Best PlacesHereford, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hereford, 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.
Hereford ranks 4,992nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hereford
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.
Hereford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hereford ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
Where Hereford ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,361 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hereford
A household needs to earn about $140,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hereford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $128,138; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Hereford's effective rate of 0.88%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Hereford
Hereford runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hereford.
Who works in Hereford, and how
Work in Hereford centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hereford
The coast is about 37 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Hereford, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hereford, month by month
Hereford sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 35° | 29° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 70° | 60° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Hereford
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 29 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 Hereford
Schools across Hereford average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fifth District ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Jarrettsville ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hereford MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Fallston Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Fallston HighA · 77% proficient
- Hereford HighB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hereford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hereford 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 Hereford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hereford
Is Hereford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hereford ranks 4,992nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, civic engagement, and an educated workforce, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hereford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $530,137. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $128,138 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Hereford safe?
Hereford is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
Compare Hereford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hereford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hereford 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.
Hereford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hereford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hereford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hereford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hereford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hereford 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.