Best PlacesHanover, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hanover, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hanover ranks 3,119th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hanover
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.
Hanover's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hanover ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$140,638 median, better than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
Where Hanover ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,368 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hanover
A household needs to earn about $132,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hanover home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $140,638, 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 Hanover's effective rate of 0.88%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hanover
Hanover's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hanover.
Who works in Hanover, and how
Work in Hanover centers on public administration and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Hanover
Hanover has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns and more parkland per resident than 83% of towns. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hanover and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hanover, month by month
Hanover sees roughly 57 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 Hanover
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 3 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 Hanover
Schools across Hanover average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Elkridge ElementaryC− · 29% proficient
- Monarch Global Academy Pcs Laurel CampusC− · 29% proficient
- Hanover HillsC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Elkridge Landing MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
- Thomas ViaductC− · 29% proficient
- Macarthur MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Severna Park HighA+ · 81% proficient
- Howard HighA− · 62% proficient
- Chesapeake Science PointB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hanover school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hanover 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 Hanover against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Hanover suits
Families
Schools land around the 38th percentile and crime safety beats 64%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Hanover
Is Hanover a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hanover ranks 3,119th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, what local pay buys, 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 Hanover expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $499,421. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $140,638 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Hanover safe?
Yes, Hanover is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $276 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hanover?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 26. That works out to about 57 pleasant days a year, more than 4% of towns.
Is Hanover good for families?
Schools beat 38% of towns, crime safety beats 64%, and childcare runs $1,368 a month.
Compare Hanover with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hanover. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hanover 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.
Hanover detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hanover: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hanover: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hanover: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hanover: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hanover 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.