How are the Maryland Suburbs of DC different than the VA Suburbs? (Baltimore: transfer, neighborhoods)

[Skapov]

I think the VA Suburbs beats MD Suburbs because you have lower crime, lower taxes, and more freedom. VA has a more libertarian ethic whereas MD is over-regulated and more lawsuit-happy.

For example, MD places restrictions on the type of Midwife that can attend a Home Birth, they must be a Certified Nurse Midwife (i.e. RN degree + Master's in Obstetrics). In VA, women have the option of choosing a Certified Professional Midwife, or Lay Midwife, who may not have a college degree but often these ladies have 20+ years of hands-on practical experience delivering babies. Anyway, this all came to my attention while planning a Home Birth earlier this year, and since I currently reside in MD I was limited and therefore ended up going to a Birth Center in Alexandria, VA and giving birth in VA last summer. All of the Montgomery County Birth Centers have closed in recent years, due to the theat of lawsuits, and this is a real concern for the growing movement of women who prefer to give birth outside a hospital-setting.

Oh, and VA definitely has the best hospitals/medical-institutions!

[DC's Finest]

I'd take the MD suburbs anyday over VA suburbs (excluding Arlington). People who live in VA think its cool when it is not. VA is so lame!

[terp4ever]

Originally Posted by DC's Finest

I'd take the MD suburbs anyday over VA suburbs (excluding Arlington). People who live in VA think its cool when it is not. VA is so lame!

ditto. I entirely agree about Arlington. In fact Arlington is the only place I would live in VA (or the entire South for that matter), if had to.

IMHO Maryland is way better than VA. According to the CB Maryland is also the highest educated state in the country, and has more doctorates than the entire state of VA, although it has less than half the pop. The secondary schools are better in Montgomery and Howard Counties, and the higher education as well. The only thing the entire state of VA has to offer is UVA and W&M. Maryland has Loyola, UMCP, Hopkins, UMBC etc. which are all good schools and top ranked in some category. The only thing the suburbs of MD and VA share is their extreme wealth (Loudoun is 1st, Ffx is 3nd, Howard is 3rd, MoCo is 8th, and Charles and Calvert are in the top 20 on the wealthiest counties in the country list compiled by the CB).

The transportation system in Maryland is waaay better. You have Commuter Bus, way more Metro lines and stops, Amtrak Northeast Corridor service, three MARC train lines, more (and better) highways I-270, I-95, I-495 etc. Dulles (which is finally getting rail service) is hell to go through, while BWI which is only slightly less busy is one of the best airports to travel to and is easily accessible via the B-W Parkway, 95, MARC, Amtrak (including high-speed Acela), Baltimore Light Rail, or express Metrobus. Driving anywhere is NoVa is a nightmare, and the only place the Metro goes is basically Arlington. The layout of NoVa sucks also--it's the very definition of gross suburban sprawl. Only Arlington (once again the exception) is actually walkable.

Plus CNNMoney frequently rates Maryland towns (such as Germantown in MoCo and Columbia in Howard) on its top 100 commuities list. And yes, certain areas along the PG-DC border suffer from crime (crime is virtually non-existent elsewhere in the Metro area suburbs), it's to be expected since PG borders SE DC (duh). But PG also has some extremely wealthy (and crime free) neighborhoods such as Ft. Washington, Mitchelville, and Bowie.

In the end it all comes down to politics. The Potomac River is the generally accepted border between the North and South (although some Northern Virginians would tell you Fredericksburg in PWC) since the Civil War. And accordingly (despite the Dems winning VA in Nov., who won in a landslide, and was supported by the large African-American presence in VA and NC) MD is (very) liberal and VA is conservative, which is part of the reason why every other person you meet in MD is from NJ or NY (especially the former), and why you're likely to find persons from NC or GA in VA. Maryland is like another Mass. with virtually every local and state elected official, both senators, and 11 out of 12 House Reps. Democrats, while VA is basically another NC. Apart from Arlington (which is basically a large Silver Spring) and some parts of Ffx, the area is still relatively conservative (especially PWC which is a neocon hub).

So it really comes down to whether you lean left or right regarding which place you prefer. Older people also seem to favor VA, while younger people seem to favor MD. Also, if you like rural, middle-of-nowhere living, move to VA. The only truly rural areas of Maryland--the fifth most densely populated state--are in Western MD., which resembles Pennsylvania and West Va (which it borders).

[terp4ever]

Originally Posted by Skapov

I think the VA Suburbs beats MD Suburbs because you have lower crime, lower taxes, and more freedom. VA has a more libertarian ethic whereas MD is over-regulated and more lawsuit-happy.

For example, MD places restrictions on the type of Midwife that can attend a Home Birth, they must be a Certified Nurse Midwife (i.e. RN degree + Master's in Obstetrics). In VA, women have the option of choosing a Certified Professional Midwife, or Lay Midwife, who may not have a college degree but often these ladies have 20+ years of hands-on practical experience delivering babies. Anyway, this all came to my attention while planning a Home Birth earlier this year, and since I currently reside in MD I was limited and therefore ended up going to a Birth Center in Alexandria, VA and giving birth in VA last summer. All of the Montgomery County Birth Centers have closed in recent years, due to the theat of lawsuits, and this is a real concern for the growing movement of women who prefer to give birth outside a hospital-setting.

Oh, and VA definitely has the best hospitals/medical-institutions!

I don't know about midwives, giving birth, and what not, but Maryland has by far the best hospitals/health centers in the region, and the country at large. Montgomery County especially has exceptional medical service, with the only ambulance service in the region that's entirely free. Plus, Maryland is the only state that has its own (public) Medevac service with a fleet of 11 helicopters. Montgomery County has one of the highest hospital bed/resident and doctor/patient ratios in the country, and has numerous public and private hospitals. Adventist Health Care has a number of facilities in the county and is already planning to expand further north. Johns Hopkins in Baltimore provides the best health care in the country period, according to US News and World Report.

Maryland is also home to the second biggest biotech hub in the nation, second to Massachusetts (NJ is third). I'm not saying VA (or DC) healthcare sucks, it just doesn't compare to Maryland's. Honestly the only healthcare facility I could even name in all of NoVa is Inova.

Also, VA does not have significantly lower crime than MD. In the last quarter of '08 crime in Ffx, and PWC spiked dramatically--practically everyday there was a shooting, heroin or illegal immigrant bust or something. Same thing goes for NW DC, but that's a different forum...Richmond also has crime almost as bad as B'mores, and VA Beach/Norfolk have more than their fair share of crime. Crime in MD is concentrated in SW PGC, and North Baltimore. But of course the local news media, particulary newspapers, are biased against PGC and make it seem way worse than it is.

I agree about the lower taxes though, but every Southern state is like that, since they're all run by conservatives. New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Conn. also have high taxes/cost-of-living but are still great places to live. And, if by "more freedom" you mean freedom to inhale second hand smoke, or to have transfat in your foods, or to inhale air pollution on a daily basis you can keep that...

[KeyserSoze]

No, things don't magically change when you cross the Potomac. The only difference is that half is in Maryland, and the other half is in Virginia, and some of the state laws may be different. But as a metro, no.

[kengrubb]

Originally Posted by terp4ever

Also, VA does not have significantly lower crime than MD.

I beg to differ. Maryland is #2 in murder and #2 in robbery among the 50 states.

Table 5 - Crime in the United States 2007 (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/data/table_05.html - broken link)

Maryland
Murder 9.8
Robbery 236
Agg assault 375.1

Virginia
Murder 5.3
Robbery 99.2
Agg assault 142.6

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by kengrubb

I beg to differ. Maryland is #2 in murder and #2 in robbery among the 50 states.

Table 5 - Crime in the United States 2007 (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/data/table_05.html - broken link)

Maryland
Murder 9.8
Robbery 236
Agg assault 375.1

Virginia
Murder 5.3
Robbery 99.2
Agg assault 142.6

Ok. So the whole state of Virginia has less crime. How about just comparing the Northern Part with the corresponding part of Maryland. How does it compare? To me that would be more accurate. I suspect that Virginia would still have less, but not by as much.

[chiefdc]

I think both suburbs are superb, as suburbs go. Both the MD and VA burbs have some of the best public schools in the COUNTRY. Even ones that are weaker regionally (PG and a few in Nova) are superior to those in other jurisdictions around the country. For private schools, you have an incredible number of great ones to choose from. Both have their respective advantages and disadvantages, and are becoming increasingly similar over the years. If I HAD to generalize, I'd say this:
Md Burbs= older, more character and better-planned but also greater potential for blight.
Va Burbs= newer, shinier, and bigger houses in general but more sprawly.
Both have equal immigrant populations and good school districts. Both have good job centers are decent public transit, but awful traffic that could only get worse. All in all though, very good places to raise a family with close proximity to all DC has to offer.

[cyko]

maryland suburbs tend to have more black people and a more urban feeling...im born raised and currently in d.c and thats the only differences i can tell

[JD984]

Originally Posted by chiefdc

I think both suburbs are superb, as suburbs go. Both the MD and VA burbs have some of the best public schools in the COUNTRY. Even ones that are weaker regionally (PG and a few in Nova) are superior to those in other jurisdictions around the country. For private schools, you have an incredible number of great ones to choose from. Both have their respective advantages and disadvantages, and are becoming increasingly similar over the years. If I HAD to generalize, I'd say this:
Md Burbs= older, more character and better-planned but also greater potential for blight.
Va Burbs= newer, shinier, and bigger houses in general but more sprawly.
Both have equal immigrant populations and good school districts. Both have good job centers are decent public transit, but awful traffic that could only get worse. All in all though, very good places to raise a family with close proximity to all DC has to offer.

I was born in MD, and raised in both MD and VA. I generally agree with this poster, including his or her observation about the Maryland suburbs generally having more character.

I do take issue with his or her observation regarding the schools. If you look at the test scores, there is a very noticeable divide between the high and low-performing public schools in Montgomery County. The top schools in Montgomery and Fairfax Counties are comparable (except for TJ in Fairfax, which is the top high school in the country), but there are now far more very good and solid high schools in Fairfax than in Montgomery. The test scores at the lowest performing high school in Fairfax are still better than the scores at five or six schools in Montgomery. PG has one school - Eleanor Roosevelt - where the scores are decent, but still below the Fairfax and Montgomery averages.

I don't mean to suggest that test scores are a proxy for the quality of the teaching at the schools - but what they do underscore is that the divide between the highly affluent and economically challenged is more pronounced in Montgomery than in Fairfax. There are a fair number of well-educated people with school-age kids that would love to live in Bethesda or Potomac, but can't quite afford to do so, and these folks increasingly pick Oakton or Vienna or Fairfax Station over Gaithersburg, Silver Spring or Wheaton.