Best PlacesBethesda, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bethesda, 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.
Bethesda ranks 78th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bethesda
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.
Bethesda's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bethesda ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Household income$209,212 median, better than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of cities
Where Bethesda ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,745 a month, better than only 6% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Bethesda
A household needs to earn about $312,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bethesda home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $209,212, 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 Bethesda's effective rate of 0.88%, 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 Bethesda
Bethesda runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bethesda.
Who works in Bethesda, and how
Work in Bethesda centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 45%
- Work from home 38%
- Transit, walk, or bike 17%
Life in Bethesda
Bethesda has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of cities and more parkland per resident than 76% of cities. The coast is about 32 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bethesda and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bethesda, month by month
Bethesda sees roughly 67 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 Bethesda
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 10 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 Bethesda
Schools across Bethesda average an A, better than 92% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Westbrook ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Bannockburn ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Bradley Hills ElementaryA · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thomas W. Pyle MiddleA · 62% proficient
- North Bethesda MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Westland MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Walt Whitman HighA+ · 91% proficient
- Walter Johnson HighA · 79% proficient
- Bethesda-chevy Chase HighA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bethesda school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bethesda 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 Bethesda against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Bethesda suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of cities and 38% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Bethesda
Is Bethesda a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bethesda ranks 78th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, health care access, and high incomes, 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 Bethesda expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,182,206. The overall cost of living runs about 43% above the national average. Set against a $209,212 median income, cost of living beats 96% of cities.
Is Bethesda safe?
Bethesda is safer than 18% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $433 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bethesda?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 28. That works out to about 67 pleasant days a year, more than 20% of cities.
Is Bethesda good for families?
Schools beat 92% of cities, crime safety beats 18%, and childcare runs $1,745 a month.
Compare Bethesda with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bethesda. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bethesda 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.
Bethesda detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bethesda: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bethesda: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bethesda: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bethesda: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bethesda 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.