Best PlacesBeltsville, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Beltsville, 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.
Beltsville ranks 1,613th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Beltsville
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.
Beltsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Beltsville ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 82% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 79% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 74% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 71% of cities
Where Beltsville ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 7% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 10% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Beltsville
A household needs to earn about $115,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Beltsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $111,419; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Beltsville's effective rate of 1.02%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Beltsville
Beltsville's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Beltsville.
Who works in Beltsville, and how
Work in Beltsville centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Beltsville
Beltsville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. The coast is about 31 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Beltsville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Beltsville, month by month
Beltsville sees roughly 70 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 Beltsville
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 15 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 Beltsville
Schools across Beltsville average a D+, better than 7% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Greenbelt ElementaryC− · 29% proficient
- Bond Mill ElementaryC− · 26% proficient
- Vansville ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Greenbelt MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Martin Luther King Jr. MiddleD · 20% proficient
- Thomas Johnson MiddleD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Duval HighC+ · 36% proficient
- High Point HighC · 32% proficient
- Laurel HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Beltsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Beltsville 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 Beltsville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Beltsville suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Beltsville
Is Beltsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Beltsville ranks 1,613th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, clean air, 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 Beltsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $426,999. The overall cost of living runs about 13% above the national average. Set against a $111,419 median income, cost of living beats 53% of cities.
Is Beltsville safe?
Beltsville is safer than 10% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $500 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Beltsville?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 28. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 28% of cities.
Is Beltsville good for families?
Schools beat 7% of cities, crime safety beats 10%, and childcare runs $1,268 a month.
Compare Beltsville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Beltsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Beltsville 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.
Beltsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Beltsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Beltsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Beltsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Beltsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Beltsville 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.