Best PlacesClear Spring, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clear Spring, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Clear Spring ranks 20,290th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Clear Spring
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.
Clear Spring's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clear Spring ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 83% of towns
- Household income$92,791 median, better than 79% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 78% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 75% of towns
Where Clear Spring 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
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 23% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Clear Spring
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clear Spring home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,791, 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 Clear Spring's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Clear Spring
Clear Spring 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 Clear Spring.
Who works in Clear Spring, and how
Work in Clear Spring centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Clear Spring
Clear Spring has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Clear Spring and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Clear Spring, month by month
Clear Spring sees roughly 69 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 Clear Spring
The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clear Spring
Schools across Clear Spring average a C+, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Williamsport ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Clear Spring ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Fountain Rock ElementaryD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clear Spring MiddleC · 31% proficient
- Springfield MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Barbara Ingram School For The ArtsA · 70% proficient
- Clear Spring HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clear Spring school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clear Spring 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 Clear Spring against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Clear Spring
Is Clear Spring a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clear Spring ranks 20,290th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, few empty homes, 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 Clear Spring expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $317,419. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $92,791 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Clear Spring safe?
Clear Spring is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $330 per resident a year.
Compare Clear Spring with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clear Spring. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clear Spring 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.
Clear Spring detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clear Spring: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clear Spring: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clear Spring: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clear Spring: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clear Spring 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.