Is Maryland (Or Any Other State) a Good Place to Retire
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
June 20, 2021 — Virginia’s recent Comment to our “25 Most Popular Active Communities in the Southeast” article really got things going. Many folks jumped in to help answer her question, which asked what people thought about retiring in Maryland. Since hers generated so many other Comments (and Maryland is not an active community nor is it in the Southeast) we thought we would pull everything together under a new post to keep everything in better focus.
Most of the Comments quickly got into taxes and cost of living, although just about everyone liked other aspects of the Free State. Regarding taxes, an estate lawyer once said something very wise to my mother and I. He said: “Don’t let the tax tail wag the dog”. In other words, if you want to do something for good reasons (like move to another state), do it. His mantra – enjoy your life; fear of taxes is not the way to live. Just as important as that thought though, you also have to act on the basis of the facts, not on what you think you know or heard from someone else.
Comments on "Is Maryland (Or Any Other State) a Good Place to Retire"
Admin says:
We moved a raft of Comments about Maryland as a place to retire here from another Blog post. They are contained in the article above.
Virginia says:
To Admin, thank you so much! This has been very helpful! Thank you one and all for your comments, I will begin my investigative work
on all the info received as well as visiting the towns mentioned. We live in Nassau county, Long Island so I doubt taxes & traffic can be any worse then what we’re experiencing.
Admin says:
Leonardtown is another interesting little town in a quiet, but fast growing part of Maryland. The town has an interesting downtown square with a courthouse and restaurants. The river is just below that with access to the Potomac. Just up the road are clusters of Amish people and their farms.
Virginia says:
Staci, where in PA are you located that ‘you often make the easy trip’ to MD? That might be an option for me? I know I’m getting off the Maryland track here but this is my situation; my son has been living in California for the past ten years, he got a job in MD and now has baby boy, I want to move closer to them because I’ve missed them so much and I’m not getting any younger. I know people say you shouldn’t follow your kids but family is so important.
Hjack says:
I agree with Richard. Ungodly expensive. I made a good living before retirement. We have a very nice income in retirement. Why, in Gods name would I want to spend it all in taxes eg property, personal, automobile, etcetcetc.
Now, it is a great state to visit, Deep Creek Lake in the western part, some gambling Mecca’s in the Cumberland area, and the Eastern Shore is very nice (Berlin). But to buy and live there is silly for a retiree when you can get so much more in states further south.
We live in SC. My doctors are in DC. We can fly into DCA and get there by 8am,take the Metro into DC, finish the appointments by 2-3, take the metro back to DCA and be home by dinner. Flights are no more than $79 each way when made in advance after Drs. appointments are made.
The expense of this travel day is made up in NOT paying Maryland taxes.
DaveC says:
Sally, we chose Williamsburg. Actually it’s more Lightfoot referring to a map. We opted for Colonial Heritage 55+ Community. Love the area, community has a ton of amenities (golf/gym/indoor pool/outdoor pool/wood working shop/on-site restaurant) and wonderful neighbors like I never would have expected to have! We love history and Colonial Williamsburg, dining out as there are tons of great food establishments. In tourist season, the locals still can get around quite easily by mostly avoiding the route your GPS suggests. Didn’t take long at all to find new and easy ways. Also with having lived over 30 years in Maryland, even the “heavy” traffic here is nothing! Tax sis it is also great:
Pasted from web: (Wallethub). Where does Virginia rank for retirement?
Main Findings
Overall Rank State Total Score
1 Florida 61.09
2 Colorado 60.94
3 Delaware 58.69
4 Virginia 58.61
Good luck in your search for your personal paradise!
Staci says:
Virginia
We’re in the Northwest suburbs of Philadelphia. It’s an 80 mile trip on the highways to Chestertown MD. Media PA is a great town, closer to MD than where we are now.
We have our kids on the west coast so I understand the pull to be closer to them. They’re not really settled down there so far, so I guess for now we’ll stay where we are.
Joann C says:
I'd love to see more comments about what it's like to live in Maryland and places to consider, without everyone bringing up issues regarding taxes and cost of living. That information is easy enough to find elsewhere and some people may be willing to make the trade off between taxes and COL vs. lifestyle. As a retiree, most of us wouldn't be commuting, so that's not relevant either.
Jennifer says:
I Agree with Hjack--Maryland has places of recreation like the lovely Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland and a nice Little Italy section in Baltimore and the harbor there. Annapolis is lovely as well. For those who are just visiting for a weekend or for a vacation to the eastern shore, no real problems other than traffic and not just commuter traffic. Getting to the beaches of Rehobeth and Ocean City can be very congested from DC nearly 24/7. It all can start on Fridays by noon in the summer months and sometimes earlier than that if a Holiday is approaching.
There are many considerations,and not just financial to retirement. I, for one, appreciate knowing about the cost of living and taxes.It is good to hear from people who currenntly reside in a chosen area who would know such information. Many people find their new homes for retirement by just taking a vacation to the destination a few times and stats can be unreliable. Also, if one is well funded then one can live anywhere, not eveyone one is in the same position who reads this forum.
Sally says:
Thank you Dave C!
The Williamsburg area was on my list already, you have given me a reason to move it closer to the top. I lived in Yorktown for several years as a child and that is really where my heart is, we were so fortunate to have lived on the water and it was so great as a child to have that experience. Not sure that is in our cards, on the water is so expensive now. This blog really helps bring real people to other real people and I am ever so appreciative. There is so much "data" available, but the actual experience of others is such a gift.
I hope you and your family enjoy your new home and area and thanks again for your response.
Sally
Mark says:
Maryland has not always been ridiculously expensive. My family traces back in Maryland to the 1660s. Up until my generation, my family was composed primarily of trades people. Also, up until my generation, family members retired in Maryland. What drove up the cost of living was a heavy influx of people from other parts of the country after Reagan outsourced a large part of the government and then grew the outsourced part even larger in the 80s. Montgomery County only had 40,000 residents at the end of the 1940s. Now, it has over on million. Houses doubled and then tripled in price in a very short period of time. People who moved to the DC for a new well-paying job government contracting started to flood into lower cost Maryland counties, driving up the cost of what used to be reasonably priced housing and making a mess of a road system that not designed for people who work in DC to live in the Baltimore Metro Area. These transients then demanded world class schools and a lot of other amenities. Those massive infrastructure changes were not free. What takes the cake is that these people are now complaining about Maryland’s high cost of living, the cost increase they created, and moving to somewhere where they will drive up the cost of living for people with long historical ties. It is a case of one cannot fix stupid.