Moving to Baltimore--quiet/safe areas to live?

U.S.A. Maryland

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Hello all,

I'm relocating to Baltimore--just accepted a position with Johns Hopkins at their main campus.

Would love some suggestions as to quiet, safe, clean places to live/neighborhoods. Thanks for your help and suggestions, Stephanie

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Good point about the property taxes and car insurance rates. As cities go Balto. has some great inner city neighborhoods to pick from, like Federal Hill, Locust Point, Fells Point and Canton but the taxes are brutal compared to the county.

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Bolton Hill and Mount Vernon. Both are centrally located and on the metro line. I would not want to drive through Baltimore every day.

Mt Vernon may not be the safest but it is not that bad at all. Bolton Hill is VERY quiet and rather nice.

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Specializes in Addictions, Corrections, QA/Education.
Owings Mills--you can take the metro straight from there to Hopkins..you don't have to have to deal with the crazy one way streets and traffic

Those one way streets are a PITA aren't they?

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We are thinking of relocating to Baltimore after I finish nursing school. We have 2 school aged children, so a good school district is a must. We will consider commuting if we have to live in a safe neighborhood and school district. I have also heard that housing is very expensive. For 200,000-300,000 most families live in town houses. Is this true? Would appreciate any more info you all have. Thanks!

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Specializes in Oncology.

I live in northern Baltimore county (cockeysville, near Timonium and Hunt Valley) and work at Sinai, in the city. To answer your question, Angel75, my husband and I make a very good living (he is a contractor) and are still renting an apartment. The houses in the county are NOT worth what they are asking for them; barely any are affordable for the first-time home buyer (which is us) except in the areas of Parkville, Dundalk, and Essex. To get a townhouse in an acceptable neighborhood, it runs about $250,000-$400,000 (depending on where you go). Townhouses in Harford County used to be a little cheaper, but are steadily climbing as well. Single family homes (that don't need a lot of work) run from $350,000 on up to the multi-millions!

Of course, you can always buy for a lot cheaper in the city, but the school systems are horrible...I know there are probably good ones out there, but as a whole, I would not compromise my future children's educations for affordable housing. My cousin, his wife, and child live in Fell's Point, which is an "up-and-coming area", and still complain of safety issues. Just take a peek at Baltimore's crime stats! I would absolutely stay in the county or look in Carroll or Harford Counties, which are still within reasonable distance. It is becoming unaffordable to live in the nicer areas of the city due to recent renovations of the row homes, skyrocketing their prices to above $400,000! My hubby has worked on some of these rehabs, and they're just not worth that kinda money!

I live in an apartment in Cockeysville, rent a 2-bed, 2-full bath for $875, which is a great deal; I'm just gonna stay there until I find something acceptable. It's a tough road livin' here (higher price of everything) but the pay for nurses is exceptional (depending on where you work) and the choices for nurses are the best available...Hopkins, UMD, Lifebridge, GBMC, St. Joe's, I mean, the options are great! So we're still here! Good luck, and start looking in the county! Lots of blue ribbons schools in the county!

Plus, you can take I-83 right into the city and it's an easy route to Hopkins, especially if you are working 7a-7p...you will miss the traffic! No dealing with the one-way streets or I-95...I went to Hopkins from Cockeysville for clinicals in school and had NO problems!

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Thank you so much luvbug9956! I have printed out your info to help us when the time comes. Choosing great schools for our kids is most important to us as well. I can't believe how expensive homes are! I was looking around on the internet and for the size of house we live in now is double in price in the Baltimore area. Wow! Hopefully we will be able to pull this off! Thanks again for all of the very useful info. Take care!

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We are planning to relocate to the Baltimore area in 2008 and I have been researching some areas around Baltimore that have the best school systems for our kids. Here are the ones that I have come up with:

Sykesville

Hampstead

Westminster

Eldersburg

Mount Airy

New Windsor

What do you all think? It seems like for most of these towns it will take about 45min for my husband to commute to Fort Meade. Is there any good shopping in these areas or will we have to drive to Baltimore? Also, I will be graduating Dec 07, would you all recommend that I stay here in Louisiana and take the NCLEX or should we go ahead and move and take it in MD? Not being nosy but what is the starting salary for RNs? Any hospitals you would recommend for a new graduate? Sorry for all of the questions! Thanks!!

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Specializes in Cardiac Stepdown and CVSICU.

I moved to Delaware from Owings Mills. Check there. You'll love the area, the mall, and you can park at the subway station and catch the train all the way to Hopkins as it has it's own subway stop.

I worked at JHH in the 90's as a secretary in vitroretinal surgery and have visited a few times since. You'll love the atmosphere. Good luck!

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Specializes in Cardiac Stepdown and CVSICU.
we are planning to relocate to the baltimore area in 2008 and i have been researching some areas around baltimore that have the best school systems for our kids. here are the ones that i have come up with:

sykesville

hampstead

westminster

eldersburg

mount airy

new windsor

what do you all think? it seems like for most of these towns it will take about 45min for my husband to commute to fort meade. is there any good shopping in these areas or will we have to drive to baltimore? also, i will be graduating dec 07, would you all recommend that i stay here in louisiana and take the nclex or should we go ahead and move and take it in md? not being nosy but what is the starting salary for rns? any hospitals you would recommend for a new graduate? sorry for all of the questions! thanks!!

if your husband is going to be at ft. meade, check into the odenton area. it's really a nice area and very close to arundel mills - a huge shopping mall where the majority of the stores are outlets. they have a neiman marcus, saks, nordstroms, modell's and about 200 other stores. (as you can tell i love shopping).

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i would suggest White Marsh, Dundalk, Middle River or Rosedale. like in the county somewhere. There are some nice places in the city too. i also suggest that u look around for urself because what someone else might think is a good place, might not be so good to u. Good Luck!

Hello all,

I'm relocating to Baltimore--just accepted a position with Johns Hopkins at their main campus.

Would love some suggestions as to quiet, safe, clean places to live/neighborhoods. Thanks for your help and suggestions, Stephanie

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Lived in White Marsh and loved it, but it is about a 30 min or so commute to downtown. Parts of Mt Vernon seems to be pretty nice too.

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Specializes in Trauma ICU, Medical & Surgical ICU.

I would recommend Owings Mills - Take the metro to Hopkins! Just don't live near Hopkins unless it is Fells point/canton/federal hill.

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