Best PlacesDrayden, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Drayden, 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.
Drayden ranks 1,749th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Drayden
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.
Drayden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Drayden ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$172,540 median, better than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
Where Drayden 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
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Drayden
A household needs to earn about $177,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Drayden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $172,540; 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 Drayden's effective rate of 0.83%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Drayden
Drayden runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Drayden.
Who works in Drayden, and how
Work in Drayden centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Drayden
The coast is about 20 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Drayden, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Drayden, month by month
Drayden sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Drayden
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Drayden
Schools across Drayden average a C+, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Piney Point ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Spring Ridge MiddleC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Leonardtown HighA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Drayden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Drayden 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 Drayden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Drayden
Is Drayden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Drayden ranks 1,749th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and an educated workforce, 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 Drayden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $673,647. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $172,540 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Drayden safe?
Yes, Drayden is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $183 per resident a year.
Compare Drayden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Drayden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Drayden 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.
Drayden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Drayden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Drayden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Drayden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Drayden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Drayden 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.