Best PlacesTowson, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Towson, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Towson ranks 705th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Towson
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.
The best areas in Towson
The parts of Towson, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Rodgers Forge
Orchard Hills, Thornleigh & Chestnut Hill
Chatterleigh & Cromwell Valley
Glenmont & Idlewylde
Towson Park & Stoneridge
Loch Raven Manor
Towson shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 11% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Towson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Towson ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of cities
- TransitBetter than 87% of cities
- BikingBetter than 87% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 81% of cities
Where Towson ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 13% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Towson
A household needs to earn about $131,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Towson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $112,091, 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 Towson's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Towson
Towson runs younger 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 Towson.
Who works in Towson, and how
Work in Towson centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Towson
Towson has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Towson and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Towson, month by month
Towson sees roughly 96 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 Towson
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall sits about 16 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 Towson
Schools across Towson average a B, better than 60% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Riderwood ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Rodgers Forge ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Stoneleigh ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ridgely MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Dumbarton MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Pikesville MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- George W. Carver Center For Arts & TechnologyA− · 61% proficient
- Towson HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Dulaney HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Towson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Towson 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 Towson against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Towson suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of cities and 22% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 58% of cities and health care access beats 70%.
Common questions about living in Towson
Is Towson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Towson ranks 705th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, 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 Towson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $489,996. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $112,091 median income, cost of living beats 81% of cities.
Is Towson safe?
Towson is safer than 9% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $501 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Towson?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 33. That works out to about 96 pleasant days a year, more than 58% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Towson?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Rodgers Forge, Orchard Hills, Thornleigh & Chestnut Hill, and Chatterleigh & Cromwell Valley. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Towson with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Towson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Towson 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.
Towson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Towson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Towson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Towson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Towson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Towson 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.