Duluth, MN to Laurel, MD (Baltimore, Columbia: best city, apartment, rent)

[saykinriseo]

I am a 28 and my gf is 30. We plan on moving to the DC/Baltimore area for school next year and were wondering what the area is like. She will be going to UM in College Park, I will be going to Morgan State in Baltimore. As far as I can tell, it is right between Baltimore and DC. Are public transit options plentiful? I do not own a car. She does. How is crime? Shopping? Eating out?

Currently we live in Duluth, MN. I am a manager at a fast food restaurant. Are there jobs available? What is cost of living like? We would like a 1 bedroom apartment (preferably in a house...never liked complexes) in the $800-$900 range. We currently pay $550 for a small basement apartment here but don't expect that low of rent out East. Are there other areas that might be better?

Thanks for any information you can provide

[slowlane]

Information on State of Maryland-operated inter-country commuter busses, Baltimore city busses, as well as "MARC" commuter trains http://mta.maryland.gov

Information on Metrobus and Metrorail system of greater Washington Metro - Home page

The title of your posting, specified Laurel. Greater Laurel covers a large area, in fact parts of 3 counties (Prince Geo, Howard, and Anne Arundel). There is a MARC train station on U.S. Highway 1, just north of Laurel which takes commuters to both downtown Baltimore and downtown Washington. However, you pretty much need a motor vehicle of some kind to even reach the Laurel station from any populated area. And the MARC train there only takes you to Camden Station, which is NOT near Morgan State.

Morgan State University is a historically-black college located in northeast Baltimore. Without a car, you would have to ride MARC into Baltimore and then take a city bus there from Baltimore's Penn station or Camden station, the rest of the way to Morgan, which is awkward. You can instantly plot out your transit options here: http://www.google.com/transit

Morgan State is closer to Baltimore's Penn Station (the destination of MARC's Penn rail Line) than it is to Baltimore's Camden Station (the destination of MARC's Camden rail Line). Although Bowie, MD (an enormous development of 1960's detached homes) would seem to be a possible city to settle in, again, Bowie's MARC station is rather off by itself and you would need a motor vehicle of some kind to reach that station from any populated area of Bowie.

Columbia, MD is another possibility. Columbia is a specially planned city with many modern conveniences. It was ranked the #2 best city in the USA to live recently, by Money magazine.

[slowlane]

I did some more thinking, and was wondering if you could also live in Glen Burnie, Ferndale, or Catonsville, MD. Those communities might have cheaper rent than Columbia, MD. Unfortunately, http://www.google.com/transit shows Morgan State University to be too inconvenient by public transit from anywhere that's south of Baltimore city. Because coming from the south, you would have to transfer from rail to bus inside Baltimore to get to Morgan State, which is very slow and awkward. You and your wife would pretty much need two motor vehicles. Unless you could actually move inside Baltimore City and then you could take the bus conveniently, while your wife drove to College Park. But then I've heard that car insurance rates are very high anywhere in Baltimore City.

[saykinriseo]

Thanks for the info. I'll keep checking myself about other areas maybe besides Laurel. I had forgotten about Google Transit. Thanks for reminding me about that. Very helpful.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Google Transit is OK but it's given me some asinine suggestions in the Baltimore area before.

Unfortunately, despite being two closeby major cities, the transit systems of Washington and Baltimore are disjointed. There is commuter rail service between the two on weekdays only, and the schedule can be limited. I would only recomend living in Laurel or anywhere in the suburbs between Bmore and DC if you were both drivers. That area is really the land of the car. Plus, the tranist options that do exist are more geared towards getting people to DC, not Baltimore.

I suggest you live somewhere in Baltimore City (Ridgely's Delight, Federal Hill, for example). That way you could get to morgan a number of ways (Nos. 19 or 3 buses being the best from downtown) and she could walk to Camden Station for the MARC (http://mta.maryland.gov/services/marc/schedulesSystemMaps/camden_HTML.cfm - broken link) to College Park, about a 45 minute ride. Your bus ride could also be 45 minutes if traffic is present despite being closer as the crow flies.

The cost of living is much cheaper in Baltimore City than anything that could be considered a DC suburb as well.