Best PlacesRockville, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rockville, 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.
Rockville ranks 585th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rockville
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.
Rockville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rockville ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of cities
- BikingBetter than 93% of cities
- TransitBetter than 91% of cities
- Household income$143,796 median, better than 89% of cities
Where Rockville 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
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Rockville
A household needs to earn about $186,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rockville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $143,796, 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 Rockville's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Rockville
Rockville'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 Rockville.
Who works in Rockville, and how
Work in Rockville centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 57%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Rockville
Rockville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. The coast is about 38 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rockville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rockville, month by month
Rockville 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 Rockville
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 18 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 Rockville
Schools across Rockville average a B, better than 68% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Travilah ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Potomac ElementaryA · 62% proficient
- Fallsmead ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Herbert Hoover MiddleA · 62% proficient
- Robert Frost Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Cabin John MiddleA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Thomas S. Wootton HighA+ · 84% proficient
- Walter Johnson HighA · 79% proficient
- Winston Churchill HighA · 79% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rockville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rockville 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 Rockville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Rockville suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 73% of cities and 32% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Rockville
Is Rockville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rockville ranks 585th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, population health, and biking, 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 Rockville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $697,260. The overall cost of living runs about 28% above the national average. Set against a $143,796 median income, cost of living beats 73% of cities.
Is Rockville safe?
Rockville is safer than 8% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $533 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rockville?
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 8% of cities.
Is Rockville good for families?
Schools beat 68% of cities, crime safety beats 8%, and childcare runs $1,745 a month.
Compare Rockville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rockville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rockville 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.
Rockville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rockville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rockville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rockville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rockville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rockville 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.