Best PlacesBoyds, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Boyds, 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.
Boyds ranks 1,376th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Boyds
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.
Boyds' strengths and weaknesses
Where Boyds ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$201,997 median, better than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
Where Boyds ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,745 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Boyds
A household needs to earn about $200,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boyds home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $201,997, 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 Boyds' effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Boyds
Boyds'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 Boyds.
Who works in Boyds, and how
Work in Boyds centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Boyds
Boyds has more parkland per resident than 86% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Boyds and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Boyds, month by month
Boyds sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Boyds
Washington Dulles International sits about 19 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 13.9 million passengers in 2025, with 200 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Boyds
Schools across Boyds average a B, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Spark M. Matsunaga ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Poolesville ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Clarksburg ElementaryB · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- John H. Poole MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Kingsview MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Rocky Hill MiddleB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Poolesville HighA · 79% proficient
- Northwest HighA− · 67% proficient
- Clarksburg HighB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boyds school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boyds 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 Boyds against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Boyds
Is Boyds a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boyds ranks 1,376th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, high incomes, and biking, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Boyds expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $752,952. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $201,997 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Boyds safe?
Boyds is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $392 per resident a year.
Compare Boyds with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boyds. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boyds 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.
Boyds detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boyds: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boyds: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boyds: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boyds: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boyds 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.