Best PlacesOcean Pines, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ocean Pines, 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.
Ocean Pines ranks 14,001st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ocean Pines
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.
Ocean Pines' strengths and weaknesses
Where Ocean Pines ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 89% of towns
Where Ocean Pines ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ocean Pines
A household needs to earn about $103,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ocean Pines home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $94,191; 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 Ocean Pines' effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Ocean Pines
Ocean Pines 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 Ocean Pines.
Who works in Ocean Pines, and how
Work in Ocean Pines centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Ocean Pines
Ocean Pines has more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 10 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Ocean Pines and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ocean Pines, month by month
Ocean Pines sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, 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 | 48° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 66° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Ocean Pines
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ocean Pines
Schools across Ocean Pines average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Showell ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Berlin IntermediateB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Stephen Decatur HighA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ocean Pines school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ocean Pines 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 Ocean Pines against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ocean Pines
Is Ocean Pines a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ocean Pines ranks 14,001st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and low crime, 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 Ocean Pines expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $400,263. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $94,191 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Ocean Pines safe?
Yes, Ocean Pines is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $168 per resident a year.
Compare Ocean Pines with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ocean Pines. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ocean Pines 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.
Ocean Pines detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ocean Pines: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ocean Pines: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ocean Pines: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ocean Pines: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ocean Pines 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.