Best PlacesCearfoss, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cearfoss, 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.
Cearfoss ranks 16,763rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cearfoss
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.
Cearfoss' strengths and weaknesses
Where Cearfoss ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of towns
- Household income$104,136 median, better than 87% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 86% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Cearfoss 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
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cearfoss
A household needs to earn about $105,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cearfoss home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $104,136; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Cearfoss' effective rate of 0.79%, 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 Cearfoss
Cearfoss runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Cearfoss.
Who works in Cearfoss, and how
Work in Cearfoss centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Cearfoss
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cearfoss.
What the weather is like in Cearfoss, month by month
Cearfoss sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Cearfoss
The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cearfoss
Schools across Cearfoss average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Maugansville ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clear Spring MiddleC · 31% proficient
- Western Heights MiddleD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Barbara Ingram School For The ArtsA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cearfoss school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cearfoss 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 Cearfoss against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cearfoss
Is Cearfoss a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cearfoss ranks 16,763rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, what local pay buys, 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 Cearfoss expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $402,401. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $104,136 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Cearfoss safe?
Yes, Cearfoss is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $241 per resident a year.
Compare Cearfoss with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cearfoss. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cearfoss 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.
Cearfoss detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cearfoss: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cearfoss: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cearfoss: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cearfoss: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cearfoss 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.