ChicSheikh

ChicSheikh t1_j27eg8k wrote

Baltimore County is a pretty big place, it's like a 45 mile drive from Sparrows Point to The MD/PA Line. I'll assume since you're asking for places that aren't too suburby that you're thinking closer to the city.

Up on the north side Towson is a university town with a walkable downtown, plenty of good places to eat, etc. Towson has definitely gone upscale over the years (it has a lovely Whole Foods) so it might be pricy, but it's certainly not short on young people.

The east side - especially the southeast side - and especially especially Dundalk are often perceived as a white trash area. That's sometimes true, although I've known some fine people from the east county as well. In the northeast, I know one Parkville resident who swears by it but I find it a bit generic.

On the west side some of the the inner suburbs - Owings Mills and Randallstown for example - have large black populations so you'll find lots of soul food, black hair places, etc. And Pikesville is a heavily Jewish suburb on the northwest side if kosher food is your thing. As you head out to Reisterstown the population gets much whiter and you start seeing more Trump stickers.

On the southwest side Catonsville has a walkable Main Street, but doesn't feel as upscale as Towson. It's a part of the county that used to be very white, and is slowly becoming more diverse. It's the home of UMBC, but Catonsville feels much less like a college town than Towson as UMBC is more commuter-heavy and smaller overall. It's not a bad area if you want to have one foot in the suburbs and one foot in the city - it's an easy 15 minute drive to popular spots in South Baltimore, but it's also close to big box stores and suburban stuff on route 40.

If you're don't have a specific reason to be in the county but you're just looking for something that doesn't feel like full-on city, there are areas within the city limits that might work. Mt Washington has a nice little walkable area with bars and restaurants, but most of the residential streets around there feel pretty suburban and car-oriented.

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