Best PlacesBel Air South, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bel Air South, 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.
Bel Air South ranks 451st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bel Air South
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.
Bel Air South's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bel Air South ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of cities
Where Bel Air South ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 2% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 13% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Bel Air South
A household needs to earn about $101,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bel Air South home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $125,079, 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 Bel Air South's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Bel Air South
Bel Air South's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bel Air South.
Who works in Bel Air South, and how
Work in Bel Air South centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Bel Air South
Bel Air South has more parkland per resident than 83% of cities. The coast is about 19 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Bel Air South and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bel Air South, month by month
Bel Air South sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 80° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Bel Air South
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 29 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 Bel Air South
Schools across Bel Air South average a B−, better than 59% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Homestead/wakefield ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Prospect Mill ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Emmorton ElementaryC+ · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southampton MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Patterson Mill Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Bel Air MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Bel Air HighA · 69% proficient
- Patterson Mill High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- C. Milton Wright HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bel Air South school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bel Air South 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 Bel Air South against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Bel Air South suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of cities and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Bel Air South
Is Bel Air South a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bel Air South ranks 451st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low crime, 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 Bel Air South expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $384,866. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $125,079 median income, cost of living beats 88% of cities.
Is Bel Air South safe?
Yes, Bel Air South is safer than 95% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $185 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bel Air South?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 26. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of cities.
Is Bel Air South good for families?
Schools beat 59% of cities, crime safety beats 95%, and childcare runs $1,304 a month.
Compare Bel Air South with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bel Air South. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bel Air South 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.
Bel Air South detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bel Air South: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bel Air South: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bel Air South: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bel Air South: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bel Air South 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.