Moving to Pg County?

I would move to National Harbor in a SECOND if I could. It's safe and gorgeous. PG County. Otherwise, I avoid the county if I can.

my husband grew up in Brentwood (borders Hyatsville). My MIL still lives in the same house he grew up in. I seriously hate going there just because it's not safe. When we first moved here to VA I had to live with her before my husband followed us for 2 weeks (we didn't have a house yet since we moved from out of state), I was terrified for those 2 weeks and only went outside if I HAD to. My MIL works grave shift and so it would be me and the kids in her house alone at night and it felt like every 30 minutes I would hear a siren and one night I even think I head gun shots. Now, it might not be THAT bad, and it might seem worse to me because we moved from south orange county, CA where it's just nice rich beach towns (Laguna Beach) and I'm not used to being one of the only white people in a neighborhood, but I was scared. I'm sure there could be nicer areas of PG county, but I have heard the schools are pretty awful in PG and there is no way I would ever live there. We decided on Northern VA instead. I feel very safe where we live, it's cleaner and it might be a little more expensive than PG county, but it's worth it in my mind to be safe and pay a little more rather than live in the ghetto and save money.
Maybe look into VA. In Chantilly where I live (Fairfax county) it's not too overly priced. Good luck!

Sadly, Prince Georges county just isn't a nice place right now. There's a lot of crime and the schools are the worst in the DC area (well - except for parts of DC itself). If you want inexpensive and short commute to the Nationals Field area, then PG makes sense... but with those two benefits you get crime and poor schools.

Another thing to think about is the racial makeup of PG county. DC is a really diverse area, which is awesome in my opinion, but depending on what color your skin is, your child could end up being a minority in PG... the county is 70% black, 15% Hispanic, 15% white.

If your husband would be willing to have a bit more of a commute, how about Crofton? It's just past PG county and the Metro runs directly there and houses are fairly inexpensive for the DC metro area.

It really depends on where in PG you look. I grew up in Lanham and most parts of it are still nice and affordable. Cipriano Road leads to a lot of nice communities. The townhomes and single family homes around there are nice. The apartments around there change so much its hard to say if they
are good right now or not. Problem with that area is that it would be a decent commute into DC. The elementary school for that area is good. The middle school, not so much. They bus kids from bad areas at the middle school level, I don't know why its only really for the middle school. The elementary school doesn't bus out of bounds. The high school does, but not a lot and most of the bad elements go to the HS that's right next door to the MS. The high school is great. Bowie has some nice areas.

Areas to avoid, Landover ie kentland and surrounding areas. Most places in Glenarden ( there are some nice but its few and far between) Springhill lake area ( Its been bad since before I was born. Always has and always will be.) Anywhere near or on Addison Road and District heights. I dropped an old friend off to his old neighborhood recently and it was still as bad as when we were kids and I was scared. Palmer Park area.

I know more, but I just can't think of the names right now. Feel free to pm me if you need more help.

Good Luck!

Until your last sentence, I had no idea what you meant by "pg county" ..............

One of the things I do every time we move (we're military) is to look up crime statistics by zip code. If I can't actually find it online, it's totally worth it to run down to a police station and ask them for the info. The police stations I've dealt with before have always been more than happy to help me out. I also try to look at 2 years' worth of statistics to try to gauge whether there has been an increase in crime in a particular area. For example, when we moved here, there were two zip codes that had relatively comparable rates of crime for the current year, but when I looked at the prior year as well, one of those had seen a dramatic increase in the level of crime whereas the other had remained relatively stable.

At any rate, if you can't find it online, go down to the police station to get the reports.

You might consider College Park. Friends live there and although their home was broken into a few Christmases back, they seem otherwise happy with the area. I would be leary of some places in Laurel. My SIL used to live near the mall and that was not a good place, and Laurel HS was not good for her kids. My friend grew up in Laurel and went to Roosevelt HS to stay out of Laurel HS. I don't know if Bowie would be a better bet than Laurel, especially for kids. With the new highway, would it be worth the tolls to move toward Germantown? That's still MoCo but might offer more room without being as expensive. You could also try something in NoVa.

Nothing in this metro area in general is truly "not expensive" unless it's scary, but there are pockets that are better.

Congratulations on your baby.

WELCOME to mamapedia!!!

If he wants Metro access and you still want to feel safe? Reston, VA - which is in Fairfax County. Or Vienna, VA near the 66 and Metro stops. My husband commutes to the MARC center every day via Metro.

I'm not WHERE you can move in the DC area that isn't expensive.

Gaithersburg is nice...living in Montgomery County is nice...that is true...

The places that aren't as expensive? TRULY OUTSIDE the beltway....and that means LONG commutes and traffic.

Contact a real estate office and see what you can work out. Get pre-qualified for a loan so you know how much you can buy and that will help you narrow your search down - BIG TIME!!!

Good luck!

I haven't read the other responses but from your update, it appears they've said what I am thinking. I grew up in PG County and while there are pockets of good neighborhoods still there, most of it is simply not the best areas and the schools are not as good as neighboring counties. I was sent to catholic Jr and High schools due to this.

I know a commute is no fun, but Montg/Anne Arundel/Howard counties all have better schools and overall safer neighborhoods.

Good luck and Congrats!!

Hubby and I grew up in PG County and moved due to crime and poor schools. Calvert County gets overlooked as a place to live. It's a great place to raise kids and the public schools are excellent. Commuting to that part of DC won't be too bad. It'll be over an hour but to come home to a safe neighborhood and community, I'll do the commute. It's still affordable also. Many of my neighbors commute to DC and some to VA. I would look into Northern Calvert as traffic can get really backed up further south (Dunkirk, Owings, Huntingtown, North Beach, Chesapeake Beach). There are also parts of Anne Arundel County which borders Calvert that are great places. As far as PG, Bowie is still nice. However, a friend that has lived there for 15+ years says she has noticed crime escalating as the years go by.

I grew up in Upper Marlboro and would recommend it. We lived in one of the larger neighborhoods closer to Charles County. My subdivision within the neighborhood was close-knit, safe, and the greater neighborhood had great resources (several schools, shopping center, parks, pools, etc.) all without feeling congested.

You'll obviously have to look into the schools -- I'm not a huge fan of PGCPS, even though I graduated from the system. If you choose to go the private or parochial route, you'll have tons of options. Feel free to message me privately for more details.

smile. I had to chuckle when I read that you're pg and wanting to move to PG county.

I suggest that you call realtors having offices in PG county and tell them what you want. They can steer you in the direction you want to go.