Best PlacesFederal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore, MD Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore ranks 2,035th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.

#2,035
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
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of 5,983 neighborhoods
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The best neighborhoods in Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
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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.

Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore's strengths and weaknesses

Top 5%Walkability
Top 10%Transit
Top 10%An educated workforce
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore with other neighborhoods.

Where Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore ranks high

  • WalkabilityBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
  • TransitBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
  • Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of neighborhoods
  • Local economyBetter than 90% of neighborhoods
  • BikingBetter than 90% of neighborhoods

Where Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore ranks low

  • School gradeF, better than only 2% of neighborhoods
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of neighborhoods
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
  • QuietBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
  • Low property taxBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore

A household needs to earn about $136,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $99,456, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$136,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,184
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $462,098 home
Median rent
$2,151
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,356
Property tax$674
Homeowners insurance$154

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 Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore's effective rate of 1.75%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore

Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
46
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
24%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
1.6
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 187%
18 to 3436%
35 to 4922%
50 to 6410%
65 and older24%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore.


Who works in Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore, and how

Work in Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
25%
above the national average
Unemployment
0.3%
below the national average
Job growth
−1.7%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical26%
Health care & social16%
Education14%
Finance & insurance7%
Admin & support services7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 63%
  • Work from home 25%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 12%

Life in Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore

Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 11 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
153
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 208.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 90% of neighborhoods
Coffee shops
14
about 19.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 87% of neighborhoods
To the coast
11 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore, month by month

Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January45°39°33°
April68°59°51°
July91°83°76°
October71°63°56°

Flying in and out of Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.3 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
BWI
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 8 miles
Airport size
Large hub
26th-busiest in the US, 114 nonstop destinations
Average drive
11 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore

Schools across Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore average an F, better than 2% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore 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 Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore

Is Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore ranks 2,035th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and an educated workforce, and lowest on the schools and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $462,098. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $99,456 median income, cost of living beats 87% of neighborhoods.

Is Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore safe?

Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore is safer than 25% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $648 per resident a year.


Compare Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore 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.

Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Federal Hill-Montgomery, Baltimore detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.