Is Living in Maryland or Virginia Better?
The million-dollar question of the DC Metro Area is whether living in Maryland or Virginia is better. Ask anyone who already lives here and you are going to hear some really strong opinions on which state is better.
I do these videos for you every week and break down living in DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia. I’ve lived here over 20 years and I know these areas. I go deeper than anybody. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss the new videos.
Disclaimer Necessary! In past videos when I compare Maryland and Virginia, I have received some interesting comments. People have said I’m “obviously” a fan of Virginia and hate Maryland. Not true. I lived in Maryland for four years. I never lived in Virginia. But I would. And I would also move back to Maryland without hesitation.
Maryland & Virginia: Commuting & Traffic
I start with the commute because this is the critical piece to answer first. Where is your job and how often do you have to commute into work? Layered on top of that we also need to know what your tolerance is for commuting. I’ve had clients who say 30 minutes door to door is the most they will do, and other clients who only go to the office one or two days a week. Those clients are often fine with over an hour commute each way, provided it’s on public transportation.
The Red Line metro runs to both Rockville and Glenmont Maryland. On the eastern side of DC, the metro lines run just to the beltway. On the western / Virginia side, metro lines run much farther. The Orange Line ends at Vienna, but the new Silver Line splits off and continues to Ashburn. There is the Yellow Line as well which runs south to Huntington and Blue Line that runs to Franconia/Springfield.
If you will be commuting by car there are a few important things to know. There are carpool options in Northern Virginia that don’t exist in Maryland. They call it slugging or slug-rides. It’s a cool process, essentially an organized carpool where drivers pick up passengers to fill their car and be eligible to use the HOV lanes.
Northern Virginia is pretty proactive at dealing with traffic woes. They are constantly trying to expand the highways and adjust to the growing population. They instituted toll lanes on 66 and the beltway. I-66 did not used to be a toll road, but now during rush hour it automatically becomes a toll road for all lanes. You have to be very aware of the tolls. I recently headed to McLean and hopped on to I-66. Just to go 4 exits I was charged $17.75.
One more thing to know in Northern Virginia, if you live west of DC and you are commuting into DC, every morning you are driving due east, so the sun is in your eyes. Every evening you are driving due west, so the sun is in your eyes. The additional stop and go traffic this creates is astonishing.
On the Maryland side, you don’t have toll roads nor do you have slugging options. But, you also have less highways. More people commute TO Virginia and DC than they do to Maryland. You will find a lot of traffic in Maryland as home prices are less expensive on the eastern side of DC in Maryland so the commuting patterns trend that way.
One final note – When I moved here in 2001, I was astonished at what bad drivers Maryland has. I don’t get it, but I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s not just me either, this is a thing.
Maryland & Virginia: Real Estate
Home prices in Virginia trend higher than Maryland. This is because Virginia continuously attracts business to the state, which we will cover in the next section.
The average price of all homes sold in the last six months in the following Virginia areas are as follows:
- Arlington $1.4M
- Alexandria City $1.3M
- McLean $2.5M
- Vienna $1.4M
- Fairfax $988K
- Ashburn $1.16M
Maryland & Virginia: County-Wide
- Fairfax County $1.17M
- Loudoun County $1.06M
- Prince William County $711,000
Moving over to Maryland, these are the average prices of homes sold in the last six months in the following areas:
- Bethesda $1.7M
- Chevy Chase $1.95M
- Rockville $813,000
- Silver Spring $689,000
- Kensington $1M
- Montgomery County, Maryland $1.03M
The Maryland areas with the average home price over $1M are just Bethesda and Chevy Chase. Bethesda and Chevy Chase are to Maryland what McLean is to Virginia. Virginia areas with an average home price over $1M are much more common. Houses cost more in Northern Virginia. Again, we’ll get to the why part of this when I discuss the Business & Economy of each state.
Something else of note, there are teardowns everywhere in both Maryland and Virginia. But there’s a lot less of the teardown / rebuilt McMansion in Maryland. I once heard Maryland referred to as Marylinistan and I knew exactly what they meant. Maryland has lots of rules. And when it comes to real estate, there’s no exception.
In Maryland, it is more likely to see a 50-80 year old house that’s been renovated several times rather than torn down and rebuilt to the edge of the lot line.
Virginia though? Getting a teardown approved is easier on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. They love building things right up to the lot line. Rules? What rules? Smart growth? There’s no smart growth, they want houses! Drive out west and watch how the houses just come at you as you crest a hill or two. Virginia is definitely more builder-friendly. And they don’t care if you overbuild the crap out of a house so that it’s towering on the lot. Have at it!
Maryland & Virginia: Business & Economy
Companies do not relocate to Maryland. Period. You always hear of big companies relocating from somewhere else to Northern Virginia. How often will you hear that about MD? Almost never.
What’s in Northern Virginia? Everything! Northern Virginia has 24 of the Fortune 500 Companies Headquartered or with major offices here. Amazon, Google, Raytheon, Boeing, Nestle, Mars Incorporated, Capital One, E-Trade, Freddie Mac, Navy Federal Credit Union, Accenture, Booz Allen, Northrum Grumman, Motley Fool, Rosetta Stone, Hilton, Sunrise Senior Living, Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Boeing, PBS, Volkswagen, Lidl, Bloomberg, are just some of them. There are close to 200 companies who have chosen to locate their corporate headquarters in Northern Virginia.
Tysons Corner is essentially its own city as well as Pentagon City which is headed toward its own claim to fame as a hub of business, thanks to Amazon. The Pentagon City/National landing roadways are being re-done to create pedestrian centers.
There’s no comparison on the Maryland side of the Potomac. Maryland has three Fortune 500 Companies in the DC Suburbs – Lockheed Martin, Marriott and Discovery. There are other large employers like Choice Hotels, Blackstreet Capital Management, GEICO, Goodwill, Host Hotels, Ritz Carlton, Total Wine and More, NIH, Fort Meade and many colleges and universities. But Maryland employment centers are not as robust as Virginia. The Dulles Technology Corridor in Virginia just can’t be beat. The data centers alone are huge business!
If you prefer more of a quieter bedroom community with less sprawl, Maryland is probably better. If you prefer more of a job center with more sprawl as a result, Virginia is probably better.
Maryland & Virginia: Politics
You won’t find huge differences between the Maryland cities and towns just outside DC and the Virginia suburbs of DC that we call “NoVa.” Both areas are more blue than red. Maryland is progressive, democratic and liberal. It’s a one-party state and you will get everything that comes with that. The county governments control growth by calling it “smart growth.” They preserve greenspace. There are housing programs. Montgomery County requirements for new construction sometimes require that up to 20% of the new homes are reserved for income restricted buyers/tenants. Until recently – Maryland also had significant gun control. But that was deemed a violation of Constitutional Rights so anyone can get a gun now, no need to prove your reason.
Northern Virginia’s counties seem to trend more Democrat as time passes. The population shifted left in the most recent years. Northern Virginia has gotten on board with the renaming of roads and schools away from things like Lee Highway and Washington Lee High School. Lee Highway is now Langston Boulevard in Arlington, though it does retain the name Lee Highway once it reaches Fairfax County.
You’ll still feel the origins and history of Virginia as a red state, especially if you drive out of the metro area. I’ve seen Confederate Flags on all sorts of fashion about an hour outside the city.
In Maryland, there are rural, conservative parts of the state but they do not control Maryland’s government. In Virginia, a large geographic portion of the state could be classified as rural and conservative. For a while, a high population of Democrats in Northern Virginia were starting to control the state, but in recent years, that has also been showing signs of a shift and in the most recent election, the Commonwealth of Virginia now has a Republican Governor.
Maryland & Virginia: Income & Personal Property Taxes
Income taxes are higher in Maryland than they are in Virginia. In Virginia, once you hit $17,000, anything in excess is taxed at the max rate of 5.75%. In Maryland, there are brackets and you won’t pay 5.75% until you make at least $250,000.
If you make $100,000, in Maryland you will pay $4697.50 to the state and $3200 to the county. Some counties vary but the metro DC Counties tax income at 3.2%. Total in Maryland you will pay about $7900 in state and county income tax. In Virginia though, you would pay $5750. There are no county income taxes because Virginia gives the counties little taxing authority.
Here’s the difference though. Virginia has a personal property tax on cars, trailers, RV’s, boats, planes which can add up. Rates are set by the counties or cities. They range from $3.57 on the low end to $5.33 on the high end. They are assessed per $100 of value according to the NADA guide.
- City of Alexandria $5.33
- Arlington $5.00
- Loudoun $4.15
- Fairfax $4.57
- Prince William County $3.57
If you have two cars, and the NADA value is $30,000 each, you could pay an additional $3000 a year in personal property tax. Now living in Virginia would cost you an extra $600 per year compared to Maryland where there are higher income taxes from the counties, but no personal property tax.
It’s important to calculate everything for your specific situation to see if one state will provide a more favorable tax expenditure over the other.
Maryland & Virginia: Real Estate Property Taxes
Maryland has 23 counties and 156 incorporated cities which each issue property tax assessments.
In Montgomery County there is a county tax of .6940, a state tax of .1120 per mil of assessed value and .28 utility tax. There are additional taxes in each of the Chevy Chase villages, Chevy Chase View, the Cities of Rockville, Gaithersburg, Takoma Park and 9 Towns. Why? Because the towns offer city or town services like trash pickup. If you’re outside the city or town limits, you get county services. Most counties / cities have a tax rate anywhere between $1.15 to $1.32 per mil but there are outliers like Friendship Heights, where you pay $1.65 per mil.
On a house assessed at $750,000, you will pay around $8100 in annual property taxes if you’re in an unincorporated area and $9000 if you’re in a city/town with its own municipal tax.
In Virginia, property taxes vary by county and city. Unlike in Maryland where a city can lie within a county and you could be taxed by both jurisdictions, Virginia has a different set up. Cities stand alone. They are not part of a county.
Arlington is $1.03 per $100 of assessed value and the assessed values run pretty close to market value. A home assessed at $750,000 will have property taxes over $7725 per year.
In Alexandria (the city) you will be assessed $1.11 per $100 of assessed value. The same home assessed at $750,000 will now cost over $8250 per year.
Fairfax County’s tax rate is $1.12. Loudoun County is 86.5 cents per $100 of assessed value. Prince William County is 92 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Maryland & Virginia: Education
On US News & World Report’s 2024 list, the highest-ranking area high school is Thomas Jefferson in Alexandria, VA at #14. The next area school is at #139 and that is Walt Whitman in Bethesda. Then we have Langley High School in McLean Virginia at #148, Poolesville in Maryland at #172, Wootton High School in Rockville Maryland at #196 and Oakton in Virginia at #199.
All of these schools have been steadily dropping a few to a few dozen spaces on the U.S. News list. Locally there’s been all the same issues as in other high schools across the country. Teachers quitting, overcrowding, behavioral issues with students that don’t get addressed properly, issues with school boards and other school administration, constantly changing curricula. I know a lot of teachers locally and the unhappiness with many of them is warranted. I also know of several great teachers who have quit and left it behind and this is a huge loss for the schools from which they retired.
This is subjective, but Maryland schools are a tale of two cities. Montgomery County schools uniformly seem to rank well with many ranked on the notable lists. Prince George’s County Schools do not rank as well overall, so if this is what you’re looking for you have to carefully consider the specific neighborhoods. These two counties are mostly the extent of the Maryland discussion when it comes to metro counties.
Virginia has both county and city school districts so there are a lot more to consider – Arlington County, the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, Prince William County, Loudoun County, and the Cities of Falls Church, Manassas, Fairfax.
When talking about state colleges though, Virginia wins here. You just can’t beat the preference you get as a Virginia resident to go to UVA.
Maryland & Virginia: Restaurants & Lifestyle
There is a method behind the Maryland madness when it comes to finding retail and restaurants. The zoning dictates specific areas for retail and then everything else is residential. You see this in suburbs farther out where there are “village centers” where everyone goes to get what they need. Virginia has retail all over. Shopping centers are not just in special areas.
This area is so international and diverse and we benefit from that tremendously when it comes to food choice. There’s almost every type of ethnic food here. The other evening we picked up Afghan food. We’re also big fans of Ethiopian food. There is such a wide variety of choice here in both Maryland and Virginia that I promise you won’t ever say that there’s a lack of options.
As far as vacation spots, both states have beaches, though neither state has tons of coastline comparable to the Carolinas or Florida.
Virginia has wine country and the Shenandoah Valley which many may argue beat the vacation areas of Maryland. But Virginia also has Virginia Beach, and generally it’s easier to get to the Outer Banks of North Carolina where a lot of people in this area travel.
Maryland has easier access to Delaware beaches which are awesome. In Maryland there is also plenty of beaches on the eastern shore. There’s also St Michael’s which is about as Martha’s Vineyard as you can get here. There’s also Assateague, with wild horses that mill around the beach. People find this charming. I am not one of those people. If you are also not one of those people, take note: never visit Mackinac Island in Michigan.
Maryland & Virginia: Crime
I realize there are all types of crime, but I’m going to focus on two – Homicide and Carjacking.
In 2023, Washington DC had 959 reported carjackings. While this isn’t a video about DC specifically, I wanted to put this in here to show what the worst-case scenario looks like, and what the whole metro area is enduring with crime. Here are the carjacking numbers for the other areas:
- Prince George’s County, Maryland had 530 carjackings.
- Montgomery County, Maryland had 112 carjackings.
- Fairfax County, Virginia had 25 carjackings.
- Arlington County, Virginia had 23 carjackings.
The City of Alexandria doesn’t separate carjackings from the rest of car theft.
Homicides in 2023 were as follows:
- DC had 274 homicides.
- Prince George’s County, Maryland had 88 homicides.
- Montgomery County, Maryland had 29 homicides.
- Fairfax County, Virginia had 17 homicides.
- City of Alexandria, Virginia had 4 homicides.
- Arlington County, Virginia had 2 homicides.
You may be wondering: Do these numbers indicate that there’s less crime in Virginia or are the police are tougher and more efficient? Yes. That answer is yes.
Maryland & Virginia: License Plates
Virginia has 250 options for plates to include the usual colleges and military options. The non-school related options you see most include: “Don’t Tread on Me” license plate with a snake, a yellow Choose Life plate with two cartoon kids on it, and you also see a “Kids First” plate which is similar in style to the “Choose Life.” What does this tell us in a nutshell? Keep in mind this is state-wide but: Pro-Life and We Like Guns.
Maryland offers several hundred specialty plates as well, but the ones you see the most aside from the basic Maryland flag choice? The Chesapeake Bay Trust or the Maryland Agricultural Education Plate. What does that tell us about what many Marylanders value? Save the environment.
You’ll also see many of these license plates crushed into pieces because they are bad drivers and have more accidents in Maryland.
Maryland & Virginia: What’s Best for Families?
Because I’m a mom, I know viewers expect the mom-stamp of approval on one or the other. Honestly, this is a toss up. I generally feel that the closer-in areas of Northern Virginia are more urban. Kids have greater independence with the ability to walk places on their own and enjoy a sense of safety. Schools are run by the city or county in which they reside, so this can be hit or miss. Arlington and Fairfax schools are well regarded. Alexandria City Schools have had a tough time with questionable leadership.
In Montgomery County, unless you’re right near downtown Bethesda, it will feel much more suburban. There will be more driving to get your kids to their activities for the most part. But then, most of Montgomery County is outside the beltway so it makes sense that it’s more suburban feeling.
Montgomery County schools are very comparable to Fairfax County, with all the options that being in a large county-run school system offer. I have videos on the different school districts, so check those out for more information.
Conclusion:
Clear as mud? I hope not! The DC metro areas of both Virginia and Maryland are diverse, have a lot to offer and are populated with some of the most highly educated people in the country. Picking the right place for you and your family isn’t easy, but I always recommend a visit here to see both areas in person. This is the time that people typically say they are Maryland people or Virginia people.
I could be equally happy living on either side of the river. I love Arlington and many Alexandria neighborhoods on the Virginia side. I lived in Rockville and loved it enough that I would do it again. I live in DC now, but I promise I could easily move to either state and find my people.
