Housing Costs Driving Away Marylanders

More Are Relocating Out of Area and State

High housing prices are pushing Maryland residents to move farther from Washington and, in some cases, to neighboring states such as Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to a new study released by the Maryland Department of Planning.

"It's clear workforce housing is a significant issue in Maryland, and particularly in central Maryland," said Mark Goldstein, an economist with the Maryland Department of Planning.

By central Maryland, Goldstein means the large area from Frederick to Harford counties in the north; through Howard, Montgomery, Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties in the middle; and south to Charles, Calvert and St. Mary's counties. By workforce housing, he means single-family houses or townhouses for teachers, firefighters and other middle-class professionals.

Overall, a record number of residents moved from Maryland to other states from 2005 to 2006, compared with people moving in from other states, based on data going back to 1981. This continues a trend also documented by state planners in another report this year highlighting migration within Maryland.

In the past, when state planners tracked why people moved in or out of the state, the planners could link it with the relative strength of Maryland's economy. In the mid- to late 1980s, for instance, outsiders poured in to take advantage of a growth in jobs and personal income that was among the fastest in the nation. In the late 1990s, as Maryland's economy cooled, people moved out. And they flowed back in during the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when Maryland's abundance of government and contracting jobs allowed the state to fare well compared with other states.

In recent years, Maryland's economy has slowed relative to other places. It is still holding up, however, experiencing only a slight decrease compared with other states.

Goldstein ran a complicated regression analysis, and it showed that economic factors appeared to be less of an influence on whether people moved in and out. A more important factor seemed to be the availability of less expensive houses, particularly in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, he said.

For Marylanders who live in the Washington region, this pull can be seen in Frederick County. Howard, to a lesser extent, also appeared to lose residents to Pennsylvania, according to state planners. Montgomery still loses residents to outer counties such as Frederick and Washington, continuing the trend of sprawl.

On a net basis -- the amount of Marylanders moving to Pennsylvania minus the number of Pennsylvanians moving to Maryland -- Pennsylvania gained more residents than at any time since such records were kept, according to state planners. The net outflow from 2005 to 2006 was a little more than 8,800, nearly 2,000 greater than 2004-05.

In Frederick County, the median value of owner-occupied housing units was $336,100, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey, compared with $140,000 to $158,700 for Pennsylvania counties just across the border.

West Virginia also is taking in newcomers fed up with Maryland's cost of living.

"We welcome growth. . . . We welcome people," said Stefanie Morton, director of planning for West Virginia's Berkeley County.

Morton said she knows of people who have moved in from Montgomery and elsewhere close to Washington, areas that Berkeley residents give an urban moniker. They sold houses in "the city" and came to West Virginia to buy a homestead free and clear -- no mortgage.

Berkeley has experienced some growth pains and is trying to take steps to make sure its roads can keep pace with the new residents. Morton said many newcomers still work in the Washington area and take steps to cut their commutes. Some telecommute two days a week, for instance, and take a two-hour Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC) train into Washington several times a week.

In Prince George's, particularly when international migration isn't factored in, more residents are moving out than moving in. But officials there said they think that its relative housing prices -- lower, they say, than Montgomery to the west and Anne Arundel to the east -- will draw newcomers.