MD surrounds DC on 3 sides. It'd help if you were more specific about where you're planning to live and work. "Past" the White House is not a direction.

very broad question. Are you commuting from Rockville? Are you commuting from Upper Marlboro? Very different answers depending on what part of maryland you are talking about

> Conversely, what's it like living in the city itself?

Old Town (assuming you mean Alexandria in Virginia), Hyattsville, Hollywood (I assume you mean southern Maryland, and Marshall Heights/Capitol Heights are all very different places, all except Old Town are kinda boring themselves (and Hollywood is like two hours away).

A little tough to answer as others have mentioned. There are certain choke points depending on where you’re coming from that make commuting by car difficult. Doing a Google maps search to each working location and setting the time to 8am could be helpful. They use historical patterns for traffic.

I’m partial to Hyattsville as I live in a somewhat DC adjacent neighborhood. Think it’s a good value /good location. Has a “community” feel which I value. I don’t mind commuting from NE by car to various places in the area although getting to 395 or the beltway can be an exercise in patience. As dumb as this sounds you really just want to go the opposite direction of the majority on your commute (out of the city in the AM into the city in the PM roughly). Metro still isn’t back to it’s free flowing best. Toll roads can make commuting easier but would look into pricing. Can be very expensive (they use basic supply and demand pricing that can spike) but time saved is worth it. Hope this helps.

From Bethesda and northern suburbs, you can take MacArthur /Canal Rd , Massachusetts Ave or River Rd/Reno into downtown