Best PlacesBerlin, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Berlin, 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.
Berlin ranks 17,311th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Berlin
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.
Berlin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Berlin ranks high
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 83% of towns
Where Berlin ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Berlin
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Berlin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $83,793, 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 Berlin's effective rate of 0.80%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Berlin
Berlin runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Berlin.
Who works in Berlin, and how
Work in Berlin centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Berlin
Berlin has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. The coast is about 10 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Berlin and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Berlin, month by month
Berlin sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, 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 | 48° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 66° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Berlin
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around Berlin
Schools across Berlin average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ocean City ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Showell ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
- Buckingham ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Berlin IntermediateB+ · 48% proficient
- Stephen Decatur MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
- Snow Hill MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Stephen Decatur HighA · 67% proficient
- Snow Hill HighA− · 60% proficient
- Parkside HighB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Berlin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Berlin 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 Berlin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Berlin
Is Berlin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Berlin ranks 17,311th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and walkability, 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 Berlin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $403,910. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $83,793 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Berlin safe?
Yes, Berlin is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $266 per resident a year.
Compare Berlin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Berlin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Berlin 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.
Berlin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Berlin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Berlin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Berlin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Berlin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Berlin 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.