Best PlacesMount Airy, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Airy, 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.
Mount Airy ranks 549th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mount Airy
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.
Mount Airy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Airy ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Household income$163,048 median, better than 95% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of cities
Where Mount Airy ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 2% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 2% of cities
- Short commute36.4 minutes each way, better than only 4% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 5% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Airy
A household needs to earn about $149,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Airy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $163,048, 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 Mount Airy's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mount Airy
Mount Airy'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 Mount Airy.
Who works in Mount Airy, and how
Work in Mount Airy centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mount Airy
Mount Airy has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 48 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mount Airy and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mount Airy, month by month
Mount Airy sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, 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 | 43° | 35° | 28° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Mount Airy
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 30 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.3 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Mount Airy
Schools across Mount Airy average a B+, better than 72% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Clearspring ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- Winfield ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- New Market ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Glenwood MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Windsor Knolls MiddleB · 43% proficient
- New Market MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Glenelg HighA+ · 82% proficient
- Linganore HighA+ · 82% proficient
- Urbana HighA+ · 81% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Airy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Airy 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 Mount Airy against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Mount Airy suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 94% of cities and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Mount Airy
Is Mount Airy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Airy ranks 549th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, high incomes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on taxes and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Airy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $567,688. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $163,048 median income, cost of living beats 94% of cities.
Is Mount Airy safe?
Mount Airy is safer than 54% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $300 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mount Airy?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 28. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 15% of cities.
Is Mount Airy good for families?
Schools beat 72% of cities, crime safety beats 54%, and childcare runs $1,334 a month.
Compare Mount Airy with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Airy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Airy 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.
Mount Airy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Airy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Airy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Airy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Airy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Airy 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.