Best PlacesFrenchtown, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Frenchtown, 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.
Frenchtown ranks 25,576th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Frenchtown
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.
Frenchtown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Frenchtown ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$100,597 median, better than 85% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 80% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 79% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 71% of towns
Where Frenchtown ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Frenchtown
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Frenchtown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,597, 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 Frenchtown's effective rate of 0.89%, 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.
Who lives in Frenchtown
Frenchtown's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Frenchtown.
Who works in Frenchtown, and how
Work in Frenchtown centers on public administration and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Frenchtown
The coast is about 7 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Frenchtown, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Frenchtown, month by month
Frenchtown 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 Frenchtown
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 42 miles away.
The best schools in and around Frenchtown
Schools across Frenchtown average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Meadowvale ElementaryC · 34% proficient
- Charlestown ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- Bainbridge ElementaryD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Havre De Grace MiddleC− · 30% proficient
- Perryville MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Havre De Grace HighB · 50% proficient
- Perryville HighB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Frenchtown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Frenchtown 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 Frenchtown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Frenchtown
Is Frenchtown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Frenchtown ranks 25,576th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, high incomes, and few empty homes, and lowest on taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Frenchtown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $317,891. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $100,597 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Frenchtown safe?
Frenchtown is safer than 53% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $287 per resident a year.
Compare Frenchtown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Frenchtown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Frenchtown 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.
Frenchtown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Frenchtown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Frenchtown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Frenchtown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Frenchtown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Frenchtown 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.