Best PlacesLothian, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lothian, 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.
Lothian ranks 11,644th 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 Lothian
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.
Lothian's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lothian ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$121,272 median, better than 93% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
Where Lothian 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
- Cheap childcare$1,268 a month, better than only 12% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lothian
A household needs to earn about $126,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lothian home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $121,272; 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 Lothian's effective rate of 0.83%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Lothian
Lothian's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Lothian.
Who works in Lothian, and how
Work in Lothian centers on construction and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lothian
The coast is about 14 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Lothian, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lothian, month by month
Lothian 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 Lothian
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 20 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 Lothian
Schools across Lothian average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mount Harmony ElementaryB− · 41% proficient
- Traceys ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Lothian ElementaryD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northern MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Southern MiddleC− · 28% proficient
- James Madison MiddleD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Northern HighA− · 65% proficient
- Southern HighA− · 63% proficient
- Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. HighC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lothian school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lothian 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 Lothian against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lothian
Is Lothian a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lothian ranks 11,644th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, big-city access, and high incomes, 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 Lothian expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $480,814. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $121,272 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Lothian safe?
Lothian is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $300 per resident a year.
Compare Lothian with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lothian. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lothian 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.
Lothian detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lothian: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lothian: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lothian: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lothian: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lothian 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.