Best PlacesPotomac, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Potomac, 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.
Potomac ranks 97th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Potomac
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.
Potomac's strengths and weaknesses
Where Potomac ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of cities
- Household income$226,477 median, better than 99% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 97% of cities
Where Potomac 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
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Potomac
A household needs to earn about $302,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Potomac home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $226,477, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Potomac's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 Potomac
Potomac runs older 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 Potomac.
Who works in Potomac, and how
Work in Potomac centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 56%
- Work from home 39%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Potomac
Potomac has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. The coast is about 34 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Potomac and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Potomac, month by month
Potomac sees roughly 60 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 Potomac
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 15 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 Potomac
Schools across Potomac average an A, better than 92% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Cold Spring ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
- Seven Locks ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Wayside ElementaryA · 66% proficient
Top middle schools
- Herbert Hoover MiddleA · 62% proficient
- Thomas W. Pyle MiddleA · 62% proficient
- Robert Frost Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Walt Whitman HighA+ · 91% proficient
- Thomas S. Wootton HighA+ · 84% proficient
- Walter Johnson HighA · 79% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Potomac school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Potomac 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 Potomac against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Potomac suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of cities and 39% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Potomac
Is Potomac a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Potomac ranks 97th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, 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 Potomac expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,141,881. The overall cost of living runs about 38% above the national average. Set against a $226,477 median income, cost of living beats 98% of cities.
Is Potomac safe?
Potomac is safer than 50% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $333 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Potomac?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 25. That works out to about 60 pleasant days a year, more than 7% of cities.
Is Potomac good for families?
Schools beat 92% of cities, crime safety beats 50%, and childcare runs $1,745 a month.
Compare Potomac with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Potomac. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Potomac 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.
Potomac detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Potomac: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Potomac: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Potomac: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Potomac: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Potomac 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.