Best PlacesLake Arbor, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake Arbor, 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.
Lake Arbor ranks 21,578th 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 Lake Arbor
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.
Lake Arbor's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake Arbor ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
Where Lake Arbor ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Arbor
A household needs to earn about $115,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Arbor home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $127,392, 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 Lake Arbor'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, 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 Lake Arbor
Lake Arbor's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lake Arbor.
Who works in Lake Arbor, and how
Work in Lake Arbor centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Lake Arbor
Lake Arbor has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns. The coast is about 26 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Lake Arbor and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lake Arbor, month by month
Lake Arbor sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Lake Arbor
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 12 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 Lake Arbor
Schools across Lake Arbor average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kingsford ElementaryD · 18% proficient
- Lake Arbor ElementaryD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ernest Everett Just MiddleD− · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Charles Herbert Flowers HighB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake Arbor school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake Arbor 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 Lake Arbor against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake Arbor
Is Lake Arbor a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Arbor ranks 21,578th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, biking, and an educated workforce, 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 Lake Arbor expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $420,802. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $127,392 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Lake Arbor safe?
Lake Arbor is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $617 per resident a year.
Compare Lake Arbor with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Arbor. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Arbor 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.
Lake Arbor detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Arbor: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Arbor: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Arbor: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Arbor: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Arbor 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.