Best PlacesGreenbelt, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Greenbelt, 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.
Greenbelt ranks 27,307th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Greenbelt
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.
Greenbelt's strengths and weaknesses
Where Greenbelt ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
Where Greenbelt ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Greenbelt
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Greenbelt home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,043, 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 Greenbelt's effective rate of 1.28%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Greenbelt
Greenbelt runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Greenbelt.
Who works in Greenbelt, and how
Work in Greenbelt centers on education and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 17%
Life in Greenbelt
Greenbelt has more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 30 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Greenbelt and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Greenbelt, month by month
Greenbelt sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Greenbelt
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 13 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 Greenbelt
Schools across Greenbelt average a C, better than 45% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dora Kennedy French ImmersionB · 45% proficient
- Greenbelt ElementaryC− · 29% proficient
- Berwyn Heights ElementaryD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Greenbelt MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Martin Luther King Jr. MiddleD · 20% proficient
- Thomas Johnson MiddleD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Eleanor Roosevelt HighA− · 65% proficient
- Duval HighC+ · 36% proficient
- High Point HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Greenbelt school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Greenbelt 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 Greenbelt against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Greenbelt suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 15% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Greenbelt
Is Greenbelt a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Greenbelt ranks 27,307th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and big-city access, 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 Greenbelt expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $304,056. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $89,043 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Greenbelt safe?
Greenbelt is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $785 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Greenbelt?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 28. That works out to about 71 pleasant days a year, more than 28% of towns.
Is Greenbelt good for families?
Schools beat 45% of towns, crime safety beats 5%, and childcare runs $1,268 a month.
Compare Greenbelt with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Greenbelt. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Greenbelt 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.
Greenbelt detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Greenbelt: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Greenbelt: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Greenbelt: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Greenbelt: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Greenbelt 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.