Best PlacesMarlow Heights, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Marlow Heights, 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.
Marlow Heights ranks 48,178th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Marlow Heights
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.
Marlow Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Marlow Heights ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
Where Marlow Heights ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Marlow Heights
A household needs to earn about $104,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Marlow Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $73,236, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Marlow Heights' effective rate of 1.21%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Marlow Heights
Marlow Heights'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 Marlow Heights.
Who works in Marlow Heights, and how
Work in Marlow Heights centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Marlow Heights
Marlow Heights has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns. The coast is about 26 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Marlow Heights and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Marlow Heights, month by month
Marlow Heights 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 Marlow Heights
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 5 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 Marlow Heights
Schools across Marlow Heights average a D−, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Imagine Lincoln Public CharterD− · 12% proficient
- Suitland ElementaryF · 8% proficient
- Barnaby Manor ElementaryF · 6% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thurgood Marshall Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
- Benjamin Stoddert MiddleF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Crossland HighD− · 17% proficient
- Potomac HighD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Marlow Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Marlow Heights 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 Marlow Heights against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Marlow Heights
Is Marlow Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Marlow Heights ranks 48,178th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, big-city access, and walkability, and lowest on taxes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Marlow Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $376,801. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $73,236 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Marlow Heights safe?
Marlow Heights is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,090 per resident a year.
Compare Marlow Heights with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Marlow Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Marlow Heights 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.
Marlow Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Marlow Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Marlow Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Marlow Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Marlow Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Marlow Heights 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.