Best Places20317, DC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 20317, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
20317 ranks 17,389th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 20317
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
20317's strengths and weaknesses
Where 20317 ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of zip codes
- BikingBetter than 98% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of zip codes
Where 20317 ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,143 a month, better than only 1% of zip codes
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than only 13% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 20317
A household needs to earn about $112,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 20317 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $104,854; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 20317's effective rate of 0.52%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 20317
20317 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 20317.
Who works in 20317, and how
Work in 20317 centers on professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in 20317
The coast is about 28 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 20317, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 20317, month by month
20317 sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of 20317
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 6 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.0 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
20317 measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 20317 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 20317
Is 20317 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 20317 ranks 17,389th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low disaster risk, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 20317 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $444,000. The overall cost of living runs about 46% above the national average. Set against a $104,854 median income, cost of living beats 36% of zip codes.
Is 20317 safe?
20317 is safer than 4% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,175 per resident a year.
Compare 20317 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 20317. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 20317 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
20317 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 20317: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 20317: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 20317: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 20317: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
20317 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.