500s up to the model that's close to 750k available. It sounds like a lot coming from another country or compared to some other U.S. states but you soon realize the high costs are the norm in most "good areas".

Good luck in your search.

[tpburke]

I suggest looking in Harford County. They offer public transportation to the downtown area. The schools are great in the Bel Air area, the cost of living (taxes etc.) are much lower then the city and south of the city. The schools are great, C.Milton Wright High School nationally ranked, South Hampton Middle and Fountain Green Elementary all ranked 1 or 2 in the County. Harford County is ranked 1-2 in the state in school systems. Moving is never easy especially to an area the totally unknown.