do Frederick county residents commute to B'more for work? (Baltimore: house, median income)

[renee_cal]

I noticed that salaries in Frederick county are low, so I was wondering if a lot of residents commute to Baltimore and DC for work? also are the residents mostly government employees?

[westsideboy]

About 1/3 of the workforce commutes out of Frederick County. Many go to Baltimore, but more go to Montgomery County and other DC suburbs.

If 1/3 leave, that means about 2/3 work in the county. These numbers are swelled by commuters driving into Frederick County from Washington Co. to the west and PA and WV to the north and south. There are many government jobs, but private industry employs many as well.

The housing prices are high compared to the median income because of the commuters.

[Merlander]

If you add up local, state and federal employees, there's a good chance the answer to your question would be yes. But there are also a lot of other employers in the area. Here's a list of major employers in Frederick:

OED : Major Frederick County Employers : Frederick County Office of Economic Development : Frederick, Maryland

Commuting to B'more would be easier IMO than DC, mostly because 270 gets so congested. As far as salary, not sure. I imagine jobs in Frederick may pay a bit less, but the cost of living is less too, esp. housing [than DC].

If you'll be working in B'more, there are many nice communities closer to Baltimore on I-70 that would be comparable to Frederick in terms of cost, and would also give you a shorter commute.

[trying2moveup]

I did the 270 south commute to Germantown for about 5 years and my hubby has done that route as well as Frederick east to Baltimore. If you can get closer to Baltimore, I would recommend it. People that are not from here, have not grown up with the outward sprawl expansion from metro DC to points northward all over the map, simply just don't understand that unless you are prepared to spend many HOURS of your week in your car stuck in traffic, you are going to be miserable being farther out. I know, I get the whole housing affordability thing - I'm from MoCo and that's why we moved to Frederick 9 years ago. But quality of life really suffers when you spend much of your life behind the wheel in traffic. People seem to forget that there is a Baltimore beltway called 695 that Rt. 70 runs into and just as with 270/495, it gets really f-d up quick when there are traffic problems.
THere are nice areas in Carroll County and Baltimore County, Howard County. . . you may have to downsize and get a TH instead of a SFH but the time and aggravation you save in commuting will be worth it, especially if you have a family. We moved to Laurel this last winter and I do miss Frederick so much, but 1) we can afford a SFH house with a yard for the kids here with the market turning, and 2) my hubby is 5 miles from work instead of 50 and 3) when I return to teaching this fall I'll be 10 miles away instead of 27 miles.

[renee_cal]

thank you for all your replies. We are in Frederick currently but Im looking at other areas in MD. One of the reasons is the pay is very low. and the jobs my hubby qualifies for are either in Baltimore or Montgomery county. so we will see. Laurel is a nice place congrats on your move!

[NYMD67]

Originally Posted by trying2moveup

I did the 270 south commute to Germantown for about 5 years and my hubby has done that route as well as Frederick east to Baltimore. If you can get closer to Baltimore, I would recommend it. People that are not from here, have not grown up with the outward sprawl expansion from metro DC to points northward all over the map, simply just don't understand that unless you are prepared to spend many HOURS of your week in your car stuck in traffic, you are going to be miserable being farther out. I know, I get the whole housing affordability thing - I'm from MoCo and that's why we moved to Frederick 9 years ago. But quality of life really suffers when you spend much of your life behind the wheel in traffic. People seem to forget that there is a Baltimore beltway called 695 that Rt. 70 runs into and just as with 270/495, it gets really f-d up quick when there are traffic problems.
THere are nice areas in Carroll County and Baltimore County, Howard County. . . you may have to downsize and get a TH instead of a SFH but the time and aggravation you save in commuting will be worth it, especially if you have a family. We moved to Laurel this last winter and I do miss Frederick so much, but 1) we can afford a SFH house with a yard for the kids here with the market turning, and 2) my hubby is 5 miles from work instead of 50 and 3) when I return to teaching this fall I'll be 10 miles away instead of 27 miles.

I agree.. quality of life suffers due to the commuting. We lived on the Eastern Shore and my husband commuted over the bridge into Baltimore County and that commute was 72 miles-one way!
We loved the Eastern Shore is beautiful,but we never got to enjoy it.
Sometimes in the winter months it would take my husband 5 hours to get home.
We have since been relocated (again!) and my husband now drives 18 minutes to work, it was such a shock to our systems at first,what a change and huge adaption we had to do,but it has been a few months now and my husband can't believe he ever did that horrible commute!

We have many friends who live in Frederick who drive to DC for work (cost of homes much lower in the area-but still high in comparison) and they are always complaining about the commute.
If you can afford a home or TH as mentioned above in Carroll or Howard,I would say go for it...