You'll find that St Louis and Baltimore have an awful lot in common - both are largely-poor, largely-black cities with declining populations that are politically separate from the suburban jurisdictions that surround them. I've never been to St Louis, but I've heard that it kinda feels like Baltimore - lots of brick houses from the 19th century, fairly low outside of the central business district, whole sections of town that are full of dilapidated buildings slowly reverting to empty lots, the highest rates of lead paint contamination in the country, a fair number of really nice neighborhoods that surprise out-of-town visitors expecting Fallujah-on-the-Mississippi/Patapsco, etc.

At the state level, the good news is that Maryland is overwhelmingly Democratic, meaning that abortion bans, book bans, etc generally don't fly here. That doesn't mean the rest of the state cares all that much more about Baltimore than Missouri does about St Louis, though. There is a fair amount of animosity towards Baltimore City from the surrounding counties - it's a popular whipping boy on subjects from policing to schools to crime to government corruption. Maryland is very, very blue, but it's not particularly progressive. Moderate Democrats are the order of the day around here, and liberal policy goals tend to lag here despite how overwhelmingly Democratic the vote is. (We only just legalized weed last year, for instance.) If you're looking for liberal paradise, this is not your state; if you're looking for a fairly well-governed state that leans left but not overwhelmingly so, Maryland will be a good fit.

edit: department of redundancy department calling