Why does Maryland have so many unincorporated areas?

[Borntoolate85]

It's no wonder that states with many unincorporated areas are outgrowing the incorporated states, and if anything, if I had the power, I'd attempt to allow those states that are dominated by those jurisdictions to change to a system more like it is elsewhere. Ever since the rise of the automobile, I find those old township systems obsolete since many old towns were based upon a half day's walk. Can you imagine how much better maintained Baltimore would have been if it just had a consolidated city-county government like Boston/NYC (actually a consolidation of five counties)/San Francisco/Nashville/Indianapolis/Philly? (IMO, just give northern Baltimore county to parts of Harford and Carroll) Or even county divisions like in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Atlanta, Seattle, or Minneapolis?

Smaller, local independent organizations is good enough for me, whether its a development corporation, arts division, private education, or the like. With county divisions, you can access many more library branches, a more evenly funded school system, and the like.

[MidValleyDad]

You shouldn't consider Baltimore City the same as other towns/cities in Maryland. It is more equivalent to the 23 counties than to the cities of Rockville, Frederick, etc. They are inside a county and subject to the control of those counties. Baltimore is the only independent city in the state that runs its own school system and and is subservient only to the state.