Best PlacesGwynn Oak, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gwynn Oak, 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.
Gwynn Oak ranks 42,456th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gwynn Oak
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.
Gwynn Oak's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gwynn Oak ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
Where Gwynn Oak ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gwynn Oak
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gwynn Oak home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $64,839, 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 Gwynn Oak's effective rate of 1.37%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gwynn Oak
Gwynn Oak runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gwynn Oak.
Who works in Gwynn Oak, and how
Work in Gwynn Oak centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 17%
Life in Gwynn Oak
Gwynn Oak has more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 20 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Gwynn Oak and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gwynn Oak, month by month
Gwynn Oak sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 39° | 33° |
| April | 68° | 59° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 71° | 63° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Gwynn Oak
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 10 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 Gwynn Oak
Schools across Gwynn Oak average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Powhatan ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
- Woodmoor ElementaryD− · 13% proficient
- Edmondson Heights ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southwest AcademyD · 23% proficient
- Woodlawn MiddleD− · 14% proficient
- Vanguard Collegiate MiddleF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Woodlawn HighD− · 15% proficient
- Forest Park HighF · 5% proficient
- The Reach! Partnership SchoolF · 4% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gwynn Oak school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gwynn Oak 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 Gwynn Oak against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gwynn Oak
Is Gwynn Oak a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gwynn Oak ranks 42,456th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and big-city access, and lowest on the schools and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gwynn Oak expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $275,269. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $64,839 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is Gwynn Oak safe?
Gwynn Oak is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $669 per resident a year.
Compare Gwynn Oak with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gwynn Oak. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gwynn Oak 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.
Gwynn Oak detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gwynn Oak: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gwynn Oak: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gwynn Oak: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gwynn Oak: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gwynn Oak 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.