Maryland’s high costs push one family out, generation by generation

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:03]As some Marylanders continue to lead the state over rising costs, one family shows that decision how it can spread.

[00:00:11]What starts with one person moving out can become a domino effect across generations.

[00:00:16]>> For tonight's Spotlight on Maryland story, Tessa Benin shares why families are moving out of Maryland.

[00:00:22]>> For Jessica Calabria, Baltimore will always be home. Baltimore was just like a big city with a small town feel.

[00:00:31]>> But she says she no longer sees it as a place she can afford to live.

[00:00:36]>> The only reason I could afford to live by myself was I was a property manager and got my apartment for less than half the going rate.

[00:00:46]>> She left Baltimore in 2018 and now lives in New Hampshire, relocating for her wife's job. She says the difference in cost is hard to ignore. In New Hampshire, they purchased a 2700 square foot home with 3 acres of land for $191,000.

[00:01:03]>> This is all supported on a salary of less than 90,000 a year. In Baltimore, I'd have been able maybe to get a row home that needed repairs or on some of the farther out places in Maryland. Calabria says they paid about $4,700 in property taxes last year. A similarly priced home in Baltimore would cost about the same, but New Hampshire has no state income or sales tax, which she says makes a difference, especially when sales tax is 6% in Maryland and the state income tax is a progressive rate.

[00:01:43]>> I figured it save over $500 a month just in taxes.

[00:01:51]For Calabria, that kind of affordability simply wasn't possible in Maryland.

[00:01:56]>> My favorite of hers was always her kindergarten photo.

[00:02:00]>> Now, Calabria's mother, Gail Short, is preparing to make a move after living in her Baltimore Row home since 1979, the same home Calabria grew up in.

[00:02:11]>> I I think it's gotten very unaffordable to live in Maryland. Pricing is definitely ridiculous.

[00:02:21]>> It's part of a broader trend of residents looking for lower costs and a more affordable lifestyle. Short plans to move to York County in Pennsylvania to be closer to her son Jean, who also moved out of Maryland in 2007.

[00:02:35]>> Yeah. One of the big reasons we went there was because of the affordable housing. And so that was him very young in a sailor suit looking like he was saluting but he was trying to take the cap off. For this family leaving Maryland is happening at different stages of life but for many of the same reasons.

[00:02:54]>> What do you think of the prices of homes in Pennsylvania compared to Maryland?

[00:02:59]>> Surprisingly they are a lot cheaper.

[00:03:01]>> Data from March suggests median listing home prices in Pennsylvania were $300,000.

[00:03:08]In Maryland, it was 417,000.

[00:03:11]In New Hampshire, 587,000.

[00:03:15]>> When they put up new town houses in Maryland, Baltimore County, they're in the 400,000 mark for a townhouse.

[00:03:24]And um you you can do much better than that in Pennsylvania.

[00:03:29]>> Coming up next week, a family of six is packing up their life here in Maryland and moving to Florida by the end of this month. What's driving that move?

[00:03:38]Affordable housing. And that's also one of the main concerns that the state has right now. We'll have that story next week as part of our series moving out of Maryland. Tessa Benulan, Spotlight on Maryland.

[00:03:52]>> I'm Kai Jackson. Thank you for watching.

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