Best PlacesRipley, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ripley, 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.
Ripley ranks 24,235th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ripley
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.
Ripley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ripley ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$121,933 median, better than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of towns
Where Ripley ranks low
- Short commute55.9 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- 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
- Cheap childcare$1,253 a month, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ripley
A household needs to earn about $140,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ripley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $121,933, 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 Ripley's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Ripley
Ripley's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Ripley.
Who works in Ripley, and how
Work in Ripley centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ripley
The coast is about 19 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Ripley, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ripley, month by month
Ripley sees roughly 78 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 Ripley
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 21 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 Ripley
Schools across Ripley average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dr. James Craik Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Gale-bailey Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Milton M. Somers Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- General Smallwood Middle SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- 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 Ripley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ripley 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 Ripley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ripley
Is Ripley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ripley ranks 24,235th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, tree cover, and high incomes, and lowest on long commutes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ripley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $524,104. The overall cost of living runs about 13% above the national average. Set against a $121,933 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Ripley safe?
Ripley is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $517 per resident a year.
Compare Ripley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ripley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ripley 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.
Ripley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ripley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ripley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ripley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ripley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ripley 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.