Best PlacesFulton, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fulton, 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.
Fulton ranks 128th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fulton
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.
Fulton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fulton ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$224,462 median, better than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
Where Fulton ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,745 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fulton
A household needs to earn about $245,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fulton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $224,462; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Fulton's effective rate of 0.84%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fulton
Fulton's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Fulton.
Who works in Fulton, and how
Work in Fulton centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 58%
- Work from home 37%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Fulton
Fulton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. The coast is about 28 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fulton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fulton, month by month
Fulton sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Fulton
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 13 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 Fulton
Schools across Fulton average an A−, better than 85% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pointers Run ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Fulton ElementaryA− · 56% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clarksville MiddleA · 65% proficient
- Lime Kiln MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- River Hill HighA+ · 86% proficient
- Atholton HighA · 74% proficient
- Reservoir HighA− · 66% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fulton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fulton 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 Fulton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fulton
Is Fulton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fulton ranks 128th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, population health, and what local pay buys, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fulton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $933,116. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $224,462 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Fulton safe?
Yes, Fulton is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $203 per resident a year.
Compare Fulton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fulton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fulton 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.
Fulton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fulton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fulton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fulton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fulton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fulton 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.