Best PlacesTalbot County, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Talbot County, 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.
Talbot County ranks 949th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Talbot County
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.
Talbot County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Talbot County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of counties
Where Talbot County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 7% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Talbot County
A household needs to earn about $119,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Talbot County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $91,113, 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 Talbot County's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Talbot County
Talbot County 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 Talbot County.
Who works in Talbot County, and how
Work in Talbot County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Talbot County
Talbot County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of counties and more parkland per resident than 79% of counties. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Talbot County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Talbot County growing, and who is moving in?
Talbot County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Baltimore, MD.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Talbot County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Talbot County, month by month
Talbot County sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 38° | 31° |
| April | 68° | 58° | 49° |
| July | 89° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 71° | 62° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Talbot County
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 42 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 Talbot County
Schools across Talbot County average a C, better than 37% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- St. Michaels ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- White Marsh ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
- Chapel District ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Windy Hill MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Plum Point MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Matapeake Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Huntingtown High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Calvert HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Easton HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Talbot County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Talbot County 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 Talbot County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Talbot County suits
Families
Schools land around the 37th percentile and crime safety beats 68%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 91% of counties and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Talbot County
Is Talbot County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Talbot County ranks 949th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, big-city access, and an educated workforce, 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 Talbot County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $469,896. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $91,113 median income, cost of living beats 91% of counties.
Is Talbot County safe?
Yes, Talbot County is safer than 68% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $293 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Talbot County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 31. That works out to about 92 pleasant days a year, more than 54% of counties.
Is Talbot County good for families?
Schools beat 37% of counties, crime safety beats 68%, and childcare runs $973 a month.
Compare Talbot County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Talbot County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Talbot County 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.
Talbot County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Talbot County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Talbot County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Talbot County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Talbot County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Talbot County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.