To conform to my wife's preferences for suburbia, I wanted Ellicott City and Sykesville. More suburbs without the likelihood of falling into CA territory.

I would have been okay with something more rural with more land like Woodbine and Mt. Airy.

If I had a higher budget, River Hill and Glenelg areas.

Sheesh. Wonder why you got downvoted. Probably someone who hates the mention of River Hill.

The area I moved to is beautiful, but literally not walkable at all. It's more on the rural side. I kinda wish it were less rural, so we didn't have to drive everywhere.

I would say the CPRA, schools are better in other parts of the county, and it is heavy on suburbia life ad nauseum (if that isnt your thing) are the only real cons. It is getting more crowded, but the traffic is still manageable compared to the rest of the dmv.

Jobs and schools will continue to make howard county desirable to the media and families.

I completely agree. Wish we would have know about those areas when we moved out here

I wish I had kept on top of airport flight patterns. It's gotten really bad in the last 10 years. Columbia is literally in line with the western runway for takeoffs/landings. It makes Columbia REALLY noisy.

Can I ask which area it is?

Oh, really good point. I’ll look into that for sure. I’d you have any websites you recommend for reference, that would be awesome.

maybe that's true near Pub Dog / Costco? I haven't noticed it at all near the mall

or I'm just deaf 😃

If you’re at the mall you probably don’t notice it. If you’re past the hospital you definitely notice it

Google Maps. Just draw a line from each runway. It’s not going to be perfect since take offs can really go anywhere but landings are going to likely be a straight line for a good number of miles

Maybe it's the apparent commitment to Howard County? (Just grasping at straws; I can never tell what buttons I'm gonna push when commenting either.)

Agree, you have to be picky to optimize for walkability. I’m in King’s Contrivance and it’s highly walkable/bikable here. Can get to the town center in 20 min by bike, village center with most of what I need in 3 min.

I'm not comfortable with getting super specific. However I can say it's technically not in Columbia but right outside it.

Same. Columbia has just become too much for us and I'm old school. Grew up here, went to high school here and have loved it. But not as much anymore.

A lot of it depends on commuting patterns. I work in DC, so Columbia is about as far north as I am comfortable living. Maybe that changes a bit with the new hybrid work model that most places have now.

We also looked at Odenton and Silver Spring area. Ultimately, I think Columbia is an awesome place to live, especially if you’re in the more walkable areas where your aren’t completely car dependent.

River Hill and Clarksville are really nice, but I never understood the appeal of Glenelg. It’s so far away from everything and there’s nothing there but farms and McMansions on former farmland. You have to drive 20-30 minutes to get to anything, even grocery stores.

Being in walkable and bike-able distance to grocery store, restaurants, and a bus stop is a huge plus. Of the various places I’ve lived in the county I didn’t know I was missing that until moving to an area that has those luxuries. To me, really important with kids because those things allow you to make your own “adventures” without hopping in the car and driving up the city.

The price isn’t worth it. Restaurant scene is bad, poor service throughout, schools are overtly political, high taxes, property crime, no culture.