Columbia’s trying to attract younger professional crowds. They’ve built so many damn apartment buildings there for the last ten years. They’ve got the renovated live music venue, some bars, lots of restaurants, the all important Whole Foods 🙄 and a very good shopping mall with a movie theater. even through malls should all be dead, this one is thriving.

And it’s rather equidistant from both cities. There’s a MARC train station near Columbia that can take you to DC and Baltimore. And each one is like a 30 minute drive on the highways.