Best PlacesCatonsville, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Catonsville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Catonsville ranks 693rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Catonsville
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.
The best areas in Catonsville
The parts of Catonsville, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Colonial Gardens
St Denis
Westchester & Catonsville Heights
Paradise
Catonsville Knolls
Westowne
Scores across Catonsville run from about the 34th to the 94th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Catonsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Catonsville ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 85% of cities
- TransitBetter than 84% of cities
Where Catonsville ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% 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 Catonsville
A household needs to earn about $115,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Catonsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $122,571, 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 Catonsville's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 Catonsville
Catonsville's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Catonsville.
Who works in Catonsville, and how
Work in Catonsville centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Catonsville
Catonsville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Catonsville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Catonsville, month by month
Catonsville sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 39° | 33° |
| April | 68° | 59° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 71° | 63° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Catonsville
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 7 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.3 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Catonsville
Schools across Catonsville average a C+, better than 38% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Westchester ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Hillcrest ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
- Catonsville ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Catonsville MiddleC+ · 35% proficient
- Arbutus MiddleC · 32% proficient
- Southwest AcademyD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Western School Of TechnologyA · 75% proficient
- Catonsville HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Woodlawn HighD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Catonsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Catonsville 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 Catonsville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Catonsville suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 85% of cities and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Catonsville
Is Catonsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Catonsville ranks 693rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on few empty homes, a stable housing market, and tree cover, 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 Catonsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $427,689. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $122,571 median income, cost of living beats 85% of cities.
Is Catonsville safe?
Catonsville is safer than 18% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $407 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Catonsville?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 33. That works out to about 88 pleasant days a year, more than 52% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Catonsville?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Colonial Gardens, St Denis, and Westchester & Catonsville Heights. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Catonsville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Catonsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Catonsville 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.
Catonsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Catonsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Catonsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Catonsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Catonsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Catonsville 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.