Best PlacesGoodwill, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Goodwill, 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.
Goodwill ranks 29,187th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Goodwill
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.
Goodwill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Goodwill ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 81% of towns
- Short commute22.2 minutes each way, better than 79% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 78% of towns
Where Goodwill ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Goodwill
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Goodwill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $69,789; 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 Goodwill's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Goodwill
Goodwill runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Goodwill.
Who works in Goodwill, and how
Work in Goodwill centers on public administration 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 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Goodwill
The coast is about 34 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Goodwill, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Goodwill, month by month
Goodwill sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 39° | 29° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 62° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Goodwill
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Goodwill
Schools across Goodwill average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Snow Hill ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Pocomoke ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pocomoke MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Snow Hill MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Snow Hill HighA− · 60% proficient
- Pocomoke HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Goodwill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Goodwill 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 Goodwill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Goodwill
Is Goodwill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Goodwill ranks 29,187th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, few empty homes, and big-city access, 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 Goodwill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $276,999. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $69,789 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Goodwill safe?
Goodwill is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $306 per resident a year.
Compare Goodwill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Goodwill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Goodwill 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.
Goodwill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Goodwill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Goodwill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Goodwill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Goodwill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Goodwill 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.