Best PlacesOlney, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Olney, 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.
Olney ranks 234th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Olney
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.
Olney's strengths and weaknesses
Where Olney ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 99% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Household income$173,217 median, better than 96% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of cities
Where Olney ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,745 a month, better than only 6% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Olney
A household needs to earn about $167,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Olney home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $173,217, 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 Olney'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 and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Olney
Olney'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 Olney.
Who works in Olney, and how
Work in Olney centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Olney
Olney has more parkland per resident than 89% of cities. The coast is about 42 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Olney and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Olney, month by month
Olney sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Olney
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 21 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 Olney
Schools across Olney average a B, better than 60% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Belmont ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Greenwood ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
- Sherwood ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rosa M. Parks MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- William H. Farquhar MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Earle B. Wood MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Sherwood HighA− · 59% proficient
- Rockville HighA− · 59% proficient
- James Hubert Blake HighB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Olney school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Olney 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 Olney against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Olney suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of cities and 30% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Olney
Is Olney a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Olney ranks 234th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on few empty homes, a stable housing market, 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 Olney expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $637,245. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $173,217 median income, cost of living beats 93% of cities.
Is Olney safe?
Olney is safer than 41% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $335 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Olney?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 25. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 9% of cities.
Is Olney good for families?
Schools beat 60% of cities, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $1,745 a month.
Compare Olney with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Olney. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Olney 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.
Olney detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Olney: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Olney: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Olney: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Olney: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Olney 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.