Best PlacesThurmont, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Thurmont, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Thurmont ranks 17,764th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Thurmont
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.
Thurmont's strengths and weaknesses
Where Thurmont ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 86% of towns
- Household income$100,012 median, better than 85% of towns
Where Thurmont ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,304 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Thurmont
A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Thurmont home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,012, 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 Thurmont's effective rate of 0.88%, 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 Thurmont
Thurmont runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Thurmont.
Who works in Thurmont, and how
Work in Thurmont centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Thurmont
Thurmont has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Thurmont and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Thurmont, month by month
Thurmont sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Thurmont
The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Thurmont
Schools across Thurmont average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Yellow Springs ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Thurmont ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- Lewistown ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Walkersville MiddleC− · 30% proficient
- Thurmont MiddleC− · 28% proficient
- Monocacy MiddleD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Walkersville HighA− · 64% proficient
- Catoctin HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Gov. Thomas Johnson HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Thurmont school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Thurmont 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 Thurmont against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Thurmont
Is Thurmont a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Thurmont ranks 17,764th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, transit, and biking, 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 Thurmont expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $375,180. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $100,012 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Thurmont safe?
Thurmont is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $327 per resident a year.
Compare Thurmont with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Thurmont. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Thurmont 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.
Thurmont detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Thurmont: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Thurmont: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Thurmont: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Thurmont: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Thurmont 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.