You could spend a week or two in the city and take day trips to all the little neighborhoods to see how you like them. You could also test drive your commute to UMMC from said neighborhood; as someone who works at UMMC I have heard my coworkers driving through the city to get to work can be such a hassle since UMMC is right next to the convention center, the football stadium and the baseball stadium so on event days traffic getting there is rough within the city

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I’m on the West side of the city and Catonsville/Arbutus is also a good option.

I live in Hunting Ridge but understand it might be a bit too hood adjacent for you. With traffic I am a 12 min drive to UMMC straight down 40 and a turn on Greene. I have both a front yard and a backyard. A driveway + street parking. And very nice neighbors.

+1 for south Baltimore the community and neighborhood is really great

Suburban is better. Going to be honest. You can always just drive into the city. Traffic is usually fine.

As others have said, no, it's not illegal.

At the last house I rented, the prospective tenants toured with the landlord to check it out and they loved it. They seemed like nice people so I felt compelled to open the dishwasher so they could see the infestation of roaches the landlord "fixed." The wife turned positively green. Landlord made my life hell but couldn't legally do anything.

Suburbs

Hah ! Looks like a bunch of us here.

Definitely - for people in the mid 20's Fells Point Area/ Little Italy, Upper Fells Point, Canton, and MAYBE Federal Hill are all solid spots in my opinion. These are places where you and your wife can walk around to a bar, volo, or night event and not worry about having to ubering around everywhere. Plenty of different things to hit up and see too.

I think Suburban life in MD is just going to be too boring personally until you are in your 30's and your kid HAS to go to school. The walkability of all places above are nice because you can walk to almost all VOLO events or go out to eat/ get into something once you meet others. Living in the burbs will be a pain having to pay for parking, taking ubers when you do drink, etc. And, there just isn't a night life.

Canton has a shopping center you can walk to, but, honestly the night life is a little bland. I personally think Fells / Little Italy / Federal Hill have better night life than Canton. However, Canton does have the "Canton Square" but it is just more limited. Also, the park in Canton near the water also hosts a lot of food trucks, and events during the spring and summer so there is that I suppose.

When I lived in Canton the walk to and from my apartment to the shopping centers was just across the way. I still decided to drive just bc it ended up being almost a .75 mile walk all said and done. So, it is walkable, but, driving is still probably easier if you are getting groceries, etc.

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Edit: Reread your post. I would entertain a row home potentially in one of these spots for space - also, even if you don't drink puts you near a lot of restaurants and row how will make it so you can have plants, and entertain

Also, you can get to the city any time for the various things to do.

Live in the county, any county. If you plan to have children you want to avoid city schools unless you go private. If you don’t believe me just look at the test scores.

As someone who moved from CA to Baltimore I have some idea of the move here. First, if you’re in your twenties and have no kids…just no to the burbs man. Y’all can be boring later in life. Move to Canton and the surrounding areas near the Patterson park (south of Baltimore street) and Fells Point. The other option is Fed Hill/Locust Point/Riverside. Get a row home, get a rooftop deck to throw 4th of July parties and watch the fireworks in the harbor. Check out the many restaurants and bars and nightlife all around the city has to offer. You’ll meet new people, have lots to do, and have fun. And to be clear I’m not saying you have to love bar crawling to enjoy the city, lots of cool local restaurants and bars to catch a game, enjoy a happy hour and some food on the patio. If you want to live in strip mall hell then go for the burbs but that sounds awful.

Edit: I didn’t see the part about kids. My wife and I have a toddler and another on the way and live in Canton. Love it. One day sure we will move out and settle down when they need to be in good schools but for now there are so many activities for the kids here.

Edit 2: You won’t drive into the city for fun if you live in the burbs. People in the county think we live in Afghanistan. You’ll worry about parking and not know where to go and probably end up in a tourist trap crappy restaurant when you do come.

VOLO is awesome thanks!! We did lots of rec sports in college and have really been missing it these past few years.

Recent transplant to Baltimore.

I’ve lived in two areas, outskirts of Baltimore 5 min from Catonsville and around Bolton Hill, a hip “up and coming” part of Baltimore.

This might be sacrilegious here, but unless you go to Hopkins or need immediate access to Penn Station, there’s no real need to live in Baltimore proper.

Near Catonsville I am 20 minutes away or less from anywhere worth visiting in Baltimore. Charles Village, Fells Point, Fed Hill, I am 20 minutes and in many cases only 15 away. In this case I was also only 40 away from DC, and 30ish from Rockville, and 20 from Columbia. I’m relatively free of any traffic in the morning or afternoon.

Now I live in Baltimore proper due to desire for proximity to Penn Station…. More expensive, more dangerous, worse schools, and I don’t go to Charles Village, Fells Point, or Fed Hill often enough to make its short commute worth it. Tbh Baltimore nightlife can’t hold a candle to DC’s.

As someone who LIKES living in Baltimore, it’s really a case of a suburb of a city being better than living in the city itself.

Take this from someone who moved to the area a year ago but would prefer not to live here, based on the parameters you laid out above (which nearly describes what I’d be looking for), Towson north to hunt valley or Catonsville/ellicott city are going to be your best bets. Sure not as many young people, but If you’re going to be having kids in the near future, better off in the burbs and most likely Lutherville timonium or ellicott city. Honestly, a lot of the young people are going to be bar people. You can always live in a suburb and join a league or something in the city.

I live in Catonsville area now. Moved here from Cleveland a year ago. I’ve been to downtown Cleveland as many times in the last year as I have been to downtown Baltimore. I’m not a bar person myself. I grew up in northern Baltimore county and have been dealing with this area for the better part of 40 years so I do have a solid grasp on what the area is like.

Now that I think about it, I’d even consider Severna park or Annapolis.

Locust Point. We also looked at several places in Canton.

My wife and I moved to Baltimore separately. We met each other in 2006 and then bought a house in South Baltimore where we had kids and lived until 2022. Last year we moved to Hampden/Roland Park. For what you are looking for I would try Hampden and surrounding neighborhoods. I can say my wife grew up in a small town, I grew up in the burbs, and neither of us can picture moving out of the city. It’s not perfect, but for us living a walkable lifestyle has been life-changing for the better. As others have said, give city living a try, you may like it, we met a ton of friends. If not, we have plenty of ubiquitous suburbs to choose from.

Check out Live Baltimore https://livebaltimore.com/ for a great overview of hundreds of neighborhoods in the city. Many good neighborhoods have already been mentioned (Hamilton, Hampden, Medfield, Roland Park, etc.). I'll second Charles Village (as a resident of the Abell neighborhood) and add Oakenshawe, Harwood, Tuscany-Canterbury, and Wyman Park to the list of great neighborhoods to live in.

Scott was one of the best shots we had in a while, and yet most of the Offices and Departments are struggling bad right now.

I've heard ppl blame it on Scott or the Scott administration, but I don't think that's it.

I would checkout Annapolis and the surrounding areas closer to Annapolis. Your only 30 minutes from Baltimore and you can enjoy the water. While living in a nicer area. This suburban area will also give more space than any area around Baltimore while also being close to everything.

Edit- enjoy the water

Yeah so i didnt suggest that bc of that. I thought of catonsville because you can walk around Frederick rd, but they could still have a yard and parking etc. make friends for bbq. They can order their groceries still. Near trails for the outdoors. They might also like elkridge or arbutus maybe. I do like mays chapel, i just dont think it’d fit them

Catonsville is the vibe. Plenty of young people. It’s “Music Town, Maryland” mostly because it has a lot of music stores, notoriously, Bills Music. I grew up in Catonsville and I’d love to move back there but unfortunately I’m priced out right now. There’s a bunch of great restaurants (Taneytown has the best MD crab soup IMO), some nightlife (State Fare), lots of green space. To me it’s kind of the closest thing to a hippie town we have in Baltimore. It’s very safe west of the beltway and mostly safe in the neighborhood “Paradise” east of the beltway. It’s also super close to Ellicott (Pronounce like Ella Kit… don’t say Elli COT) City which has tons of cute shops and can be a fun little switch up. Catonsville also has a college, UMBC, which is know for its academics and grad programs so there are plenty of young people who are professionals or soon to be professionals.

Suburbs I’d stay away from are anything in east Baltimore like Essex(move close to the water if you go this route), Dundalk or Rosedale and Randallstown, Glen Burnie, Brooklyn, Lansdowne and parts of Arbutus/Halethorpe.

That makes sense. I feel like there is plenty to do in the Timonium area, but it is not as condensed and it is not walkable.