Best PlacesFairmount Heights, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fairmount Heights, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Fairmount Heights ranks 46,002nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fairmount Heights
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.
Fairmount Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Fairmount Heights ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
Where Fairmount Heights ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fairmount Heights
A household needs to earn about $103,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fairmount Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,481, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Fairmount Heights' effective rate of 1.17%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Fairmount Heights
Fairmount Heights runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fairmount Heights.
Who works in Fairmount Heights, and how
Work in Fairmount Heights centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Fairmount Heights
The coast is about 31 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Fairmount Heights, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fairmount Heights, month by month
Fairmount Heights sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Fairmount Heights
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.0 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Fairmount Heights
Schools across Fairmount Heights average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Robert R. Gray ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
- Seat Pleasant ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- G. James Gholson MiddleF · 9% proficient
Top high schools
- Fairmont Heights HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fairmount Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fairmount Heights 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 Fairmount Heights against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fairmount Heights
Is Fairmount Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fairmount Heights ranks 46,002nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and big-city access, and lowest on taxes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fairmount Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $375,277. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $71,481 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Fairmount Heights safe?
Fairmount Heights is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,060 per resident a year.
Compare Fairmount Heights with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fairmount Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fairmount Heights 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.
Fairmount Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fairmount Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fairmount Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fairmount Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fairmount Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fairmount Heights 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.