Best Places20771, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 20771, 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.
20771 ranks 30,277th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 20771
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.
20771's strengths and weaknesses
Where 20771 ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of zip codes
- Educational attainmentBetter than 78% of zip codes
- BikingBetter than 77% of zip codes
- TransitBetter than 76% of zip codes
Where 20771 ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of zip codes
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than only 3% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of zip codes
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 20771
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 20771 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,439, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 20771's effective rate of 1.49%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 20771
20771 runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 20771.
Who works in 20771, and how
Work in 20771 centers on real estate and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 27%
Life in 20771
The coast is about 34 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 20771, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 20771, month by month
20771 sees roughly 71 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 20771
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 14 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 20771
Schools across 20771 average a C+, better than 52% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Catherine T. Reed ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thomas Johnson MiddleD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Duval HighC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 20771 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
20771 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 20771 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 20771
Is 20771 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 20771 ranks 30,277th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on big-city access, tree cover, and an educated workforce, and lowest on taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 20771 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $197,700. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $72,439 median income, cost of living beats 22% of zip codes.
Is 20771 safe?
20771 is safer than 8% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $629 per resident a year.
Compare 20771 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 20771. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 20771 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.
20771 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 20771: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 20771: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 20771: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 20771: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
20771 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.