Best PlacesSalisbury, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Salisbury metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Ammodramus, CC0, via commons
Salisbury ranks 336th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 30 minutes away. Its strengths are quiet and big-city access. The cost shows up in taxes, the schools, and the weather.
The best neighborhoods in the Salisbury metro
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.
The best areas in Salisbury
The towns and districts of the Salisbury metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Downtown Salisbury
More adults hold degrees, more households have young kids, and biking is better.
Mardela Springs
Fewer homes sit empty and it is quieter.
Delmar, Pittsville & Parsonsburg
Prices have run up less.
Hebron
Tree cover is thinner and health outcomes score lower.
Princess Anne
Crime runs higher and health care is harder to reach.
Crisfield & Westover
Homes cost less, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Salisbury run from about the 3rd to the 89th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Salisbury's strengths and weaknesses
Salisbury ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Quiet, big-city access, and clean air carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: taxes, the schools, and the weather all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Salisbury ranks high
- QuietBetter than 85% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 76% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 70% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 59% of metro areas
Where Salisbury ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- School gradeD+, better than only 5% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Salisbury
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Salisbury home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,915, 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 Salisbury's effective rate of 0.77%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Salisbury
Salisbury runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Salisbury.
Who works in Salisbury, and how
Work in Salisbury centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Salisbury
Salisbury has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of metro areas. The coast is about 30 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Salisbury and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Salisbury growing, and who is moving in?
Salisbury has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Baltimore, MD.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Salisbury go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Salisbury, month by month
Salisbury sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Salisbury
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around Salisbury
Schools across Salisbury average a D+, better than 5% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- North Salisbury ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Fruitland IntermediateD+ · 21% proficient
- Snow Hill ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Snow Hill MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
- Bennett MiddleD · 23% proficient
- Salisbury MiddleD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Snow Hill HighA− · 60% proficient
- Parkside HighB− · 44% proficient
- James M. Bennett HighB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Salisbury school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Salisbury 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 Salisbury against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Salisbury suits
Common questions about living in Salisbury
Is Salisbury a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Salisbury ranks 336th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on quiet, big-city access, and clean air, and lowest on taxes and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Salisbury expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,614. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $75,915 median income, cost of living beats 38% of metro areas.
Is Salisbury safe?
Salisbury is safer than 25% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $413 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Salisbury?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 28. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Salisbury?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Salisbury, Mardela Springs, and Delmar, Pittsville & Parsonsburg. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Salisbury good for families?
Schools beat 5% of metro areas, crime safety beats 25%, and childcare runs $821 a month.
Is Salisbury good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 38% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 32% of metro areas. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Salisbury with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Salisbury. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Salisbury 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.
Salisbury detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Salisbury: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Salisbury: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Salisbury: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Salisbury: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Salisbury 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.