Best PlacesForest Hill, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Forest Hill, 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.
Forest Hill ranks 2,511th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Forest Hill
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.
Forest Hill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Forest Hill ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$143,424 median, better than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
Where Forest Hill 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
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Forest Hill
A household needs to earn about $127,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Forest Hill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $143,424, 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 Forest Hill's effective rate of 0.85%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Forest Hill
Forest Hill 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 Forest Hill.
Who works in Forest Hill, and how
Work in Forest Hill centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Forest Hill
The coast is about 29 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Forest Hill, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Forest Hill, month by month
Forest Hill sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, 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 | 44° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 80° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Forest Hill
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 32 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 Forest Hill
Schools across Forest Hill average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jarrettsville ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- North Harford ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Hickory ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southampton MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Fallston Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- North Harford MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Fallston HighA · 77% proficient
- North Harford HighA− · 62% proficient
- C. Milton Wright HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Forest Hill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Forest Hill 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 Forest Hill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Forest Hill
Is Forest Hill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Forest Hill ranks 2,511th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, what local pay buys, and high incomes, 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 Forest Hill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $481,660. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $143,424 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Forest Hill safe?
Yes, Forest Hill is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $195 per resident a year.
Compare Forest Hill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Forest Hill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Forest Hill 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.
Forest Hill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Forest Hill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Forest Hill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Forest Hill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Forest Hill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Forest Hill 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.