Best PlacesElkridge, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elkridge, 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.
Elkridge ranks 4,200th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elkridge
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.
Elkridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elkridge ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
Where Elkridge ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,745 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 56 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elkridge
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elkridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $137,890, 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 Elkridge's effective rate of 1.14%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Elkridge
Elkridge 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 Elkridge.
Who works in Elkridge, and how
Work in Elkridge centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Elkridge
Elkridge has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Elkridge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Elkridge, month by month
Elkridge sees roughly 56 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, 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 | 47° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 73° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Elkridge
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 5 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 Elkridge
Schools across Elkridge average a C+, better than 49% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rockburn ElementaryB · 46% proficient
- Bellows Spring ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Elkridge ElementaryC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Elkridge Landing MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
- Thomas ViaductC− · 29% proficient
- Mayfield Woods MiddleD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Howard HighA− · 62% proficient
- Oakland Mills HighB+ · 51% proficient
- Long Reach HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elkridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elkridge 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 Elkridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Elkridge suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 23% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Elkridge
Is Elkridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elkridge ranks 4,200th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, cell coverage, and transit, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elkridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $445,064. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $137,890 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Elkridge safe?
Elkridge is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $274 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Elkridge?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 26. That works out to about 56 pleasant days a year, more than 4% of towns.
Is Elkridge good for families?
Schools beat 49% of towns, crime safety beats 54%, and childcare runs $1,745 a month.
Compare Elkridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elkridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elkridge 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.
Elkridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elkridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elkridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elkridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elkridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elkridge 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.