Best PlacesHelen, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Helen, 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.
Helen ranks 2,951st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Helen
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.
Helen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Helen ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$147,200 median, better than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
Where Helen ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 21% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Helen
A household needs to earn about $142,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Helen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $147,200, 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 Helen's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Helen
Helen's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Helen.
Who works in Helen, and how
Work in Helen centers on public administration and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Helen
The coast is about 15 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Helen, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Helen, month by month
Helen sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 70° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 74° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Helen
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 44 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 Helen
Schools across Helen average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Captain Walter Francis Duke ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
- Leonardtown ElementaryC+ · 36% proficient
- Benjamin Banneker ElementaryC+ · 36% proficient
Top middle schools
- Leonardtown MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Leonardtown HighA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Helen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Helen 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 Helen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Helen
Is Helen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Helen ranks 2,951st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and transit, 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 Helen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $540,598. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $147,200 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Helen safe?
Yes, Helen is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $249 per resident a year.
Compare Helen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Helen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Helen 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.
Helen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Helen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Helen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Helen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Helen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Helen 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.