Best PlacesPopes Creek, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Popes Creek, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Popes Creek ranks 29,617th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Popes Creek
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.
Popes Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Popes Creek ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
- Household income$104,917 median, better than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 80% of towns
Where Popes Creek ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,253 a month, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Popes Creek
A household needs to earn about $103,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Popes Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $104,917, 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 Popes Creek's effective rate of 0.74%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Popes Creek
Popes Creek runs younger than the country, 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 Popes Creek.
Who works in Popes Creek, and how
Work in Popes Creek 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 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Popes Creek
The coast is about 4 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Popes Creek, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Popes Creek, month by month
Popes Creek sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 72° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 73° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Popes Creek
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 32 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 Popes Creek
Schools across Popes Creek average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Walter J. Mitchell Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Dr. Thomas L. Higdon Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Piccowaxen Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Maurice J. Mcdonough High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Popes Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Popes Creek 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 Popes Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Popes Creek
Is Popes Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Popes Creek ranks 29,617th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, transit, 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 Popes Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $397,200. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $104,917 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Popes Creek safe?
Popes Creek is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $517 per resident a year.
Compare Popes Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Popes Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Popes Creek 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.
Popes Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Popes Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Popes Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Popes Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Popes Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Popes Creek 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.