Best PlacesEmmitsburg, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Emmitsburg, 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.
Emmitsburg ranks 16,188th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Emmitsburg
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.
Emmitsburg's strengths and weaknesses
Where Emmitsburg ranks high
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Household income$113,276 median, better than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 91% of towns
Where Emmitsburg 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
- Cheap childcare$1,304 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Emmitsburg
A household needs to earn about $92,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Emmitsburg home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $113,276, 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 Emmitsburg's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 Emmitsburg
Emmitsburg runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Emmitsburg.
Who works in Emmitsburg, and how
Work in Emmitsburg centers on education and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 20%
Life in Emmitsburg
Emmitsburg has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns and more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Emmitsburg and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Emmitsburg, month by month
Emmitsburg sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Emmitsburg
The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Emmitsburg
Schools across Emmitsburg average a C, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Emmitsburg ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Sabillasville Environmental SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thurmont MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Catoctin HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Emmitsburg school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Emmitsburg 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 Emmitsburg against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Emmitsburg
Is Emmitsburg a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Emmitsburg ranks 16,188th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, population health, and big-city access, 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 Emmitsburg expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $342,665. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $113,276 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Emmitsburg safe?
Emmitsburg is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $329 per resident a year.
Compare Emmitsburg with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Emmitsburg. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Emmitsburg 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.
Emmitsburg detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Emmitsburg: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Emmitsburg: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Emmitsburg: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Emmitsburg: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Emmitsburg 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.