Best PlacesHillsboro, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hillsboro, 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.
Hillsboro ranks 27,767th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hillsboro
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.
Hillsboro's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hillsboro ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 78% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 76% of towns
Where Hillsboro 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
- Short commute35.9 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hillsboro
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hillsboro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,156, 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 Hillsboro's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Hillsboro
Hillsboro runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hillsboro.
Who works in Hillsboro, and how
Work in Hillsboro 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 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Hillsboro
The coast is about 18 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Hillsboro, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hillsboro, month by month
Hillsboro sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 38° | 31° |
| April | 68° | 58° | 49° |
| July | 89° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 71° | 62° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Hillsboro
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 43 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 Hillsboro
Schools across Hillsboro average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chapel District ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- Ridgely Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Centreville Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Easton MiddleD · 23% proficient
- Lockerman Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Easton HighB+ · 52% proficient
- North Caroline High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Queen Anne's County High SchoolB · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hillsboro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hillsboro 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 Hillsboro against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hillsboro
Is Hillsboro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hillsboro ranks 27,767th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, health care access, and fast internet, 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 Hillsboro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $374,548. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $81,156 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Hillsboro safe?
Yes, Hillsboro is safer than 69% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $246 per resident a year.
Compare Hillsboro with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hillsboro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hillsboro 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.
Hillsboro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hillsboro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hillsboro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hillsboro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hillsboro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hillsboro 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.