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[sibyl]

Nailman's advice is great. 

The other thing about Baltimore is that no one has anything nice to say about the public schools.  If that's an issue for you, you need to look in the suburbs.  However, partly for that reason, housing is much cheaper in the city than the burbs. 

[histgradstudent]

Statistics don't really tell you much about your personal risk. The vast majority of Baltimore murders are drug related. Its not random killing. Is there a lot of petty crime? Well yeah. Some of it you can avoid. If you take the job and end up looking for a house or apartment, pay attention to unprotected doors and windows that are acessible from the outside. Try not to walk alone at night any more than you have to, that kind of thing. It isn't Iowa but really the crime is not that bad and the risks aren't really very high. Baltimore has a lot of things going for it. For an east coast city, it is very affordable and it has a nice unpretentious vibe.

[kaysixteen]

I had the dubious thrill of teaching in a public hs in Baltimore, when I was 24, years ago.  Nothing would ever induce me to allow a child of mine to attend such an institution, neither would any rational individual do so, IMO.  52 kids in one class was really Twilight Zonish.  That said, if one likes urban life, the city has nice places, and there are lovely suburbs and rural areas in Baltimore, Harford, Howard, and Carroll counties within decent commuting distance, as well as a well-done road network.  Winter is very nice, but summers remind one effectively of the Everglades.

[divinity_jones]

Thanks y'all.  This is very helpful.  Sounds like Baltimore has some real fans.

I was interested to notice that the search committee characterised it as a "rust-belt" city.  Being between Philly & DC I thought it was somewhat older & more venerable, but maybe that's a false first impression.  The only preconception I had about Baltimore was that the baseball stadium was nuked in one of those Harrison Ford movies.

Thankfully also (from your comments!) I am not in the position of having to shop around for school districts.