Best PlacesSmith Island, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Smith Island, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Smith Island ranks 49,418th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Smith Island
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.
Smith Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Smith Island ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute20.3 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 74% of towns
Where Smith Island ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Smith Island
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Smith Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,607, 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 Smith Island's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Smith Island
Smith Island 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 Smith Island.
Who works in Smith Island, and how
Work in Smith Island centers on wholesale trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Smith Island
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Smith Island, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Smith Island, month by month
Smith Island sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Smith Island
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 77 miles away.
The best schools in and around Smith Island
Schools across Smith Island average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top high schools
- Northumberland HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Crisfield Academy And High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Smith Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Smith Island 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 Smith Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Smith Island
Is Smith Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Smith Island ranks 49,418th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, short commutes, and cell coverage, and lowest on crime and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Smith Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $119,200. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $61,607 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Smith Island safe?
Smith Island is safer than 0% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,248 per resident a year.
Compare Smith Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Smith Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Smith Island 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.
Smith Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Smith Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Smith Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Smith Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Smith Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Smith Island 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.