Best PlacesPasadena, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pasadena, 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.
Pasadena ranks 834th 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 Pasadena
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.
Pasadena's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pasadena ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of cities
- Household income$135,194 median, better than 85% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 76% of cities
Where Pasadena ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Pasadena
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pasadena home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $135,194, 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 Pasadena's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 Pasadena
Pasadena'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 Pasadena.
Who works in Pasadena, and how
Work in Pasadena centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Pasadena
Pasadena has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pasadena and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pasadena, month by month
Pasadena sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 73° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Pasadena
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 8 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 Pasadena
Schools across Pasadena average a C, better than 29% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Pasadena ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Fort Smallwood ElementaryC · 32% proficient
- Monarch Global Academy Pcs Laurel CampusC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Severna Park MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Chesapeake Bay MiddleC · 34% proficient
- Old Mill Middle NorthD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Severna Park HighA+ · 81% proficient
- Chesapeake HighA− · 60% proficient
- Old Mill HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pasadena school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pasadena 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 Pasadena against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Pasadena suits
Families
Schools land around the 29th percentile and crime safety beats 69%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of cities and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Pasadena
Is Pasadena a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pasadena ranks 834th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, what local pay buys, and tree cover, 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 Pasadena expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $446,437. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $135,194 median income, cost of living beats 88% of cities.
Is Pasadena safe?
Yes, Pasadena is safer than 69% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $239 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pasadena?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 26. That works out to about 63 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of cities.
Is Pasadena good for families?
Schools beat 29% of cities, crime safety beats 69%, and childcare runs $1,268 a month.
Compare Pasadena with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pasadena. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pasadena 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.
Pasadena detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pasadena: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pasadena: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pasadena: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pasadena: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pasadena 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.