Is Cumberland, MD any good? Its so affordable for Maryland! (Hagerstown: crime rate, cheap house)

[Need_affordable_home]

I was not expecting to find any affordable housing in the state of MD, but I did! Theres another smaller town nearby with half the crime called Frostburg.
How bad is crime in Cumberland? What do people do for fun? Is that house for $60k any good?


http://homepics.realtor.com/image10/http/washingtondc/listings/large/096/al6214401.jpg (broken link)

[Randysmom]

What are you planning to do for a living?

Cumberland is an old coal mining town and it is very depressed. It has been for a very long time. Housing is cheap because there are no jobs.

Frostburg is a college town. (I went to Frostburg State way back when.) There are very few jobs outside of the college. It's a cute little town. I have fond memories of my four years there, but I can't say that I'd want to live there permanently. It is very cold in the winters with lots of snow. The summers are very nice because you are in the mountains.

About 20 years ago the state of Maryland decided that the industry in Western Maryland was dead and they started developing the area for tourism. As a result there is a lot of outdoor recreation - skiing, hiking, state parks, white water rafting, etc. If you're into the outdoors - especially winter sports, you will probably be happy in the area. If you'd like nightlife (aside from college keg parties :lol ) and culture, this is probably not the area for you.

Hope this helps.

[pkoons]

Cumberland has at least a little bit of a downtown area, with access to major highways and basic shopping. They will likely buld the DC suburbs further out and eventually have a MARC train station within 20-30 minutes of Cumberland, so I do expect this area to see a slight revitalization relatively soon. Allegheny County is very safe and more reminsicent of WV and western PA than it is of the rest of Maryland.

The house you showed looked like a typical Cumberland house. Probably a good buy for 60k.

Some of the big drawbacks are the negative connotations associated with the huge max security prison in Cresaptown (it's in the Cumberland zip codes) and the lack of jobs.

I would not personally want to live there, but I would recommend it very highly over most of the other choices you have presented in other threads.

[Stormcrow73]

A MARC train within 20-30 minutes of Cumberland?!!? I could maybe see one being built out close to Hagerstown but even then I wouldn't think they'd do it anyday soon. I thought there was an ATK plant in Cumberland where they make composite parts for spacecraft but I can't find it on their website now. That's about all the industry I can think of out there.

[Mike from back east]

Most industry left. Years ago. The B&O Railroad was always the big employer. Now it's part of CSX and they are still a big employer there, with yards and shops and a training facility.

Cumberland was always been a big railroad town....since 1842 or so. I've been there a few times chasing trains...it's an affliction...some people chase NASCAR around the country, or the Grateful Dead...or the....

Can't foresee MARC trains getting any closer than Hancock, MD. Currently the closest MARC train is Martinsburg, WV. A Hancock, MD to DC Union Station train commute will be 2.5 hours, each way. Amtrak currently serves Cumberland once each day eastbound and westbound, via the Capitol Limited.

s/Mike

[katzenfreund]

I agree with the other poster that thought Cumberland is a better choice than other places you have mentioned. You will be self employed, so jobs won't be an issue for you. We visited Cumberland a few times in the past few years and thought it wouldn't be a bad place to live, if there were more jobs there. Since that is NOT an issue for you, go for it...check it out. Western MD is very pretty, hilly, lots of woods and lots of old charming houses in Cumberland. Plenty of shopping, too and it appeared pretty safe when we visited. Some nice little shops downtown and in the summer they have outdoor music concerts. People seemed friendly, too.

[Need_affordable_home]

The crime in Cumberland is 440 so thats moderately high. Still its affordable Maryland living, the rest of that state is expensive! I am currently making a list of all the cities in USA that are affordable for me. So far Cedar Rapids is high on my list.

[mandyh]

I was born and raised in the Cumberland and Frostburg area's. The crime is very low. I have alway's felt safe on the streets in downtown. You cant go by statistic's you have to go and check the area out. This is the local newspaper's web site (I guess it's ok to post?) if not you can PM me.
times-news.com It's a nice area, if there is a bad side of town it would be the south side. Job's are not plentful but there are a few new business's opening up in the next year. The weather in Cumb. is a lot warmer than Frostburg. The elevation is about a 1500 ft. difference. This means it can snow in Frostburg and nothing will be happening 10 miles away in Cumb.

The house you show is on Md Ave. They have been trying to clean that neighborhood up. Right now I would say that is not a good place to buy. A lot of the crime that does go on in Cumb. is on that street and Virginia Ave and Race st. Most of it is domestic disputes and drugs. hope this help's.

[Need_affordable_home]

It figures the nice cheap house in Cumberland, MD is in the highest crime part! I guess ill pass, crime scares me too much! Im looking at towns and cities in WV and many have crime index of between 0 and 150 vs. the 440 in Cumberland, MD. Thanks for your help. Positive reputation for you.

[mandyh]

Three murder's in seven years doesn't strike me as high crime. I looked at the report and there's a lot of thefts and that kind of stuff. Never heard about it being that bad in the news. If you read the newspaper, this is what most of the drug busts consist of. The forest rangers busting out of town campers siting around the camp fire smoking a joint & state troopers stopping supicious cars that are speeding (they're always carying drugs, Duh?). It's not like the big city at all. With the prison opening up a few years ago it has probably changed crime rate a bit. The prison has brought in a criminal element and that is a shame.

The outlying areas are still very laid back and country. My husbands job has brought us to Tampa FL 3 months ago. It has been a total Culture/traffic shock, Ha! Ha!. Cumberland & anything within a 50 mile radius is going to be a complete opposite of Tampa. It is worth checking out.