Best PlacesLuke, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Luke, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Luke ranks 46,340th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Luke
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.
Luke's strengths and weaknesses
Where Luke ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 78% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 112 pleasant days a year, better than 75% of towns
- BikingBetter than 74% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 73% of towns
Where Luke ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Household income$37,574 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Luke
A household needs to earn about $17,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Luke home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $37,574, 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 Luke's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Luke
Luke runs older than the country, 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 Luke.
Who works in Luke, and how
Work in Luke centers on health care & social and other services. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Luke
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Luke.
What the weather is like in Luke, month by month
Luke sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 57° | 47° | 39° |
| July | 76° | 68° | 62° |
| October | 59° | 50° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Luke
The nearest airport, Morgantown Municipal/Walter L Bill Hart Field, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 93 miles away.
The best schools in and around Luke
Schools across Luke average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Westernport ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Westmar MiddleD− · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Mountain Ridge High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Luke school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Luke 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 Luke against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Luke
Is Luke a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Luke ranks 46,340th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, heat safety, and the weather, and lowest on taxes and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Luke expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $65,300. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $37,574 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Luke safe?
Luke is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $490 per resident a year.
Compare Luke with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Luke. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Luke 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.
Luke detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Luke: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Luke: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Luke: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Luke: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Luke 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.