Is crime really that bad in Maryland? (Baltimore, Silver Spring: how much, live in)

[titaniummd]

Like everyone said, PG county and Baltimore City give the rest of the state a bad name. Montgomery county is one of the best counties in the country (except for taxes).

[Carlaclaws]

For the most part, you'll find Maryland to be quite safe, even in the DC and Baltimore metro areas. There are many bad areas in Prince George's County, but also some nice ones. Most of Montgomery is very nice and safe. (For that matter, so is most of D.C.) I am African American, and the only places I've felt unwelcome were rural sections of Charles County, and I've had a few bad experiences in western Fairfax County, but they've been relatively few and far between. (Someone once told me that they moved to western Ffx. to get away from "people like you." I suppose I should have thanked her.)

[lscalder]

I live in Pg county and I have not witness or heard of any crime. I live in Upper Marlboro. People need to stop labeling the entire county and starting labeling areas where the crimes are in pg county like capitol Heights, District Heights, Temple Hill, Oxon Hill and Hyattsville. If you are planning on moving to Pg county move to Upper Marlboro, Bowie, CLinton, Fort Washingtin,BrandyWine,Mitchellville,Accrokee in these areas is where the government is spending the most money to develope because the prices of homes, All the educated people in pg live in these county,beautiful areas,Nice homes,Friendly people,No crimes or violence,middle to high class family no poor poor because they cannot afford to live their which I am so happy for. If you cannot afford a $500,000 and up home you might as well forget about these areas. when people say pg is bad they are talking about the poor and cheap areas are bad me myself donot go into the poor areas. I feel 100% safe living in upper Marlboro. In my community and surrounding in the higher parts of pg county very one have to be highly educated and highly paid to afford the high living and the safe environment just like any where in the country. So if some one ever say they cannot afford the high prices in the nice areas of pg more then likely they are poor and need to make more money to come here and live. I am not liostening to folks who live in Landover,Capitol Heights, District Heights because they will have bad experiences in pg county because thats the ppro areas. ANd the poor areas every where will have crimes. My son is 100% safe.

[lscalder]

People have to remember that Baltimore is in Maryland and thats where most of the crimes are in Maryland. Montgomery county and Pg county and the other county.

[isis297]

I lived in MD most of my life and have actually thought about moving back just because I miss my friends and family and all there is to do around MD. Plus my whole family has had a horrible time with allergies here in NY whereas back in MD, we went almost 2 years without anything much more than a sniffle.

Sadly though, every area has their crimes in MD or anywhere - just some parts are worse. My mom has lived in the same house almost her whole life. She just turned 61. It was a great neighborhood when I was little. Now, I would not send my kids outside to play alone. It isn't the worst but every so often you have people who will literally go up one side of the street and break into just about every car. She just had 2 men this morning at 3 am trying to get into her basement area...thank God she had it padlocked from the inside. The Christmas before last, someone broke in and stole stuff. Like I said, there are actually other places that are much worse and these events are spaced quite apart but when they happen...they happen big time. She's in a small area called Parkville which isn't that far from Towson.

We lived in Hampstead, in Carroll County before moving to NY. That was a nice area...worst things that happened were drive by eggings and kids taking your mailbox. We did hear that it was KKK country and that the high school there was a huge depot for heroin but we didn't have any first hand experience with either. I just looked up Carroll County's school report card though and it looks like they have one of the best systems but I'd want to see what PART of Carroll County that was.

[PGC301]

Like other people have already said, most of the crime in MD is either in Prince George's County or Baltimore city. And since these are fairly large areas (PG pop. - 840,000, Baltimore pop. - 630,000), it affects the crime rates for the whole state.

There is an article in the Bowie Blade this week about this. The Capital News Service released a study showing that over the past 20 years, more than 75% of the murders in Maryland happened in one of these 2 places. PG County, which makes up about 15% of the MD population accounted for 22% of the state's homicides, and Baltimore (11% of the population) accounted for 55% of the murders. So basically, 75% of the murders occur in 25% of the state.

Here's the link in case anyone wants to read it:
http://www.bowieblade.com/vault/cgi-...B/05/03-12.HTM

[RoadTripGurl]

I haven't heard of perryville being "hicktown", there are several of my MARC commuting buddies that live there and enjoy the peace and quiet. I thought North East and Rising Sun was "hicktown" but You'll enjoy Perryville or Cecil and Harford Counties.

[lscalder]

If oyu want to find out if a neighborhood is safe or not do your own research because everyone on the forum have different experience with each county in maryland. WHat you need to do is go to these areas at night and see for your self then talk to the neighbors but coming on this forum is really no help. I say this forum is no help because they way people bash pg county if i had found this forum before moving to Upper Marlboro Maryland which I love I would never move here. There is no where in this world that have peace. You can move to the wealthiest county in America and still have crime so you have to fine whats right for you. I found PG county Upper Marlboro is right for my family and I.

[IDLEFFH]

Yes, it IS that bad. Maryland is in the top 10 states for violent crime.

By the way, it's not the "rednecks" who are committing the crimes. The KKK isn't going to burglarize your home.

[isis297]

Where is this list please? I'd like to see where the other states I am considering fall in the list.

Thanks.