Best PlacesDundalk, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dundalk, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dundalk ranks 1,916th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dundalk
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.
The best areas in Dundalk
The parts of Dundalk, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Norwood Park & Saint Helena
Dundalk Farms
Gray Haven & North Point Village
Eastwood, Bayview Area & Graceland Park
Charlesmont & Gray Manor
Inverness
Turners & Eastfield
Scores across Dundalk run from about the 4th to the 54th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Dundalk's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dundalk ranks high
- BikingBetter than 96% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of cities
- TransitBetter than 82% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 78% of cities
Where Dundalk ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Dundalk
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dundalk home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,440, 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 Dundalk's effective rate of 1.04%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dundalk
Dundalk runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dundalk.
Who works in Dundalk, and how
Work in Dundalk centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Dundalk
Dundalk has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities and more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. The coast is about 7 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Dundalk and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dundalk, month by month
Dundalk sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 39° | 33° |
| April | 68° | 59° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 71° | 63° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Dundalk
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 11 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.3 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Dundalk
Schools across Dundalk average a D−, better than 2% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Chesapeake Terrace ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
- Edgemere ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Red House Run ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sparrows Point MiddleD · 22% proficient
- General John Stricker MiddleD− · 18% proficient
- Holabird MiddleD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Sparrows Point HighC · 31% proficient
- Patapsco High And Center For ArtsD · 22% proficient
- Dundalk HighD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dundalk school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dundalk 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 Dundalk against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Dundalk suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Dundalk
Is Dundalk a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dundalk ranks 1,916th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on taxes and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dundalk expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $222,276. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $65,440 median income, cost of living beats 14% of cities.
Is Dundalk safe?
Dundalk is safer than 3% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $615 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Dundalk?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 33. That works out to about 92 pleasant days a year, more than 55% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Dundalk?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Norwood Park & Saint Helena, Dundalk Farms, and Gray Haven & North Point Village. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Dundalk with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dundalk. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dundalk 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.
Dundalk detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dundalk: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dundalk: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dundalk: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dundalk: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dundalk 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.