Best PlacesBraddock Heights, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Braddock Heights, 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.
Braddock Heights ranks 2,440th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Braddock Heights
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.
Braddock Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Braddock Heights ranks high
- Household income$180,011 median, better than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
Where Braddock Heights ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,304 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Short commute34.8 minutes each way, better than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Braddock Heights
A household needs to earn about $148,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Braddock Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $180,011, 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 Braddock Heights' effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Braddock Heights
Braddock Heights runs older than the country, 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 Braddock Heights.
Who works in Braddock Heights, and how
Work in Braddock Heights centers on professional & technical and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Braddock Heights
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Braddock Heights.
What the weather is like in Braddock Heights, month by month
Braddock Heights sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, 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 | 43° | 35° | 28° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Braddock Heights
The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 32 miles away.
The best schools in and around Braddock Heights
Schools across Braddock Heights average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Myersville ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Middletown MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Middletown HighA · 69% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Braddock Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Braddock Heights 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 Braddock Heights against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Braddock Heights
Is Braddock Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Braddock Heights ranks 2,440th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, what local pay buys, 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 Braddock Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $562,700. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $180,011 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Braddock Heights safe?
Braddock Heights is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $278 per resident a year.
Compare Braddock Heights with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Braddock Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Braddock Heights 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.
Braddock Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Braddock Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Braddock Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Braddock Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Braddock Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Braddock Heights 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.