Best PlacesPotomac Shores, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Potomac Shores, 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 Shores ranks 6,498th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Potomac Shores
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 Shores' strengths and weaknesses
Where Potomac Shores ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$150,448 median, better than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
Where Potomac Shores 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
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Potomac Shores
A household needs to earn about $126,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Potomac Shores home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $150,448, 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 Potomac Shores' effective rate of 0.81%, 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 Shores
Potomac Shores'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 Potomac Shores.
Who works in Potomac Shores, and how
Work in Potomac Shores centers on public administration and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Potomac Shores
The coast is about 8 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Potomac Shores, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Potomac Shores, month by month
Potomac Shores sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Potomac Shores
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 47 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 Shores
Schools across Potomac Shores average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Walter J. Mitchell Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Piney Point ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Mt Hope/nanjemoy Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Leonardtown MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Piccowaxen Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
- Milton M. Somers Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Leonardtown HighA− · 65% proficient
- Maurice J. Mcdonough High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Henry E. Lackey High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Potomac Shores school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Potomac Shores 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 Shores against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Potomac Shores
Is Potomac Shores a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Potomac Shores ranks 6,498th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and civic engagement, 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 Shores expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $483,383. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $150,448 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Potomac Shores safe?
Potomac Shores is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $294 per resident a year.
Compare Potomac Shores with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Potomac Shores. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Potomac Shores 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 Shores detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Potomac Shores: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Potomac Shores: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Potomac Shores: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Potomac Shores: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Potomac Shores 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.