Best PlacesSouth Laurel, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around South Laurel, 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.
South Laurel ranks 1,742nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in South Laurel
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.
South Laurel's strengths and weaknesses
Where South Laurel ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 81% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 78% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 77% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 73% of cities
Where South Laurel ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in South Laurel
A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South Laurel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $95,970, 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 South Laurel's effective rate of 1.14%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in South Laurel
South Laurel runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for South Laurel.
Who works in South Laurel, and how
Work in South Laurel centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in South Laurel
South Laurel has more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. The coast is about 25 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of South Laurel and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in South Laurel, month by month
South Laurel sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of South Laurel
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 12 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.3 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around South Laurel
Schools across South Laurel average a D, better than 5% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Vansville ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Montpelier ElementaryD · 16% proficient
- James H. Harrison ElementaryD− · 12% proficient
Top middle schools
- Martin Luther King Jr. MiddleD · 20% proficient
- Dwight D. Eisenhower MiddleD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Laurel HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every South Laurel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
South Laurel 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 South Laurel against the other 2,097 cities.
Who South Laurel suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in South Laurel
Is South Laurel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South Laurel ranks 1,742nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on heat safety, big-city access, and clean air, and lowest on a weak job market and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is South Laurel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $439,551. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $95,970 median income, cost of living beats 35% of cities.
Is South Laurel safe?
South Laurel is safer than 20% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $419 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in South Laurel?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 27. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 38% of cities.
Is South Laurel good for families?
Schools beat 5% of cities, crime safety beats 20%, and childcare runs $1,268 a month.
Compare South Laurel with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South Laurel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South Laurel 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.
South Laurel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for South Laurel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in South Laurel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of South Laurel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in South Laurel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
South Laurel 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.