Best PlacesGolden Beach, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Golden Beach, 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.
Golden Beach ranks 16,785th 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 Golden Beach
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.
Golden Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Golden Beach ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 89% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of towns
Where Golden Beach 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
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Golden Beach
A household needs to earn about $112,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Golden Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $82,031, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Golden Beach's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Golden Beach
Golden Beach runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Golden Beach.
Who works in Golden Beach, and how
Work in Golden Beach centers on education and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Golden Beach
The coast is about 33 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Golden Beach, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Golden Beach, month by month
Golden Beach sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 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° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 70° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 74° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Golden Beach
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 33 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 Golden Beach
Schools across Golden Beach average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lettie Marshall Dent ElemC− · 29% proficient
- Barstow ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Margaret Brent MiddleC− · 30% proficient
- Calvert MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Chopticon HighB+ · 54% proficient
- Calvert HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Golden Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Golden Beach 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 Golden Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Golden Beach
Is Golden Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Golden Beach ranks 16,785th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, cell coverage, and civic engagement, 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 Golden Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $433,300. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $82,031 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Golden Beach safe?
Yes, Golden Beach is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $212 per resident a year.
Compare Golden Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Golden Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Golden Beach 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.
Golden Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Golden Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Golden Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Golden Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Golden Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Golden Beach 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.