Best PlacesColonial Acres, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Colonial Acres, 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.
Colonial Acres ranks 21,309th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Colonial Acres
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.
Colonial Acres' strengths and weaknesses
Where Colonial Acres ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$103,063 median, better than 87% of towns
Where Colonial Acres ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Colonial Acres
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Colonial Acres home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $103,063, 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 Colonial Acres' effective rate of 1.09%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Colonial Acres
Colonial Acres runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Colonial Acres.
Who works in Colonial Acres, and how
Work in Colonial Acres centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Colonial Acres
The coast is about 16 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Colonial Acres, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Colonial Acres, month by month
Colonial Acres sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Colonial Acres
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 36 miles away.
The best schools in and around Colonial Acres
Schools across Colonial Acres average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gilpin Manor ElementaryD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Elkton MiddleD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Elkton HighB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Colonial Acres school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Colonial Acres 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 Colonial Acres against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Colonial Acres
Is Colonial Acres a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Colonial Acres ranks 21,309th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, fast internet, and few empty homes, and lowest on taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Colonial Acres expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $374,600. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $103,063 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Colonial Acres safe?
Colonial Acres is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $276 per resident a year.
Compare Colonial Acres with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Colonial Acres. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Colonial Acres 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.
Colonial Acres detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Colonial Acres: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Colonial Acres: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Colonial Acres: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Colonial Acres: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Colonial Acres 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.