Hagerstown-Martinsburg → Montgomery
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Hagerstown-Martinsburg to Montgomery is favorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 94.2 to 89.7 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent falls by $245/mo.
- -$5,836
- BLS median salary lower in Montgomery
- 425 to 376
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 14.5:1 to 17.7:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
- $7,735
- DOL infant care lower / yr in Montgomery
BEA Regional Price Parity, HUD Fair Market Rent, BLS OEWS, FBI UCR, NCES, and DOL. The table below lets you override the composite with your own priorities.
Pros of Moving
- + 4% lower cost of living
- + $245/mo cheaper rent (2BR)
- + More affordable childcare
Cons of Moving
- - $6K lower median salary
- - Higher student-teacher ratios
Purchasing power stays near-even: BEA RPP moves only from 94.2 to 89.7 (ratio 0.95), inside a ±5% band. HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent drops $245/mo ($2,940/yr) from $1,261 in Hagerstown-Martinsburg to $1,016 in Montgomery.
Montgomery leads on 5 of 7 federal dimensions, a destination-heavy ledger. Montgomery sits #101 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (top third of the corpus). Hagerstown-Martinsburg is #159/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Favorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $5,836 lower ($64,224 → $58,388). Labor-market size: 100,850 tracked jobs at origin vs 157,200 at destination.
State retirement friendliness favors the destination: Alabama scores 75 (B, #5/51) vs Maryland at 46 (F, #45/51). Full state tax and healthcare sub-scores sit in the retirement desk below.
State retirement friendliness
Primary-state scores from PlainRelocate's retirement registry (tax + healthcare + climate composite). Metro pairs use each metro's primary state abbreviation.
- Income tax
- 75
- Property tax
- 63
- Estate tax
- 50
- Healthcare
- 52
- Income tax
- 90
- Property tax
- 92
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 20
Full retirement ranking · Source composite documented on methodology (Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides + federal healthcare/climate inputs).
Salary Adjustment Calculator
Enter your current salary in Hagerstown-Martinsburg to see what you'd need to earn in Montgomery to maintain the same purchasing power.
Montgomery metro profile · Livability rankings · Methodology
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA; retirement desk: Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides June 2026