Best PlacesUnion Bridge, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Union Bridge, 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.
Union Bridge ranks 16,642nd 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 Union Bridge
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.
Union Bridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Union Bridge ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of towns
- Household income$102,991 median, better than 86% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of towns
Where Union Bridge 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
- Short commute36.9 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,275 a month, better than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Union Bridge
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Union Bridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $102,991; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Union Bridge's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 Union Bridge
Union Bridge runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Union Bridge.
Who works in Union Bridge, and how
Work in Union Bridge centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Union Bridge
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Union Bridge.
What the weather is like in Union Bridge, month by month
Union Bridge sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 42, 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 | 42° | 35° | 29° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 70° | 60° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Union Bridge
The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 38 miles away.
The best schools in and around Union Bridge
Schools across Union Bridge average a C+, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Market ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Runnymede ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Elmer A. Wolfe ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Market MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Walkersville MiddleC− · 30% proficient
- Northwest MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Linganore HighA+ · 82% proficient
- Walkersville HighA− · 64% proficient
- Francis Scott Key HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Union Bridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Union Bridge 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 Union Bridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Union Bridge
Is Union Bridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Union Bridge ranks 16,642nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, few empty homes, and high incomes, 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 Union Bridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $429,075. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $102,991 median income, cost of living beats 76% of towns.
Is Union Bridge safe?
Union Bridge is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $372 per resident a year.
Compare Union Bridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Union Bridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Union Bridge 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.
Union Bridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Union Bridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Union Bridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Union Bridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Union Bridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Union Bridge 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.