All right. So I'm going around and I'm making videos on the cost of living in Maryland. So today we're talking about Clarksburg. Clarksburg is a census designated space that's just north of Germantown and there's about 25,000 people in Clarksburg. So the only thing with that is it's unincorporated. So there's really no edges or borders to it. So those numbers, depending on what you read, what you look at, what you talk to, who you talk to, whatever, there's a good amount of people there, but it's not overly populated.

Niche.com has got it ranked pretty high for a couple of different things. It is the number six best suburb to buy a house. The number 10 place in general, to just buy a house in Maryland. And it is the number 20 suburb to live in Maryland. It's only about 30 miles right up I-270 from Washington, D.C.

So it is an attractive place for a lot of people who are looking for a short commute into the district, or if you have the opposite commute and you work and play and all that stuff up in Frederick, it's not far either. It's probably about another 25 minutes the other way. When it comes to transportation, you have 355 that runs right through Clarksburg. So that runs parallel with I-270 as well. So that will get you between Frederick and D.C. And there's also 121, which runs kind of east-west through Clarksburg and takes you the scenic route, if you will, if you're heading towards Boyd's or towards Germantown from Clarksburg. So you can always take 121. And like I said, it takes you on more of a scenic route, takes you over an overpass that goes over some water.

That is a pretty awesome place for outdoor activities. A lot of bikers and kayakers and people out there just boating and fishing. So when it comes to public transportation in Clarksburg it’s not a metropolis with many, many, many options for public mass transit. But there are some options when it comes to mass transit or public transportation. You can jump right on the ride on bus. There are stops throughout. With it being very close to Germantown, just being the town over, you have easy access to not drive all that far to get you to the MARC train or get you to the Germantown Transit Center to get you around the county a little bit more. So when you're looking to work in Clarksburg, this is what the numbers look like. Median household income is up over $147,000 a year. And for an individual that's up over $68,000 a year, this is way higher than the national median numbers.

So living in Clarksburg, when you look at these numbers, the median numbers, it's much higher than what you see on the national scale. A popular employer right here in Clarksburg is the premium outlets because there's about 100 stores over there. And they employ a lot of people because you're going to have 100 stores. You're going to need a lot of people to do the day-to-day stuff that's needed to make that thing operate. So a lot of jobs right there at the Clarksburg Premium Outlets.

Clarksburg High School is part of the MCPS, Montgomery County Public School System. So they employ a lot of people as well. Clarksburg Village Center has a bunch of different opportunities for a lot of different people. So there are job opportunities right here in Clarksburg. It might not be as many as you find in downtown D.C. or anything like that.

But for the population, there are still some options for people looking for work. When it comes to shopping, Clarksburg Village Center is going to have what you need for your day-to-day stuff. Harris Teeter, liquor store, Pet Valu, gas, banks, salons, they got it all over there. When it comes to retail shopping, as I said before, you have the Clarksburg Premium Outlets. They are what you're looking for when it comes to your retail shopping. And they're also going to have food vendors over there too. So you can make a day of it, go shopping, stop at the food court, grab something to eat, continue on with your day and then make it back home. But if you are looking for some retail shopping in the area, that is a great place. The other thing that makes Clarksburg stand apart from a lot of other places in the area is it's more of a sparse suburban area.

So it's not as much of the downtown urban walk to where you eat and play and all that other stuff. There are some sections of Clarksburg where you are going to have those opportunities, but that's not all of Clarksburg. And you can also get a little more bang for your buck in Clarksburg, as opposed to being a little bit closer to the district. Median home values are sitting at about $480,000. National average is at $217,500. So it's quite higher than what you get on the national level. Rent is sitting at just shy of 2100 bucks a month. The thing I know a lot of people say, "Oh, that seems really high." But the thing to keep in mind, Clarksburg is full of either, A, new construction and B, there's not a whole lot of apartment living, if you will.

Speaking of rent versus own, Clarksburg has a high concentration of homeowners. So it's about 86% of people in Clarksburg own their home, as opposed to those other 14% that rent. But here's the reason, I kind of pulled together some numbers here and this is the biggest reason why it's like that. If you take that meeting home price of $482,000, went 20% down, which is $96,000. I factored in a mortgage rate of like 2.75%. I broke it down the monthly payments on a 30 year mortgage. And that is sitting at $2058 per month. Going back to, like I said before, that median rent price right now is $2089 a month. So it makes a lot of sense for people to purchase as opposed to rent.

And that's why you have a higher concentration of owners as opposed to renters. So if we're looking at this $482,000 home, and we run that 0.94% tax rate on that, you're looking at about $4,500 per year when it comes to property taxes. Check with your local assessor's office for the actual tax rates on any property that you're looking to purchase. I say it all the time, but make sure you do that because that's important. You want to know what your tax rate is going to be. If you want more info on what it's like to live in Clarksburg, make sure you check out this other video right here on the screen.