Best Places21624, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 21624, 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.
21624 ranks 9,296th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 21624
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.
21624's strengths and weaknesses
Where 21624 ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than 97% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of zip codes
Where 21624 ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 2% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 21624
A household needs to earn about $156,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 21624 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $110,481, 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 21624's effective rate of 0.68%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in 21624
21624 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 21624.
Who works in 21624, and how
Work in 21624 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in 21624
The coast is about 3 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 21624, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 21624, month by month
21624 sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 37° | 31° |
| April | 67° | 57° | 49° |
| July | 90° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 70° | 62° | 55° |
Flying in and out of 21624
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 32 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.3 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 21624
Schools across 21624 average a C, better than 33% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Tilghman ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Windy Hill MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Matapeake Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- St. Michaels Middle/high SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 21624 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
21624 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 21624 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 21624
Is 21624 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 21624 ranks 9,296th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on low crime, quiet, and health care access, and lowest on taxes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 21624 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $607,400. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $110,481 median income, cost of living beats 89% of zip codes.
Is 21624 safe?
Yes, 21624 is safer than 99% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $125 per resident a year.
Compare 21624 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 21624. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 21624 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.
21624 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 21624: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 21624: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 21624: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 21624: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
21624 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.