Best PlacesForest Park, Baltimore, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Forest Park, 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.
Forest Park, Baltimore ranks 5,048th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on quiet.
The best neighborhoods in Forest Park, Baltimore
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 Park, Baltimore's strengths and weaknesses
Where Forest Park, Baltimore ranks high
- QuietBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 77% of neighborhoods
- TransitBetter than 71% of neighborhoods
- BikingBetter than 71% of neighborhoods
Where Forest Park, 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
- Health outlookBetter than only 10% of neighborhoods
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Forest Park, Baltimore
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Forest Park, Baltimore home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,807, 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 Park, Baltimore's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Forest Park, Baltimore
Forest Park, Baltimore runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Forest Park, Baltimore.
Who works in Forest Park, Baltimore, and how
Work in Forest Park, Baltimore centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 17%
Life in Forest Park, Baltimore
The coast is about 20 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Forest Park, Baltimore, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Forest Park, Baltimore, month by month
Forest Park, Baltimore sees roughly 97 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.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 39° | 33° |
| April | 68° | 59° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 71° | 63° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Forest Park, Baltimore
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 10 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 Park, Baltimore
Schools across Forest Park, Baltimore average an F, better than 2% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Elmer A. Henderson: A Johns Hopkins PartnershipF · 8% proficient
- Liberty ElementaryF · 5% proficient
Top middle schools
- Vanguard Collegiate MiddleF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- The Reach! Partnership SchoolF · 4% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Forest Park, Baltimore school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Forest Park, 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 Forest Park, Baltimore against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Forest Park, Baltimore
Is Forest Park, Baltimore a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Forest Park, Baltimore ranks 5,048th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on quiet, tree cover, and big-city access, 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 Forest Park, Baltimore expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $263,187. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $73,807 median income, cost of living beats 54% of neighborhoods.
Is Forest Park, Baltimore safe?
Forest Park, Baltimore is safer than 13% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $809 per resident a year.
Compare Forest Park, Baltimore with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Forest Park, Baltimore. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Forest Park, 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.
Forest Park, Baltimore detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Forest Park, Baltimore: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Forest Park, Baltimore: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Forest Park, Baltimore: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Forest Park, Baltimore: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Forest Park, Baltimore 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.