5 Maryland Suburbs of Washington DC You Should Consider Moving

Rockville

I’m a fan of Rockville. Some people aren’t, but I lived there for a few years and I really liked it. It makes my list of best suburbs for families and best all-around suburbs. This year, Wallet Hub put out their list of Best Small Cities and Rockville ranked #1 in Maryland and in the top 5% of all small cities. Rockville has also been called one of the most diverse cities as well.

Rockville is a large area – 13 square miles. A highway (270) and main thoroughfare (355 / Rockville Pike) bisects Rockville in half. East of Rockville Pike has some older neighborhoods with mid-century homes. The western side of Rockville has newer neighborhoods and communities that were built in the 80’s, 90’s and through the first few decades of the 2000’s.

Because Rockville is so large, it offers a ton of choices on neighborhoods. You can get a small ranch or rambler home in the eastern part of Rockville in the $400,000 to $600,000’s. On the western side of Rockville where the homes are newer, prices steadily climb from the $700,000’s to over $1M. Overall median price of single family, detached homes that sold in the past year was $700,000 and the average was $797,000.

There are a lot of shopping centers with restaurants and stores. The access to anywhere along 270 – up to Frederick or into Bethesda and DC are easy. If you want an urban lifestyle, you can have it. If you want something more suburban, you can find that here too.

Families like the schools which consistently rank well and offer AP and IB programs.

Kensington

Kensington has a small town feel with easy access to both city life and the peaceful trails and greenery of Rock Creek Park. Kensington is one of the areas that seem to resonate with west coasters who enjoy the laid back, down to earth vibe. It’s often described as a great community and a great suburb for families.

Homes start in the $500,000’s for what people would coin a “teardown” and go into the $1M’s for a larger and newer home. The prices rise evenly so you can find a house at any price point between the low and high end. The median price of all homes sold in the last year was $878,000 and the average price was $1M.

If you want to check out this small town in action, head to Howard Avenue, which is Antique Row. You can get lost for a few hours going in and out of the book shops and antique stores. Then grab some tacos or pizza and sit on a bench and enjoy your food in Warner Circle Park.

Right now, living in Kensington means your kiddos could go to one of a variety of high schools. The eastern side of Kensington is part of the DCC or Down County Consortium. The DCC is a group of five high schools where students in the boundary have preference based on the academic and arts/sports offerings at each school. There’s also a new high school coming – Woodward, to alleviate the overcrowding.

ExploreKensington.com is a fantastic website which has everything you would want to know about Kensington.

Bethesda

Bethesda has a reputation for being very pricey. But – if you are flexible on the home though, or willing to do some work, you can absolutely get a home under $1M. And great news – because you are surrounded by such high property values, your property will be a great investment. The median price of all single family detached homes that sold in the past year was $1,495,000 and average was $1,678,000. There are a wide variety of home styles and neighborhoods. The tree-lined streets have colonials, bungalows, arts and crafts, mid-century and everyone’s favorite – McMansions.

Because Bethesda is so urban, there are townhomes and condos here too, and they are typically closer to the retail and shopping areas. The first time I drove through Bethesda, I thought it had an energy that I liked, and I wanted to spend more time there.

There is plenty of shopping here to include Bethesda Row which is an outdoor shopping area filled with restaurants and shops. If you want to find my teenage daughter on a weekend she will be at Montgomery Mall with her friends. I do low-key love that she goes to the mall every weekend with her friends though like I did in the 80’s. And no, I don’t follow her around.

The Bethesda eater has high standards. If a restaurant can’t get 4+ out of 5 stars here, it won’t last. Bethesda is home to many fabulous restaurants – Italian, Mexican, Lebanese, French, Greek, Pizza, American, Asian. But just because they have high standards doesn’t mean every restaurant is fancy. If you spot a place that’s looking a little lacking in ambience or could be coined a “dive” or a “hole in the wall,” know that if it has survived in Bethesda there is good reason. Bethesda doesn’t generally attract the dive bar crowd, so if it’s in business it must be good!

Silver Spring

Fortune Magazine announced in 2024 that Silver Spring ranked #1 on the list of the 50 best places for families to live in the United States. The overall data they used focused on education, affordability, livability and one we don’t always see in these lists – resources for aging adults. They also analyzed diversity and home prices in a metric against the state or national median.

Silver Spring has an excellent location, just due north of DC. What the Fortune article may not have adequately explained or understood though is that there are several Silver Spring identities. There’s downtown where you have over 100 restaurants, arts and entertainment venues and more of a “city” feel than even downtown DC.

As you head north from downtown there are a collection of neighborhoods straddling the beltway, that are super with families – Four Corners, Woodside Park, Forest Glen, Woodmoor. Then all the areas north of there that you may think from looking at a map would have addresses of Wheaton, Kemp Mill, Colesville – they all have Silver Spring addresses too. These houses are usually on larger lots from what you see to the south.

The median sales price for single family detached homes in the last year is $640,000 and the average is $682,000.

Frederick

Hear me out.

Five years ago, there was no way I would ever put Frederick on this list. My first introduction to Frederick was oddly when I lived in Atlanta 25 years ago. My then-boyfriend’s bestie was from Frederick, and he called it “Fredneck.”

In the early 2000’s, builders started heading to Frederick County for more affordable land. Pre-Covid and before working from home was an option, there were constantly Washington Post articles about people’s 2-3 hour commutes from Frederick to DC. While the development came, the vibe of Frederick didn’t really change until more recently and even more post-Covid.

Today, the heart and soul of Frederick feels more like down-to-earth Baltimore to me than DC. But, Frederick also feels more sophisticated than it did 10 or 20 years ago. I’ve had several people in the past year ask me about Frederick and I’ve helped people buy homes there. On a good day, it’s less than an hour to get there. On the worst days, it maps 90 minutes for me – but it’s not like those 2-3 hour commutes of the early 2000’s.

You can get some pretty awesome houses in the $500,000’s to 600,000’s, but there are homes at every price point. The average price of all single family homes sold in the last year was $635,000 and the median was $625,000. How’s that for good stats? There are just as many homes under $625,000 as there are over.

I saved the best for last. The downtown is so stinkin cute! There are so many cool restaurants and places to go, this is no longer a bedroom community with a long commute. Frederick has become a city in its own right.

1 You Shouldn’t – Baltimore

It never fails that someone looks at a map, sees Baltimore and thinks that if they take the train it’s commutable to DC. I guess yes, it sort of is. I’ve known a few people who do it. They never do it for long though. The train will take you to Union Station. Depending on where you work, that may not be convenient. You will possibly need to hop on the metro, making what’s already a long commute even longer. We didn’t even cover the way you will get from your home in Baltimore to the train station. There are only a few stations and they aren’t super close to the neighborhoods where I would want to live.

Don’t get me wrong, crime aside, I’m a Baltimore fan. I wasn’t always, but when I moved to DC, I developed a real appreciation for Baltimore. The people are so nice. It’s much less expensive. There are some really cool neighborhoods. We own a house in Hampden which is all kinds of awesome, but Canton, Fells Point, Federal Hill – there are so many neat areas. My husband is from Greektown which had hit some rough years but is on the upswing. I also think the restaurants are better than a lot of DC’s but, I’m not a foodie so the fancy and the Michelin stuff doesn’t appeal to me. There are a lot of the old-world kind of places in Greektown or Little Italy.

The houses are definitely inexpensive. The median price of all single-family rowhomes for the past 6 months was $225,000 and the average price was $250,000. Take that with a grain of salt though, there are a lot of homes in Baltimore that are boarded up and sell for $25,000 and are in terrible neighborhoods. If I pull out the neighborhoods I mentioned – Canton, Fells Point, Federal Hill and Hampden, the median price for rowhomes sold in the last 6 months is $359,000 and the average price is $398,000. That’s a better representation of the possibility. If you didn’t have kids who needed public schools and you only went to DC once a week, this is possible. But, you would have to be really committed and really love the Charm of Charm City.

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