Best PlacesSassafras, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sassafras, 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.
Sassafras ranks 21,344th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sassafras
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.
Sassafras' strengths and weaknesses
Where Sassafras ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 83% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of towns
- Household income$94,126 median, better than 80% of towns
Where Sassafras ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sassafras
A household needs to earn about $94,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sassafras home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,126, 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 Sassafras' effective rate of 0.79%, 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 Sassafras
Sassafras runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sassafras.
Who works in Sassafras, and how
Work in Sassafras centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Sassafras
The coast is about 20 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Sassafras, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sassafras, month by month
Sassafras sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 80° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Sassafras
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sassafras
Schools across Sassafras average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cecilton ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Galena Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bohemia Manor MiddleD+ · 26% proficient
- Kent County Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Bohemia Manor HighA− · 60% proficient
- Kent County HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sassafras school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sassafras 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 Sassafras against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sassafras
Is Sassafras a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sassafras ranks 21,344th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, an educated workforce, and what local pay buys, and lowest on taxes and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sassafras expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $361,147. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $94,126 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Sassafras safe?
Sassafras is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $276 per resident a year.
Compare Sassafras with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sassafras. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sassafras 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.
Sassafras detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sassafras: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sassafras: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sassafras: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sassafras: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sassafras 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.