Best PlacesParkville, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Parkville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Parkville ranks 1,518th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Parkville
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.
The best areas in Parkville
The parts of Parkville, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
North Harford Road & Villa Cresta
Hillendale Park
Loch Raven Village & Ridgeleigh
Hamilton Area & Hillendale
Scores across Parkville run from about the 6th to the 78th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Parkville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Parkville ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of cities
- TransitBetter than 86% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 77% of cities
Where Parkville ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Parkville
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Parkville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,181, 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 Parkville's effective rate of 1.22%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Parkville
Parkville'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 Parkville.
Who works in Parkville, and how
Work in Parkville centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Parkville
Parkville has more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. The coast is about 17 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Parkville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Parkville, month by month
Parkville sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 39° | 33° |
| April | 68° | 59° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 71° | 63° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Parkville
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 16 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 Parkville
Schools across Parkville average a D, better than 5% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Stoneleigh ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Hampton ElementaryB · 49% proficient
- Seven Oaks ElementaryC · 34% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ridgely MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Dumbarton MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Parkville MiddleC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Towson HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Perry Hall HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Loch Raven HighC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Parkville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Parkville 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 Parkville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Parkville suits
Common questions about living in Parkville
Is Parkville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Parkville ranks 1,518th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, a stable housing market, and transit, 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 Parkville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $264,540. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $84,181 median income, cost of living beats 49% of cities.
Is Parkville safe?
Parkville is safer than 11% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $443 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Parkville?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 33. That works out to about 93 pleasant days a year, more than 56% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Parkville?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are North Harford Road & Villa Cresta, Hillendale Park, and Loch Raven Village & Ridgeleigh. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Parkville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Parkville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Parkville 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.
Parkville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Parkville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Parkville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Parkville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Parkville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Parkville 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.