Family with Young Children Looking to Move to the BEST area of Maryland coming from NJ (Baltimore: low crime, townhome)

[tarakanof]

Hi THere, so my husband and I are exploring moving to Maryland. For two reason, cost of living and weather. We were living in Long Island, NY for sometime and recently moved to Westfield, NJ. We live in a quaint town with an amazing downtowns, historic old homes and a ton of young families who relocated from NYC for the suburbs. Community and schools are top priority. We are looking for a similar town in MD, if it exists. Quaint downtown with little shops, great schools, and young professional familys. If anyone has any recommendations we would really appreciate your suggestions. Thank You.

[SmokeyLisa]

Where are you looking closer to DC or Baltimore? What price range? SFH, townhome, size, acreage?
Ellicott City Downtown might work, Annapolis, Rockville, Chevy Chase, Bethesda. Their are places in Baltimore that you might like as well. I used to live in NJ, I tried to buy in the Verona / Montclair area but it did not work out, ended up in monmouth county.

[jland]

I would recommend the Bel Air area in Harford county, and a number of other surrounding communities in Harford/Cecil counties. Good schools, low crime, affordable housing prices and decent "walkable" downtown. Chesapeake City is another option, although it's more out of the way, which may be an issue for jobs/commute.

[Marylandkitten]

What's a young professional family?

Or is this the nice new PC way to say no uneducated trash for neighbors, and I missed the memo, lol . . .

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by tarakanof

For two reason, cost of living and weather.

Don't expect much to change in this area. Maryland has the 6th highest cost of living in the country (NJ is 5th). Also, the summers and winters will be pretty much identical, or maybe a little warmer or a little colder, depending on where you live.

The closest area to Westfield (as described) at the top of my head would be Poolesville, MD. It's located in a heavily urban/suburban county (Montgomery), but is kind of isolated way up in the NW corner. The town itself has just about 6,000 people, but it's surrounded by residences. It has a long history as well, apparently most notably of constantly being raided by Confederate troops during the Civil War.

Montgomery County at large has one of the best selection of young professionals in the nation, as well as many of the best scools. Poolesville HS is an excellent magnet school, and ranked 323rd (out of ~26,500) in the country according to the Challenge Index. The county is also the county is also the 8th wealthiest in the nation, and as I said before the cost of living is pretty steep in the state, but even more so in Montgomery (including Poolesville).

I would also recommend that you look at Ellicott City (in Howard County) and Frederick (in Frederick County). Both are significantly larger towns though, but still fit what you're looking for. The schools in Frederick are pretty good, but aren't stellar like many in Montgomery or Howard. Centennial HS in Ellicott City is ranked 222nd in the country. The advantage of Frederick is it's lower cost of living. Although Howard County (3rd in nation) is wealthier than Montgomery I think the cost of living is lower.

[GoPhils]

I recently moved to MD from NJ and you're going to have to go farther south if you want a lower cost of living and better (I'm assuming that means warmer to you) weather. The cost of living may be a bit less, but not by much, and the weather is pretty much the same. In fact I'm near Baltimore and I think each time it's snowed I've gotten more than my family in NJ.

[kinkytoes]

OMG How about trying DC?

[lscalder]

If you want the best area in MD you and your family need to make a minimum of $150,000 a yr.

[JD984]

I don't think the improvements in cost of living or weather would justify a move from Westfield to Maryland. Maryland may not be as expensive as suburban NYC, but it's still a relatively high-tax jurisdiction, the weather isn't that much different and there aren't as many towns like Westfield that have the same combination of quaintness and high concentration of "young professional families." [You'll find plenty of places in Maryland that meet one, but not both, of these criteria.] You should reexamine your priorities or get ready to prepare yourself for serious disappointment.

[tonyc]

Originally Posted by lscalder

If you want the best area in MD you and your family need to make a minimum of $150,000 a yr.

up that some..