Best PlacesCambridge, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cambridge, 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.
Cambridge ranks 44,459th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cambridge
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.
Cambridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cambridge ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 67% of towns
Where Cambridge ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cambridge
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cambridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $54,209, 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 Cambridge's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cambridge
Cambridge's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cambridge.
Who works in Cambridge, and how
Work in Cambridge centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cambridge
Cambridge has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns and more parkland per resident than 84% of towns. The coast is about 15 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cambridge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cambridge, month by month
Cambridge sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 37° | 30° |
| April | 67° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 87° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 70° | 61° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Cambridge
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cambridge
Schools across Cambridge average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Dorchester SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Tilghman ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Vienna Elementary SchoolD− · 12% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Dorchester Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Mace's Lane Middle SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top high schools
- North Dorchester High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Cambridge-south Dorchester High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cambridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cambridge 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 Cambridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cambridge
Is Cambridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cambridge ranks 44,459th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and transit, and lowest on taxes and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cambridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $294,540. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $54,209 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Cambridge safe?
Cambridge is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $648 per resident a year.
Compare Cambridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cambridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cambridge 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.
Cambridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cambridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cambridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cambridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cambridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cambridge 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.