Best PlacesStockton, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stockton, 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.
Stockton ranks 34,752nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Stockton
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.
Stockton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stockton ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 75% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 72% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 70% of towns
Where Stockton ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stockton
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stockton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,904, 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 Stockton's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Stockton
Stockton 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 Stockton.
Who works in Stockton, and how
Work in Stockton centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Stockton
Stockton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. The coast is about 39 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Stockton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Stockton, month by month
Stockton sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 39° | 29° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 62° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Stockton
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 103 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stockton
Schools across Stockton average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Snow Hill ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Pocomoke ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pocomoke MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Snow Hill MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Snow Hill HighA− · 60% proficient
- Pocomoke HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stockton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stockton 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 Stockton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stockton
Is Stockton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stockton ranks 34,752nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, big-city access, and civic engagement, 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 Stockton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,695. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $67,904 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Stockton safe?
Stockton is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $414 per resident a year.
Compare Stockton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stockton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stockton 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.
Stockton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stockton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stockton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stockton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stockton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stockton 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.