Virginia takes the cake for me. But I'm from Lovettsville, a small town in Western Loudoun that borders Md, so I am extremely bias.

There is way to go from VA to DC without tolls. I just don’t use toll option

How did you know I was asking myself this question :)

VA appears to win on taxes, but my city in VA has a 10% sales tax and all of VA has personal property tax, e.g., $1500 tax on your car. Also, I have high property tax in VA. Both states are very nice, but the cost of living is very high in both. I grew up in MD, but now live in VA. Both have excellent public schools, but VA has more state universities.

From Virginia to to D.C 1 minute, from Maryland 1 hour with your 25mph speed and jam traffic..

Virginia is better ………highways schools gun laws crime…. Southern Maryland, PG County, Baltimore schools or a joke

My family is from DC/MD and I grew up in MD in TESS. Because my wife works in VA and I wanted to stay in MD, this was a continuing debate for us during the first few years of our marriage but I eventually lost and we settled in NOVA principally because of the comment below concerning colleges. There is just more choices for good state colleges in VA (I went to UMCP and UAB). So, spending half my life in both places, and being extremely familiar with the whole area, I wanted to address several points in the video which would need to be expanded on to get a fairer comparison. Commute - At first, it appears as a no brainer as you have to cross a bridge to get to DC from VA - and for many years it was true that the MD commute was easier. But where many of the good jobs are has changed over the years from downtown DC to elsewhere as NV became a contracting and tech hub and MD became a biotech hub and also a contracting hub. So it depends on where your job is. I commuted from VA to Rockville for a while a few years ago and I can tell you, when it comes to the Cabin John Bridge - there were a lot more people coming into the Tysons/Reston area from MD than driving into MD for work. And the tolls to DC comment is off base for several reasons. None of the bridges have tolls and most roads to the bridges do not. When I worked downtown I drove down the GW parkway and went across the Roosevelt bridge to E street - no tolls and no lights until 19th and E. Most commuters to DC from NVA take the metro, but most people who have to commute to work in NVA live in NVA. It just depends where your job is. Taxes - As someone who has done a lot of VA and MD tax returns - for myself and family and friends - and given the other taxes like real and personal property taxes that are different in each state - overall - its clearly a wash for the average taxpayer. Remember - Maryland has the county income tax in addition to the state tax but VA has more personal property taxes (like the evil car tax) and higher RE taxes. The tax structure for retirees in each state are similar - but since we are discussing the DC suburbs, a lot of people who retire from work here move elsewhere - partially due to the expense of living in the area. Schools - I think the quality of the elementary and HS are about the same - but, as mentioned above, there are simply more in-state tuition choices for colleges in VA. Politics - I think the video said that the DC suburbs of MD was heavily democratic - which is true (as I mentioned, I grew up in the "nuclear free" zone of TESS). But it would be 180 degree wrong to infer NVA is Republican. This is not 1990. Remember, overall, NVA is younger, more tech savvy. The voting results and patterns are online and are overwhelmingly blue. VA may have a Republican governor, but both Senators are Ds (as you mentioned) and both the Reps from NVA (Wexton and Connally) are both Ds. VA overall has not gone for a Republican presidential candidate since 2004. And the reason is the voters in NVA are blue. Remember - we are not addressing this from the standpoint of the whole state - just the DC area. My general impression is that, if you are looking to buy a house in the DMV, its going to be cheaper in MD - again depending on how close in you want to be. I think MD wins in terms of parks - if you focus on the Potomac - because they have the Canal on that side. In terms of sports - on the MD side there is, of course some support for the Os as a lot of people got comfortable supporting them when we had no team for 30 years. And I know a lot of Ravens fans in Montgomery and PG counties. But, as you said - hey - this is the DC area. And NVA recently put the squash on the hockey and basketball teams moving to DVA from downtown. One of the advantages of living in the area is that you can root for both baseball and both football teams as they are in different leagues and that gives you a chance to see every team from every league play in person.

I live in Richmond and I never take tolls to get into Dc

4 counties make up Northern Virginia, the rest of Virginia don’t even consider Northern Virginia as Virginia.

I left Virginia after 24 years and moved to Tulsa, OK (bought a condo for cash) -- it is not me and I want to come back east. I don't want to make a mistake -- I am thinking Virginia again --Maryland is a possibility too! Your video was helpful I just don't want to make another mistake!!!

😂😂 in Virginia the only way you’re taking a toll to get into Dc is if you’re coming from the Dulles or Tyson’s area. I-95 there are no tolls ma’am. And Arlington and Alexandria are right there you can easily just walk into DC.

Germantown good place to live

Why do people from Maryland only talk about Montgomery County and Howard ….what about all the other poor counties around it?😂😂😂😂

To be fair the Potomac river resides in Maryland. So great falls is actually Maryland's crown jewel. I will say Northern VA is better governed than MoCo/PG by a long shot.

I live in MD. Thinking to move back to NoVa. I may need your help in finding a property and selling the one I’ve

Great video! So i think the blue part of MD is only Mont County and PG County, and maybe Baltimore right? The rest is pretty republicanish… also most people compare MD to VA, they compare Northern VA to MD’s PG county and Montgomery county, like nah it don’t add up! VA acts like they dont have ghetto ass Manassas and Woodbridge. Northern VA shares a smaller border with DC then MD does, so naturally that smaller part (Fairfax County) is very expensive and seems really nice, it most compares to Bethesda, some of Rockville, and Potomac… the deciding factor on where to live should be your age, MD has a bunch of families and older people, Northern VA has more young professionals, it will be easier to make friends, date, etc if you in the more lively Northern VA

Fairfax is better

Howard county is more a part of Baltimore region, the DC metropolitan area of Maryland is Prince Georges and Montgomery county only, seems like both states are trying to throw their whole state to the DC region 🤦🏽‍♂️