Best Places to Live In Maryland

The Top 100 places to live in America

Each year Money magazine conducts a survey of the top 100 places to live in America. Many states can’t even crack the list—more than half fail to place even one city within their boundaries in the top 100.  In 2011 Maryland had the distinction of finding three of its cities on this enviable list.

The Best Places to Live

The survey ranks “best places to live” on a number of criteria.  Chief among these is levels of stress experienced by residents—which may be linked to crime rates and availability of good jobs; also important area availability of good schools, and access to the amenities and benefits of being near a larger city or major metropolitan area without having to live in the midst of the metro areas congestion, crime and high costs of living. Other factors cited in the survey include economic strength, good climate and recreational opportunities.

Three Maryland Cities that make the List

Montgomery Village

Clocking in at #40 on the list of top 100 places to live is Montgomery Village, Maryland.  Situated near Baltimore but classified as a suburb of Gaithersburg, this large, planned community lies in the middle of an unincorporated section of Montgomery County.  The population is approximately 40,000 and is considered a fairly affluent area—a reputation bolstered by its location near the Maryland “technology corridor with its high paying technical jobs.  The Montgomery Village schools are well regarded and low stress living is enhanced by the planned nature of the community, with no fewer than six law enforcement agencies servicing the area, crime is low.  Housing prices are high—as might be expected from a prime location between Baltimore and Washington D.C.

Eldersburg

Eldersburg, in Carroll County is ranked as the 67th best place to live in the US by the survey.  Eldersburg claims a population of just over 31,000.  Eldersburg’s close proximity to Washington D.C. makes it a popular “bedroom” community for professionals, federal and contract workers who commute to the nation’s capital daily.  Once a thriving farming region, recent decades have seen a steady influx of families moving into the area and yet the rural appeal of the town is maintained by its small size and its location nestled in scenic, rolling hills.  Public schools in Eldersburg  are ranked as among the best in the state; housing prices—again due to the proximity to the very high cost District of Columbia are higher than average, but the economic health of the area is excellent, which supports the higher real estate costs.

Crofton

The third Maryland community in the top 100 is Crofton, which comes in at number 82.  Crofton, situated in Anne Arundel County started its existence in 1965 as planned, gated community equidistance from both Washington D.C. and Baltimore (20 miles to each).  With a population of only slightly over 20,000, Crofton is situated around a scenic 3.5-mile scenic loop that includes two elementary schools, the town hall, and a country club and which is famous for its jogging, cycling and walking opportunities.  Crime is low and the schools are among the best in the state.  Housing prices however are reported as being “significantly” higher than the statewide average.

While one man’s paradise can be another’s purgatory, the criteria cited by Money magazine’s survey identify the most important factors that go into making a particular location among the “best places to live in the United States.  Not everyone can move to these oases of domestic tranquility, but for those relocating due to job or schooling reasons to Maryland’s Baltimore-D.C. area, these three cities rank among the best places to live in Maryland.

Two Of The World's Cheapest Places To Retire Overseas

This New Year we will be investing some time and space in for direct comparisons of the world's top retirement and living locations to help you determine your best options for living a comfortable lifestyle.

Today our Guest author will compare and contrast two of the hottest - cheapest and best places to live right now!

Kathleen writes --

I got an e mail from Correspondent Lee Harrison, who offered to compare two of his favorite cities, from our 2012 list of world's best and cheapest retirement hot spots: Cuenca, Ecuador, and Granada, Nicaragua.

Lee is a big fan of both cities and highly recommends both but, for different reasons.

Here's what Lee has to say -

"Comparing different retirement or investment destinations head to head is not only necessary, but fun and interesting. It's the key to narrowing down your preferences among all of the world's choices for the best place to live. Both seasoned overseas buyers and novices will benefit from this exercise.

When I looked over our recently published top picks for 2012, two cities jumped out at me immediately from the Super Cheap category: Cuenca, Ecuador, and Granada, Nicaragua.

I lived in Cuenca for years, own property in Granada, and have been to both of these cities in the past year. Throughout my visits to each, I couldn't help but draw comparisons. These cities line up naturally with one another, so, when comparing them, it's easiest to begin by looking at their similarities.

Both Cuenca and Granada are beautiful and authentic Spanish colonial cities, founded in the 1500s. In both cases the cost of living is about as low as you'll find anywhere. You can get by frugally on less than US$1,000 per month or live a comfortable lifestyle by North American standards for around US$1,500 a month or so.

Real estate in both cities is well under the magic US$1,000 per sq meter (around $93 US per sq ft), putting both these cities in 'bargain basement' territory. Transaction costs in both are low, as well.

Both cities are in Third World countries, with all of the attendant institutional inefficiencies, corruption, and less than perfect infrastructure maintenance. But they also have low levels of government intrusion, low taxes, and few rules and regulations.

Both Cuenca and Granada are home to sizeable, thriving expat communities with many North Americans. There are far more expats in Cuenca than in smaller Granada, but I'd guess that the ratio of expats to locals is about the same in both places.

Access to the United States is not bad from either city. Cuenca has a convenient international airport right in town, but virtually all flights to the United States connect through Quito or Guayaquil. Both these cities offer good connections to U.S. hubs, and flight time to Miami is just under four hours.

Granada is served by the Managua airport, about one hour away, which also has good U.S. connections. Flight time from Managua to Miami is about two hours.

Finally, residency is easy to establish in both countries, with low income and investment requirements.

But that's where the similarities end.









Cuenca is a large city of more than 400,000 people; more than four times the size of Granada. So Cuenca has the edge for big-city amenities, like theater, nightlife, and restaurants. It also has a new, upscale shopping mall and lots of modern health care facilities.

Granada, by comparison, has more of a small-town, close-knit feel, where everyone seems to know everyone.

Cuenca is located high in the Andes, at 8,200 feet above sea level (2,500 meters). So it offers spring-like weather, with highs rarely above the mid-70s and little seasonal variation. In five years of living in Cuenca, I can recall seeing 90° only once...and that spike broke a long-standing record. Granada, on the other hand, is warm all the time, with highs in the 80s to low 90s year-round.

Granada is on the shores of one of the world's largest lakes, meaning swimming and boating opportunities close at hand. You can even purchase your own private lake island. Nicaragua's Pacific beaches are less than two hours away.

In Cuenca, the nearest beaches are almost three hours away, in Machala, and the nearest nice beach is over four hours away in Playas or Salinas.

Shopping for real estate is a pleasure in both Cuenca and Granada, with lots of terrific homes available at reasonable prices. However, in my experience, each has its strengths when it comes to real estate.

Granada is best for its amazing inventory of low-cost Spanish colonial homes. Their center courtyards are typically open-air and often contain swimming pools, something very unusual in Latin America. Also, the colonials in Granada tend to be fairly small, so they're great for one or two people, or a small family. To me, there's no better place to shop for this type of property.

Cuenca has colonials, too, but they tend to be larger and expensive. Many are old homes for large families, 700 square meters or more...a lot for a retired single or couple to take on. On the other hand, Cuenca excels with its newer construction, offering a huge selection of modern condos at reasonable prices. So you can enjoy the Old World character of the historic center but live in a modern house or condo in First World comfort as near as a few blocks away.

Comparing Cuenca and Granada, there's really no winner, as is the case with many city-pairs. The key is to understand your own priorities.

I'd favor Granada to enjoy a traditional Spanish colonial home, in a smaller town with warm weather. I'd head to Cuenca for big-city amenities, cool, spring-like weather, and hundreds of modern housing choices.

Either way, you're enjoying one of the finest colonial cities that Spanish America has to offer."

Kathleen Peddicord, editor Live and Invest Overseas

Best Places to Live - Canada

Canada

We've spent a bit of time looking at the best places to live in the US and to be honest it is a lot easier to do. There are just so many more options to write about because there is so much more country! Many Americans don't realize that the United Sates has ten times the population than our cousin to the north. Canada has a population of around 34 million people and yet it is the second largest country in the world. It has a total area of almost 10 million square kilometers or about 4 million square miles. It is bordered by 3 oceans: Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific.  Toronto is the largest city at 4.3 million people followed by Montreal at 3.3 million, Vancouver  at 1.8 million people and Ottawa at 1 million people. Despite the fact this is one huge place -  90% of the population is found within 160 kms (100 miles) of the U.S. border and most of the people love between Windsor and Montreal in the east-central part of the country. (Source: www.nationsencyclopedia.com)  So, although Canada is big the places to chose for living are small - at least in number.

Best Places to Live for Singles

For single's its no surprise that Canada’s largest cities typically top the international best of lists. Vancouver has been named "the most livable city in the world" by the Economist magazine for the past two years.   Toronto ranked the 15th best place to live by AskMen.com. Montreal was Ranked 13th. But don't rule out Canada’s smaller cities. The new livability rankings from the Martin Prosperity Institute name Ottawa, Guelph, and Victoria right up there with their bigger sisters in terms of livability. For singles and couples these small cities have joined the larger ones among Canada's most livable places.

CreativeClass.com offerred this ranked list for the best cities in Canada for singles:

1. Calgary
2. Ottawa - Gatineau
3. Victoria
4. Edmonton
5. Guelph
6. Montréal

Top Places to Live

As we discussed in a previous post the MoneySense Best Places in Canada suggests the following as the Top Places to Live in Canada:

#1 Ottawa
#2 Kingston
#3 Burlington
#4 Fredericton
#5 Moncton
#6 Repentigny
#7 Brandon
#8 Victoria
#9 Winnipeg
#10 Lévis

Best Places to Live in Canada

These give us some idea for selecting a place to live in Canada but no list tells the whole story. As we've said over and over it's almost completely subjective. One persons 'best' may be another's 'worst'. A young professional single with money to burn may love the big city and have no concern for expenses while a retired Canadian maybe be counting their pennies and looking for the cheapest place to live.

Best Place to Live Poll

So our solution has been to throw it back out there for you to give us your opinion. Please look to the left sidebar and you'll see our poll for the best place to live in Canada. Place your vite and let's see what our readers come up with by the end of the month. We'll post the results next week.

10 Best Places - Cities - to Live Abroad

The Economist Intelligence Unit has just released its latest research of the Best Places to Live Abroad - more specifically the 10 Best Cities to live in. The index is a very helpful resource for those thinking that a move abroad may be in their future. It shows the best places in the world for quality of life, aka The 10 Best Cities.

Like the International Living Quality of Life Index the Economist Intelligence index is based on a variety of data relating to stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Just like the International Living list it's pretty comprehensive. Not only that but the key considerations are likely the most important factors any potential ex-pat would want to explore when they look around for the best place to live.

Whether you're looking for work abroad, simply want to know where to relocate your family for the best quality of life or discover the best places to retire and live in comfort, this information will come in handy.

Today we're going to tackle part one by simply presenting the list of Top 10 Places to Live Abroad in it's entirety. Then over the next few days I'll follow up with more details on the reason each place was chosen.

Before we get started I just wanted to point out this first part of the list may appear to have a basis towards Canada with three of the top five best places to live - but for good reason. When one thinks of Canada one can't help but acknowledge the quality of life Canadians enjoy. Just to validate the index even more Vancouver was recently honoured, for the second year in a row, with the recognition of being the World's Most Livable City. The other interesting thing to note is that Australia has four cities in this top 10 list. It just confirms, and no one could deny, that Australia and Canada truly are fantastic choices for the pursuit of quality living.

The 10 Best Places to Live Abroad according to The Economist

1. Vancouver, Canada (Who can forget the 2010 Winter Olympics!)
2. Melbourne, Australia (Oprah certainly put the Aussies on the map this year!)
3. Vienna, Austria
4. Toronto, Canada
5. Calgary, Canada (more memories of past Olympics Canadian style!)
6. Helsinki, Finland (and yet another former Olympic venue!)
7. Sydney, Australia (and more Oprah!)
8. Perth, Australia
9. Adelaide, Australia
10. Auckland, New Zealand

Editors note: As a Canadian I often notice how 'America-centric' the internet can be. Although this article and the indices we have discussed talk about 'The Best Places to Live Abroad' there is an obvious slant or American perspective. Most of these indices are written to an American audience. Perhaps a more accurate way to describe the index would be, "The Best Places to Live Abroad for Americans".

Best Places to Live in the World - #10 Italy

Beginning at the end - Italy garners position #10 on the International Living Quality of Life Index for the Top 10 Best Places to Live in the World.

Rome, Venice, Florence - mountains surrounded by prestine lakes - beaches of gold and picturesq villages with cobble stone streets. Welcome to Itlay!

Did you know Italy boasts 60% of the world's most treasured art and the World Health Organization ranked Italy's Health Care system #2 in the world? What esle makes Italy so special and worthy of being named the 10th best place on the planet to live? How about some of the world's best vineyards, opera, espresso coffee, pizza and ice cream?

Down sides - Italy can be expensive especially in popular big cities of Northern Italy; unemployment tends to run high and incomes are lower than found in North America. Striking workers are common place while corruption and bueracratic red tape makes waiting in line and simply waiting a common Italian pastime.

The Italian weather is thought by many to be idylic with short, mild winters and hot long summers. And if you venture south or out into the countryside and away from those 'popular' tourist zones housing is affordable and the cost of living reasonable.

All this gives Italy a rank of tenth for Quality of Life and one of the Top Best Places to Live in the World.

Rankings come Second Place to 'Familiarity' for Ex-Pats

Yes, Norway and Australia and even Iceland have been ranked as the best places to live in the world but that doesn't mean Americans are going to make a rush to move there.

When it comes to retirement and second homes they tend to look to more familiar locations.

The United Nations' human development index came out earlier this week and ranked those as the hot spots. It also gave a thumbs up to Canada and Ireland by placing them among the top five places to live in the world.

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