Do you consider Annapolis a suburbs of DC or Baltimore or both (or neither)? (Frederick: rank)

[kcmo]

Annapolis seems lost or out of place in the DC/Balt region. Some seem to think it's a suburb of DC and looking at busy Highway 50 and that makes a lot of sense. But it's in Anne Arundel County which is technically in the Baltimore MSA and it's about the same distance from Baltimore, although the 97 commute is not quite as busy as 50 I don't think. But then you have Annapolis with its own charm and history and in many ways it's very much not your typical suburb. Plus it's the capital.

So which is it? Is it part of the Baltimore area just because it would be silly to have the capital of Maryland in the MSA of much larger DC/Virginia area or it is sort of the third city in a triangle of the DC/Balt area or is it nothing more than a suburb of one or both DC and Baltimore?

Just currious.

[Henry Bowman]

I tend to consider myself more closely aligned with the Baltimore area but much of that is out of convenience because it's much easier to get around most of the Baltimore Beltway compared to DC. Also, AACO has pretty much anything I need to get so there's little need to go to the DC area.

[westsideboy]

Annapolis has its own center of gravity do its status as the state's capital, the presence of the Naval Academy, and its own tourist appeal. It is certainly part of the larger metro areas, but I would say it has maintained a unique identity more than any other city in the metro region (In case anyone is wondering, I would rank Westminster second and Frederick third in terms of maintaining their own identity.)

[Stephen 81]

As a Washington area native, I don't really consider Annapolis part of "my" area. As westsideboy said, it has maintained its own center of gravity. Northern Anne Arundel County is definitely part of the Baltimore metro, and southern AA County part of the DC metro, but Annapolis is somewhat apart from both of them. Unfortunately, metropolitan areas are always defined at the county level, so a lot of the nuances get lost.

I think Annapolis would have evolved very differently were it not for the presence of DC and Baltimore, but it's definitely not a suburb of either. It's a satellite city that has recently become absorbed into a greater metropolitan area.

[cpterp]

Neither. It's its own city, and one of the few in Maryland, apart from those is extreme Western MD and most of the Eastern Shore that isn't really a suburb of DC or Balt.

[paregboy]

It is a great town to commute into dc to if you drive... beats silver spring, bethesda etc...and is much nicer