Best Places20609, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 20609, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
20609 ranks 21,089th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on high incomes.
The best neighborhoods in 20609
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.
20609's strengths and weaknesses
Where 20609 ranks high
- Household income$106,290 median, better than 84% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than 81% of zip codes
- Tree shadeBetter than 79% of zip codes
Where 20609 ranks low
- Short commute45.9 minutes each way, better than only 1% of zip codes
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of zip codes
- WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of zip codes
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 20609
A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 20609 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,290, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 20609's effective rate of 0.80%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 20609
20609 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 20609.
Who works in 20609, and how
Work in 20609 centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in 20609
The coast is about 7 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 20609, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 20609, month by month
20609 sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 70° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 74° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of 20609
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 43 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.0 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 20609
Schools across 20609 average a C+, better than 43% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Dynard ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Margaret Brent MiddleC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Chopticon HighB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 20609 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
20609 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 20609 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 20609
Is 20609 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 20609 ranks 21,089th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on high incomes, what local pay buys, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 20609 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $461,069. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $106,290 median income, cost of living beats 84% of zip codes.
Is 20609 safe?
20609 is safer than 41% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $339 per resident a year.
Compare 20609 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 20609. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 20609 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.
20609 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 20609: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 20609: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 20609: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 20609: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
20609 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.