Best PlacesSt. Marys City, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Marys City, 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.
St. Marys City ranks 5,489th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in St. Marys City
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.
St. Marys City's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Marys City ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$196,899 median, better than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
Where St. Marys City ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Marys City
A household needs to earn about $134,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Marys City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $196,899, 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 St. Marys City's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 St. Marys City
St. Marys City runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. Marys City.
Who works in St. Marys City, and how
Work in St. Marys City centers on education and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in St. Marys City
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across St. Marys City, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Marys City, month by month
St. Marys City 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 St. Marys City
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Marys City
Schools across St. Marys City average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ridge ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Piney Point ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Park Hall ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Spring Ridge MiddleC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Leonardtown HighA− · 65% proficient
- Great Mills HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Marys City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Marys City 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 St. Marys City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Marys City
Is St. Marys City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Marys City ranks 5,489th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and few empty homes, and lowest on taxes and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. Marys City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $511,318. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $196,899 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is St. Marys City safe?
St. Marys City is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $479 per resident a year.
Compare St. Marys City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Marys City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Marys City 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.
St. Marys City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Marys City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Marys City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Marys City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Marys City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Marys City 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.