Best PlacesElk Mills, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elk Mills, 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.
Elk Mills ranks 11,082nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elk Mills
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.
Elk Mills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Elk Mills ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$124,225 median, better than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
Where Elk Mills ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elk Mills
A household needs to earn about $92,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elk Mills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $124,225, 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 Elk Mills' effective rate of 0.83%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Elk Mills
Elk Mills runs younger 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 Elk Mills.
Who works in Elk Mills, and how
Work in Elk Mills centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Elk Mills
The coast is about 17 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Elk Mills, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Elk Mills, month by month
Elk Mills sees roughly 59 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 Elk Mills
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 35 miles away.
The best schools in and around Elk Mills
Schools across Elk Mills average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cecil Manor ElementaryD · 17% proficient
- 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 Elk Mills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elk Mills 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 Elk Mills against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elk Mills
Is Elk Mills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elk Mills ranks 11,082nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, big-city access, and high incomes, 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 Elk Mills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $351,000. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $124,225 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Elk Mills safe?
Yes, Elk Mills is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $190 per resident a year.
Compare Elk Mills with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elk Mills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elk Mills 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.
Elk Mills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elk Mills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elk Mills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elk Mills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elk Mills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elk Mills 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.