Best PlacesSparks Glencoe, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sparks Glencoe, 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.
Sparks Glencoe ranks 1,790th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sparks Glencoe
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.
Sparks Glencoe's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sparks Glencoe ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$146,645 median, better than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
Where Sparks Glencoe ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,377 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sparks Glencoe
A household needs to earn about $143,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sparks Glencoe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $146,645, 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 Sparks Glencoe's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Sparks Glencoe
Sparks Glencoe runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sparks Glencoe.
Who works in Sparks Glencoe, and how
Work in Sparks Glencoe centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Sparks Glencoe
The coast is about 34 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Sparks Glencoe, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sparks Glencoe, month by month
Sparks Glencoe sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 39° | 33° |
| April | 68° | 59° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 71° | 63° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Sparks Glencoe
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 25 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 Sparks Glencoe
Schools across Sparks Glencoe average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jacksonville ElementaryA− · 59% proficient
- Sparks ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Fifth District ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hereford MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Cockeysville MiddleC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Hereford HighB+ · 54% proficient
- Dulaney HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sparks Glencoe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sparks Glencoe 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 Sparks Glencoe against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sparks Glencoe
Is Sparks Glencoe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sparks Glencoe ranks 1,790th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, what local pay buys, and health care access, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sparks Glencoe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $543,598. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $146,645 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Sparks Glencoe safe?
Yes, Sparks Glencoe is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $205 per resident a year.
Compare Sparks Glencoe with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sparks Glencoe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sparks Glencoe 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.
Sparks Glencoe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sparks Glencoe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sparks Glencoe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sparks Glencoe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sparks Glencoe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sparks Glencoe 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.