Best PlacesEllicott City, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ellicott City, 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.
Ellicott City ranks 185th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Ellicott City
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.
Ellicott City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ellicott City ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of cities
- Household income$168,488 median, better than 95% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of cities
Where Ellicott City ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,740 a month, better than only 7% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Ellicott City
A household needs to earn about $185,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ellicott City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $168,488; 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 Ellicott City's effective rate of 1.13%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ellicott City
Ellicott City runs older 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 Ellicott City.
Who works in Ellicott City, and how
Work in Ellicott City centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ellicott City
Ellicott City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. The coast is about 24 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ellicott City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ellicott City, month by month
Ellicott City sees roughly 61 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 Ellicott City
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 Ellicott City
Schools across Ellicott City average a B+, better than 82% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Waverly ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Centennial Lane ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- West Friendship ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mount View MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- Folly Quarter MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Burleigh Manor Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- River Hill HighA+ · 86% proficient
- Centennial HighA+ · 84% proficient
- Glenelg HighA+ · 82% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ellicott City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ellicott City 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 Ellicott City against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Ellicott City suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of cities and 28% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Ellicott City
Is Ellicott City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ellicott City ranks 185th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on what local pay buys, tree cover, 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 Ellicott City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $677,144. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $168,488 median income, cost of living beats 98% of cities.
Is Ellicott City safe?
Yes, Ellicott City is safer than 61% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $276 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ellicott City?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 26. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 8% of cities.
Is Ellicott City good for families?
Schools beat 82% of cities, crime safety beats 61%, and childcare runs $1,740 a month.
Compare Ellicott City with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ellicott City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ellicott City 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.
Ellicott City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ellicott City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ellicott City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ellicott City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ellicott City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ellicott City 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.