Classifying Your State's Counties

[PragmaticPopulist]

Urban - Baltimore City, Montgomery, Prince George's
Suburban - Anne Arundel, Baltimore County, Howard
Exurban - Charles, Calvert, Cecil, Frederick, Harford, St. Mary's
Small City/Town - Dorchester, Talbot, Washington, Wicomico
Rural - Allegany, Caroline, Carroll, Garrett, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Worcester

[PragmaticPopulist]

Urban - Baltimore City, Montgomery, Prince George's

How are these anything other than D.C. suburbs?

Simple density a city does not make.

For the sake of the argument, I'll assume you've never been to either one. If you've been there, you'd know that much of those counties have an urban feel to them. They're nearly comparable to DC itself.

[PragmaticPopulist]

Urban - Baltimore City, Montgomery, Prince George's

How are these anything other than D.C. suburbs?

Simple density a city does not make.

For the sake of the argument, I'll assume you've never been to either one. If you've been there, you'd know that much of those counties have an urban feel to them. They're nearly comparable to DC itself.

I actually lived in DC for 4 years.

PG and MontCo aren't "urban" because DC is the obvious anchor of the whole DMV region.  The whole metro area is centered around Downtown DC - it's the transit hub, has the highest daytime density, and the densest, most high-value amenities.  Von Thünen's rings and what not. 

While relatively small geographic areas like Downtown Silver Spring or Bethesda may offer comparable density, you're ignoring the historical development of these places as commuter towns unipolarly oriented toward DC.  You're also ignoring that most of Montgomery/PG is more like Olney or Bowie than DC.

Then I guess it depends on if you say the county is more urban/rural in terms of population or land. I'm not gonna argue if over what is a better way to define them, as there are good cases to be made either way. But my view is that since most of the population of the counties live in the more urbanized parts like Rockville, Laurel and Silver Spring, the population of these counties at least are largely urbanized.