Best PlacesIlchester, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ilchester, 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.
Ilchester ranks 290th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ilchester
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.
Ilchester's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ilchester ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 97% of cities
- Household income$164,850 median, better than 95% of cities
Where Ilchester ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,745 a month, better than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Ilchester
A household needs to earn about $155,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ilchester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $164,850, 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 Ilchester's effective rate of 1.11%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ilchester
Ilchester runs younger than the country, 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 Ilchester.
Who works in Ilchester, and how
Work in Ilchester centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ilchester
The coast is about 19 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Ilchester, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ilchester, month by month
Ilchester 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 Ilchester
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 Ilchester
Schools across Ilchester average a B−, better than 53% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Ilchester ElementaryA− · 56% proficient
- Rockburn ElementaryB · 46% proficient
- Bellows Spring ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ellicott Mills MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Bonnie Branch MiddleB− · 41% proficient
- Elkridge Landing MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Howard HighA− · 62% proficient
- Long Reach HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ilchester school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ilchester 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 Ilchester against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Ilchester suits
Families
Schools land around the 53rd percentile and crime safety beats 75%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of cities and 27% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Ilchester
Is Ilchester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ilchester ranks 290th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, what local pay buys, and few empty homes, 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 Ilchester expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $568,518. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $164,850 median income, cost of living beats 98% of cities.
Is Ilchester safe?
Yes, Ilchester is safer than 75% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $238 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ilchester?
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 3% of cities.
Is Ilchester good for families?
Schools beat 53% of cities, crime safety beats 75%, and childcare runs $1,745 a month.
Compare Ilchester with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ilchester. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ilchester 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.
Ilchester detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ilchester: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ilchester: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ilchester: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ilchester: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ilchester 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.