Where should a life-hungry young adult live in Balt? (Baltimore: renting, safe neighborhood)

[conrad313]

Hello all! I'm a 20-something still looking to relocate to Baltimore despite the horror stories I've seen here. I was born here, moved at a young age, and now feel the need to experience my hometown in depth. Honestly, I'm not sure where to start. I can't tell you how appreciative I'd be of any help you may be able to offer.

I'm not a big drinker but I'm looking for a music scene/culture/arts/diversity and other young adults, standard fare for someone craving urban life, I suppose. I could buy around the $100k range, but don't mind renting as I don't know that that kind of $ would land me in a safe neighborhood. Of course safety is a concern.

I really don't know much about the city other than Canton, Fells Point, and Fed Hill sound like they may be close to what I'm looking for. Are there reasonable and safe-ish neighborhoods around Johns Hopkins? Would living in Towson/Hunt Valley allow me the Baltimorian experience? Catonsville also sounds interesting from what I've read here. Any thoughts on any of these places? I'm completely open to all recommendations, comments. Thank you so much.

[Bong477]

in addition to your 3 choices listed above, you can check out Mt Vernon, Hampden, and Charles Village. The last two are close to JHU. Patterson Park will be in the same neck of the woods as fells and canton, imo its worth taking a peek at, you're trading some safety and niceness for a little cheaper rent. The immediate area seems okay to me, but you're starting to get awfully close to the parts of Baltimore that are best avoided. Locust point, next to Fed Hill, is nice as well, you are trading a little of the closeness to everything for a bit more quiet and safety.

Anything you can buy for around $100k in baltimore you probably shouldn't be living in.

[Summer_G]

If you want to live in the city, live in the city. You can do Towson or Hunt Valley later in life if you want to.

At this stage, while you're trying to get a feel for it, I would rent. Canton, Fells, Fed. Hill, Mt. Vernon... all very "in the middle of it." Of course, Don't be afraid of Patterson Park. There are a lot of great people here in their 20s and 30s... 40s and 50s too! It's a great neighborhood. Honestly, my friend that lived in Fells Pt. got his car broken into WAY more often than anybody else I know.

[ToneGrail]

If you're looking for arts and music, Charles Village / Charles North / Station North is the place to be. It's basically the arts capital of Baltimore. Bolton Hill is also close by and decent. Just be aware of where the bad neighborhoods start. For someone who isn't familiar with the area, I would suggest consulting Yahoo Maps. If you zoom in at a certain level, the neighborhoods are actually shaded by color. So you can tell which streets to stay within.