Is Baltimore area considered HCOL? (silly question I know)

shoeboxx

Many women here on tb post about living in hcol areas and it got me thinking if the Baltimore area is considered hcol.  I've only lived here, so I'm not sure how it compares to other areas.  I know Washington DC and it's suburbs are hcol, but what about the Baltimore area? 

I'm just curious...thanks ladies. 

KathrynMD

I think so.

Its all relative, but yes.  Its less than Manhattan maybe, but way more than St. Louis.

shoeboxx

KathrynMD:

I think so.

Its all relative, but yes.  Its less than Manhattan maybe, but way more than St. Louis.

I just found a comparison calculator on bankrate.com and it seems as though it is.  Interesting...I never thought of Baltimore as hcol. 

https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx

 

FieryIrishAngel

I've always gotten the impression that it is, yes.  In discussions on TN and TB regarding things like daycare costs and gas & electric, I was baffled by the dramatic differences between what we pay here in the Baltimore/DC Metro-area and what others pay elsewhere.

I do know that homes are cheaper in other areas as well, but I don't know what the income rates are in those areas.  My cousin moved to Fort Mill NC and is thrilled to be building a brand new home for 1/3rd the cost of what it would run up here, and swears his salary is the same as he made in the Baltimore area. 

shoeboxx

FieryIrishAngel:

I've always gotten the impression that it is, yes.  In discussions on TN and TB regarding things like daycare costs and gas & electric, I was baffled by the dramatic differences between what we pay here in the Baltimore/DC Metro-area and what others pay elsewhere.

I do know that homes are cheaper in other areas as well, but I don't know what the income rates are in those areas.  My cousin moved to Fort Mill NC and is thrilled to be building a brand new home for 1/3rd the cost of what it would run up here, and swears his salary is the same as he made in the Baltimore area. 

This is so frickin true!!!  We live in basic townhouse in White Marsh and paid $195k for it.  My FIL purchased a huge single family home in St. Louis with all the bells and whistles and only paid about $220k...what???  Jealous! 

Cooper81

We live in what is considered a Baltimore suburb (I say that b/c 410 is the typcial area code and because of our county), but we are literally on the line with PG county and I think home/DC/food prices, etc are more in line with the DC burbs COL (but I also think pricing is a bit high in our area because of our proximity to Annapolis, DC and Baltimore).  My personal opinion is that Baltimore is slightly below the COL of the DC burbs, but it depends on your county.  Obviously MOCO is higher that PGCO, but Baltimore city can be a bit pricey, but prices go down the further north you go towards PA.

FieryIrishAngel

shoeboxx:

FieryIrishAngel:

I've always gotten the impression that it is, yes.  In discussions on TN and TB regarding things like daycare costs and gas & electric, I was baffled by the dramatic differences between what we pay here in the Baltimore/DC Metro-area and what others pay elsewhere.

I do know that homes are cheaper in other areas as well, but I don't know what the income rates are in those areas.  My cousin moved to Fort Mill NC and is thrilled to be building a brand new home for 1/3rd the cost of what it would run up here, and swears his salary is the same as he made in the Baltimore area. 

This is so frickin true!!!  We live in basic townhouse in White Marsh and paid $195k for it.  My FIL purchased a huge single family home in St. Louis with all the bells and whistles and only paid about $220k...what???  Jealous! 

I cry when I think about what we paid for our town house.  We went well north of Baltimore (Aberdeen) to be able to afford a newer home in a nicer neighborhood, spending $230K for our home.  A few years later I could have gotten a single family home in a more centrally-located area because the damn real estate bubble burst.

My Mom's sister lives in Myrtle Beach, SC, and homes are dirt cheap down there.  My Mom could sell her home in Severn, MD, and pay cash for a decent house in MB and never again have a mortgage payment.  It's insane.

daisyterp

I try not to think about it too hard.  It comforts me to know that if we had stayed in NYC we would not have been able to afford a decent 2 bedroom apartment in a nice part of Brooklyn or Queens for what we paid for our SFH.  

Cooper81

FieryIrishAngel:

shoeboxx:

FieryIrishAngel:

I've always gotten the impression that it is, yes.  In discussions on TN and TB regarding things like daycare costs and gas & electric, I was baffled by the dramatic differences between what we pay here in the Baltimore/DC Metro-area and what others pay elsewhere.

I do know that homes are cheaper in other areas as well, but I don't know what the income rates are in those areas.  My cousin moved to Fort Mill NC and is thrilled to be building a brand new home for 1/3rd the cost of what it would run up here, and swears his salary is the same as he made in the Baltimore area. 

This is so frickin true!!!  We live in basic townhouse in White Marsh and paid $195k for it.  My FIL purchased a huge single family home in St. Louis with all the bells and whistles and only paid about $220k...what???  Jealous! 

I cry when I think about what we paid for our town house.  We went well north of Baltimore (Aberdeen) to be able to afford a newer home in a nicer neighborhood, spending $230K for our home.  A few years later I could have gotten a single family home in a more centrally-located area because the damn real estate bubble burst.

My Mom's sister lives in Myrtle Beach, SC, and homes are dirt cheap down there.  My Mom could sell her home in Severn, MD, and pay cash for a decent house in MB and never again have a mortgage payment.  It's insane.

We paid 305K on our home in July 2006, a two bedroom ( they are large bedrooms and our exact same model also comes in 3 BR's that are much smaller) house that was built in the 60's and NOT UPDATED AT ALL.  I don't even want to factor in the $ we've spent updating 2 full baths, one half bath, entire kitchen, and finishing off the entire basement.  We have no idea what our house would go on the market for either becuase there aren't that many comparables, most houses have 3 BR's (but they are much smaller than our two large ones), but they also don't have the finished basement we have, which added tons of storage, an office area, a family/TV room (aside from the living room upstairs) a designated laundry room/closet, and a work bench area with a full sized storage cabinet below and up top (we squeezed a lot into our basement re-do).  Ugh, it's so frustrating, my cousin in a REA in Mexico, MO and she posts on FB these houses with 2 acres of land, 4 BR's for like 90K.  I don't think I would ever want to live in Mexico, MO there is literally nothign there but a Wal-Mart, but seeing what you can get for way less than we paid is linke a punch in the gut.

jdouglas84

I guess it depends on what area you are in. I'm in Howard County (Columbia) and I think it's a ridiculously HCOL here. For what we paid for our condo in 2006, we could have bought a townhouse or single family home in other parts of the state.

KathrynMD

Cooper - the large 2 bedrooms vs. 3 smaller bedrooms made very little difference when I sold my TH in 2008

StephK

jdouglas84:

I guess it depends on what area you are in. I'm in Howard County (Columbia) and I think it's a ridiculously HCOL here. For what we paid for our condo in 2006, we could have bought a townhouse or single family home in other parts of the state.

I agree with this.  We're in Howard County, too and the COL is quite a bit higher than it was when I lived in Baltimore County.  Even after the bubble burst, the homes here on average are more expensive.  Then again, you get the benefit of the Columbia amenities, open space, schools, etc., though I have thought more than once how much more house we could get for the same money elsewhere.

Cooper81

KathrynMD:

Cooper - the large 2 bedrooms vs. 3 smaller bedrooms made very little difference when I sold my TH in 2008

Meaning the price for the the 3BR and the 2BR were similar?  We need to call a REA just to get an idea of how much they would list it for, so we can see if we could move anytime soon at all.

KC1998

FieryIrishAngel:

shoeboxx:

FieryIrishAngel:

I've always gotten the impression that it is, yes.  In discussions on TN and TB regarding things like daycare costs and gas & electric, I was baffled by the dramatic differences between what we pay here in the Baltimore/DC Metro-area and what others pay elsewhere.

I do know that homes are cheaper in other areas as well, but I don't know what the income rates are in those areas.  My cousin moved to Fort Mill NC and is thrilled to be building a brand new home for 1/3rd the cost of what it would run up here, and swears his salary is the same as he made in the Baltimore area. 

This is so frickin true!!!  We live in basic townhouse in White Marsh and paid $195k for it.  My FIL purchased a huge single family home in St. Louis with all the bells and whistles and only paid about $220k...what???  Jealous! 

I cry when I think about what we paid for our town house.  We went well north of Baltimore (Aberdeen) to be able to afford a newer home in a nicer neighborhood, spending $230K for our home.  A few years later I could have gotten a single family home in a more centrally-located area because the damn real estate bubble burst.

My Mom's sister lives in Myrtle Beach, SC, and homes are dirt cheap down there.  My Mom could sell her home in Severn, MD, and pay cash for a decent house in MB and never again have a mortgage payment.  It's insane.

 

Well I cry right with you. We paid entirely too much money for it in early 2006 (a lot more than both of you did too!). It makes me sick to know what the other townhomes in the neighborhood are selling for or actually most are foreclosed/short sale which makes my home value go way down.

Baltimore does have a HCOL. I recently visited my Aunt in Ga. and the brand new single car garage townhomes were going for 100 K. The single families were only in the 150, if that. Very sad L

 

shoeboxx

StephK:

jdouglas84:

I guess it depends on what area you are in. I'm in Howard County (Columbia) and I think it's a ridiculously HCOL here. For what we paid for our condo in 2006, we could have bought a townhouse or single family home in other parts of the state.

I agree with this.  We're in Howard County, too and the COL is quite a bit higher than it was when I lived in Baltimore County.  Even after the bubble burst, the homes here on average are more expensive.  Then again, you get the benefit of the Columbia amenities, open space, schools, etc., though I have thought more than once how much more house we could get for the same money elsewhere.

Yeah, I know this.  That's why I said the Baltimore area.  H used to live in Columbia and the price to breathe was more expensive than Baltimore.  Howard County was one of 3 riches counties in the country for some time, so I know it's expensive. 

jdouglas84

shoeboxx:

StephK:

jdouglas84:

I guess it depends on what area you are in. I'm in Howard County (Columbia) and I think it's a ridiculously HCOL here. For what we paid for our condo in 2006, we could have bought a townhouse or single family home in other parts of the state.

I agree with this.  We're in Howard County, too and the COL is quite a bit higher than it was when I lived in Baltimore County.  Even after the bubble burst, the homes here on average are more expensive.  Then again, you get the benefit of the Columbia amenities, open space, schools, etc., though I have thought more than once how much more house we could get for the same money elsewhere.

Yeah, I know this.  That's why I said the Baltimore area.  H used to live in Columbia and the price to breathe was more expensive than Baltimore.  Howard County was one of 3 riches counties in the country for some time, so I know it's expensive. 

I had no idea before we moved here. I grew up on the Eastern Shore, and DH grew up in Frederick. We didn't do a ton of research on where we were going to live before getting married, we just picked Columbia because it was close to where he works. Now that we're here (and we've lost a ton of money on our condo in the recent years) I definitely want to live someplace cheaper. We've talked for a few years about moving to NC (possibly Charlotte area).

StephK

shoeboxx:

StephK:

jdouglas84:

I guess it depends on what area you are in. I'm in Howard County (Columbia) and I think it's a ridiculously HCOL here. For what we paid for our condo in 2006, we could have bought a townhouse or single family home in other parts of the state.

I agree with this.  We're in Howard County, too and the COL is quite a bit higher than it was when I lived in Baltimore County.  Even after the bubble burst, the homes here on average are more expensive.  Then again, you get the benefit of the Columbia amenities, open space, schools, etc., though I have thought more than once how much more house we could get for the same money elsewhere.

Yeah, I know this.  That's why I said the Baltimore area.  H used to live in Columbia and the price to breathe was more expensive than Baltimore.  Howard County was one of 3 riches counties in the country for some time, so I know it's expensive. 

Well, I personally think of Columbia as the Baltimore area, which is why I'm on the Baltimore board and not the DC board, but that's probably because I'm from Baltimore.  I see lots of posts from people in HoCo and Columbia, so I thought it was included in your original question, I'm sorry if that wasn't what you meant.

I lived in Baltimore City and County before moving here and compared to many other parts of the country, especially regarding real estate cost, I would definitely consider Baltimore City/County HCOL, too.  It makes me sad whenever I see how inexpensive homes are in other areas of the country (except maybe California and New Jersey). 

shoeboxx

StephK:

shoeboxx:

StephK:

jdouglas84:

I guess it depends on what area you are in. I'm in Howard County (Columbia) and I think it's a ridiculously HCOL here. For what we paid for our condo in 2006, we could have bought a townhouse or single family home in other parts of the state.

I agree with this.  We're in Howard County, too and the COL is quite a bit higher than it was when I lived in Baltimore County.  Even after the bubble burst, the homes here on average are more expensive.  Then again, you get the benefit of the Columbia amenities, open space, schools, etc., though I have thought more than once how much more house we could get for the same money elsewhere.

Yeah, I know this.  That's why I said the Baltimore area.  H used to live in Columbia and the price to breathe was more expensive than Baltimore.  Howard County was one of 3 riches counties in the country for some time, so I know it's expensive. 

Well, I personally think of Columbia as the Baltimore area, which is why I'm on the Baltimore board and not the DC board, but that's probably because I'm from Baltimore.  I see lots of posts from people in HoCo and Columbia, so I thought it was included in your original question, I'm sorry if that wasn't what you meant.

I lived in Baltimore City and County before moving here and compared to many other parts of the country, especially regarding real estate cost, I would definitely consider Baltimore City/County HCOL, too.  It makes me sad whenever I see how inexpensive homes are in other areas of the country (except maybe California and New Jersey). 

Whoops...let me clarify.  When I say 'Baltimore Area', I mean collectively Baltimore City/County, Howard, Harford county....possibly Anne Arundel County.  I know some areas are more expensive than others.  I just meant on average, these areas included, are we in a HCOL area?

Sorry I wasn't clear.