Best PlacesBarclay, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Barclay, 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.
Barclay ranks 25,245th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Barclay
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.
Barclay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barclay ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$94,675 median, better than 81% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 70% of towns
Where Barclay ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- Short commute38.0 minutes each way, better than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Barclay
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barclay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,675, 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 Barclay's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Barclay
Barclay runs older 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 Barclay.
Who works in Barclay, and how
Work in Barclay centers on construction and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Barclay
The coast is about 30 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Barclay, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Barclay, month by month
Barclay sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Barclay
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 43 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barclay
Schools across Barclay average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sudlersville Elementary SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sudlersville Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Queen Anne's County High SchoolB · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barclay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barclay 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 Barclay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Barclay
Is Barclay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barclay ranks 25,245th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, big-city access, and few empty homes, 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 Barclay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $357,247. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $94,675 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Barclay safe?
Barclay is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $293 per resident a year.
Compare Barclay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barclay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barclay 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.
Barclay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barclay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barclay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barclay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barclay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barclay 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.