Best PlacesSilver Spring, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Silver Spring, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Silver Spring ranks 180th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $120,456, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are taxes, state infrastructure, and a weak job market.
The best neighborhoods in Silver Spring
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 Silver Spring
The parts of Silver Spring, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Southern Silver Spring
Streets are more walkable, more adults hold degrees, and biking is better.
North Kensington & Forest Glen
Health care is easier to reach, though fewer households have young kids.
Hillandale
Local pay stretches further and incomes run higher.
Langley Park
Fewer residents vote and health outcomes score lower.
Silver Spring shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Silver Spring's strengths and weaknesses
Silver Spring lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. An educated workforce, tree cover, and high incomes carry most of that.
The one real hole is taxes, near the bottom of the country. State infrastructure and a weak job market also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Silver Spring to another than it does between Silver Spring and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Silver Spring ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of cities
- Household income$120,456 median, better than 86% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of cities
- TransitBetter than 85% of cities
Where Silver Spring ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 2% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 2% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of cities
- Short commute34.6 minutes each way, better than only 4% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Silver Spring
A household needs to earn about $149,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Silver Spring home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $120,456, 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 Silver Spring's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 Silver Spring
Silver Spring'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 Silver Spring.
Who works in Silver Spring, and how
Work in Silver Spring centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 58%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Silver Spring
Silver Spring has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. The coast is about 35 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Silver Spring and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Silver Spring, month by month
Silver Spring sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, 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 | 45° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Silver Spring
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 12 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 Silver Spring
Schools across Silver Spring average a C+, better than 43% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Pointers Run ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Fulton ElementaryA− · 56% proficient
- Rock Creek Forest ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Takoma Park MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Westland MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Lime Kiln MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Bethesda-chevy Chase HighA · 75% proficient
- Reservoir HighA− · 66% proficient
- Montgomery Blair HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Silver Spring school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Silver Spring 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 Silver Spring against the other 444 cities.
Who Silver Spring suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of cities and 26% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Silver Spring
Is Silver Spring a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Silver Spring ranks 180th of 445 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, tree cover, and high incomes, 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 Silver Spring expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $571,205. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $120,456 median income, cost of living beats 72% of cities.
Is Silver Spring safe?
Silver Spring is safer than 7% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $625 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Silver Spring?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 28. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 19% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Silver Spring?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Southern Silver Spring, North Kensington & Forest Glen, and Hillandale. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Silver Spring good for families?
Schools beat 43% of cities, crime safety beats 7%, and childcare runs $1,727 a month.
Is Silver Spring good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 14% of cities. About 26% of workers already work from home.
Compare Silver Spring with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Silver Spring. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Silver Spring 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.
Silver Spring detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Silver Spring: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Silver Spring: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Silver Spring: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Silver Spring: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Silver Spring 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.