Best PlacesHalethorpe, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Halethorpe, 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.
Halethorpe ranks 28,636th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Halethorpe
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.
Halethorpe's strengths and weaknesses
Where Halethorpe ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
Where Halethorpe ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% 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 Halethorpe
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Halethorpe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,305, 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 Halethorpe's effective rate of 1.18%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Halethorpe
Halethorpe 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 Halethorpe.
Who works in Halethorpe, and how
Work in Halethorpe centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Halethorpe
Halethorpe has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns. The coast is about 12 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Halethorpe and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Halethorpe, month by month
Halethorpe sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 73° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Halethorpe
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 6 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 Halethorpe
Schools across Halethorpe average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Arbutus ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- Relay ElementaryC− · 25% proficient
- Halethorpe ElementaryD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Arbutus MiddleC · 32% proficient
- Lansdowne MiddleF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Lansdowne HighD− · 15% proficient
- The Reach! Partnership SchoolF · 4% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Halethorpe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Halethorpe 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 Halethorpe against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Halethorpe
Is Halethorpe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Halethorpe ranks 28,636th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and big-city access, and lowest on noise and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Halethorpe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $289,129. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $90,305 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Halethorpe safe?
Halethorpe is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $626 per resident a year.
Compare Halethorpe with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Halethorpe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Halethorpe 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.
Halethorpe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Halethorpe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Halethorpe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Halethorpe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Halethorpe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Halethorpe 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.