Best PlacesChevy Chase Section Five, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chevy Chase Section Five, 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.
Chevy Chase Section Five ranks 765th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chevy Chase Section Five
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.
Chevy Chase Section Five's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chevy Chase Section Five ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$250,001 median, better than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
Where Chevy Chase Section Five 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
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chevy Chase Section Five
A household needs to earn about $430,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chevy Chase Section Five home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $250,001, 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 Chevy Chase Section Five's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 Chevy Chase Section Five
Chevy Chase Section Five 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 Chevy Chase Section Five.
Who works in Chevy Chase Section Five, and how
Work in Chevy Chase Section Five centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 58%
- Work from home 36%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Chevy Chase Section Five
The coast is about 32 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Chevy Chase Section Five, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Chevy Chase Section Five, month by month
Chevy Chase Section Five sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, 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 | 45° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Chevy Chase Section Five
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 9 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.0 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Chevy Chase Section Five
Schools across Chevy Chase Section Five average an A−, better than 85% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Chevy Chase ElementaryB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Westland MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Bethesda-chevy Chase HighA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chevy Chase Section Five school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chevy Chase Section Five 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 Chevy Chase Section Five against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chevy Chase Section Five
Is Chevy Chase Section Five a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chevy Chase Section Five ranks 765th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, what local pay buys, and high incomes, 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 Chevy Chase Section Five expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,631,455. The overall cost of living runs about 51% above the national average. Set against a $250,001 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Chevy Chase Section Five safe?
Chevy Chase Section Five is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $469 per resident a year.
Compare Chevy Chase Section Five with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chevy Chase Section Five. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chevy Chase Section Five 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.
Chevy Chase Section Five detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chevy Chase Section Five: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chevy Chase Section Five: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chevy Chase Section Five: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chevy Chase Section Five: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chevy Chase Section Five 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.