Best PlacesBaltimore City, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Baltimore City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Baltimore City ranks 2,194th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 15 minutes away. Its strengths are walkability and transit. The cost shows up in the schools, taxes, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Baltimore City
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.
The best areas in Baltimore City
The parts of Baltimore City, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Curtis Bay
Local pay stretches further, streets are more walkable, and incomes run higher.
Parkville
Fewer homes sit empty and tree cover is thicker.
Brooklyn
More adults hold degrees, though it is noisier.
Pikesville
More households have young kids, though heat risk is higher.
Baltimore
Biking is better, though prices have run up more.
Gwynn Oak
Health outcomes score lower and crime runs higher.
Baltimore City shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Baltimore City's strengths and weaknesses
Baltimore City lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Walkability is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Transit and biking follow.
The one real hole is the schools, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and noise also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Baltimore City ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of counties
Where Baltimore City ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 2% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 7% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Baltimore City
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Baltimore City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,810, 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 Baltimore City's effective rate of 1.35%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Baltimore City
Baltimore City's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Baltimore City.
Who works in Baltimore City, and how
Work in Baltimore City centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 21%
Life in Baltimore City
Baltimore City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of counties and more parkland per resident than 77% of counties. The coast is about 15 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Baltimore City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Baltimore City growing, and who is moving in?
Baltimore City has lost about 9% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Baltimore, MD metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Baltimore City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Baltimore City, month by month
Baltimore City sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 39° | 33° |
| April | 68° | 59° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 71° | 63° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Baltimore City
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 10 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 Baltimore City
Schools across Baltimore City average an F, better than 1% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Roland Park Elementary/middleB− · 44% proficient
- Thomas Johnson Elementary/middleB− · 42% proficient
- King & Queen ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Severna Park MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Central MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Old Mill Middle SouthC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Baltimore Polytechnic InstituteA · 75% proficient
- Baltimore City CollegeA− · 61% proficient
- Central HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Baltimore City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Baltimore City 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 Baltimore City against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Baltimore City suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Baltimore City
Is Baltimore City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Baltimore City ranks 2,194th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and biking, and lowest on the schools and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Baltimore City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $251,481. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $71,810 median income, cost of living beats 59% of counties.
Is Baltimore City safe?
Baltimore City is safer than 3% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $799 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Baltimore City?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 33. That works out to about 96 pleasant days a year, more than 57% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Baltimore City?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Curtis Bay, Parkville, and Brooklyn. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Baltimore City good for families?
Schools beat 0% of counties, crime safety beats 3%, and childcare runs $1,097 a month.
Is Baltimore City good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 59% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 65% of counties. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Baltimore City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Baltimore City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Baltimore City 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.
Baltimore City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Baltimore City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Baltimore City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Baltimore City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Baltimore City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Baltimore City 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.