Best PlacesLaurel, DE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Laurel, 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.
Laurel ranks 27,070th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Laurel
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.
Laurel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Laurel ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 86% of towns
Where Laurel ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 11% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 25% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Laurel
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Laurel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,783, 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 Laurel's effective rate of 0.41%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Laurel
Laurel's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Laurel.
Who works in Laurel, and how
Work in Laurel centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Laurel
Laurel has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of towns and more parkland per resident than 84% of towns. The coast is about 42 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Laurel and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Laurel, month by month
Laurel sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 45° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Laurel
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Laurel
Schools across Laurel average a D, better than 11% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Seaford Central Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- East Millsboro Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
- Laurel Elementary SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Delmar Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Millsboro Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Laurel Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Sussex Central High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Delmar High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Seaford Senior High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Laurel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Laurel 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 Laurel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Laurel
Is Laurel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Laurel ranks 27,070th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on the weather and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Laurel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $231,769. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $70,783 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Laurel safe?
Laurel is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $350 per resident a year.
Compare Laurel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Laurel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Laurel 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.
Laurel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Laurel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Laurel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Laurel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Laurel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Laurel 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.