Best PlacesFort Washington, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Washington, 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.
Fort Washington ranks 1,478th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Washington
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.
Fort Washington's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Washington ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of cities
- Household income$138,726 median, better than 87% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 82% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 79% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 78% of cities
Where Fort Washington ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- Short commute37.4 minutes each way, better than only 3% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Washington
A household needs to earn about $127,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Washington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $138,726, 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 Fort Washington's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fort Washington
Fort Washington 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 Fort Washington.
Who works in Fort Washington, and how
Work in Fort Washington centers on public administration and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Fort Washington
Fort Washington has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. The coast is about 24 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fort Washington and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fort Washington, month by month
Fort Washington sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 30° |
| April | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 74° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Fort Washington
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 Fort Washington
Schools across Fort Washington average a D+, better than 9% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Accokeek AcademyC− · 29% proficient
- Potomac Landing ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Fort Foote ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stephen Decatur MiddleD− · 14% proficient
- Oxon Hill MiddleD− · 14% proficient
- Isaac J. Gourdine MiddleF · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Oxon Hill HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Gwynn Park HighC− · 29% proficient
- Friendly HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Washington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Washington 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 Fort Washington against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Fort Washington suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of cities and 23% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Fort Washington
Is Fort Washington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Washington ranks 1,478th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on tree cover, high incomes, and clean air, and lowest on taxes and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Washington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $469,772. The overall cost of living runs about 16% above the national average. Set against a $138,726 median income, cost of living beats 78% of cities.
Is Fort Washington safe?
Fort Washington is safer than 9% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $505 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fort Washington?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 30. That works out to about 63 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of cities.
Is Fort Washington good for families?
Schools beat 9% of cities, crime safety beats 9%, and childcare runs $1,268 a month.
Compare Fort Washington with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Washington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Washington 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.
Fort Washington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Washington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Washington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Washington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Washington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Washington 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.