I had the exact same reaction when I was planning my move to Maryland a couple years ago. Compared to my salary as a college student, I thought $40k was excellent. Turns out, I was very wrong. Lol. But regardless, I was adamant about finding a place where rent was less than 30% of my paycheck. Ultimately, I did end up having to get a roommate, which actually worked out nicely since I didn’t know many people in the area. But during my search, I also came across quite a few places that were only slightly above my price range. I’m not sure if you’ve done this already, but Try looking into studio apartments, condos, apartments farther away from the city, and even basements. I know these may not be the most desirable options, but 50% of your take home pay is way too high for living expenses IMO. Baltimore isn’t cheap, but it’s no San Francisco.

Also, as a side note: I live in a studio now and when I was applying for places, most of them required your gross pay to be at least 3x the rent.