Best PlacesUpper Fairmount, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Upper Fairmount, 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.
Upper Fairmount ranks 48,249th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Upper Fairmount
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.
Upper Fairmount's strengths and weaknesses
Where Upper Fairmount ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 71% of towns
- Short commute24.0 minutes each way, better than 69% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 66% of towns
Where Upper Fairmount ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- 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
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Upper Fairmount
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Upper Fairmount home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,260, 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 Upper Fairmount's effective rate of 0.55%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Upper Fairmount
Upper Fairmount 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 Upper Fairmount.
Who works in Upper Fairmount, and how
Work in Upper Fairmount centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Upper Fairmount
The coast is about 11 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Upper Fairmount, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Upper Fairmount, month by month
Upper Fairmount sees roughly 68 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 Upper Fairmount
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl, about 83 miles away.
The best schools in and around Upper Fairmount
Schools across Upper Fairmount average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Carter G Woodson ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Deal Island SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Greenwood Elementary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Somerset 6/7 Intermediate SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Crisfield Academy And High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Washington Academy And High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Upper Fairmount school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Upper Fairmount 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 Upper Fairmount against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Upper Fairmount
Is Upper Fairmount a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Upper Fairmount ranks 48,249th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, big-city access, and low property taxes, and lowest on a weak job market and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Upper Fairmount expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $139,000. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $50,260 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Upper Fairmount safe?
Upper Fairmount is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $487 per resident a year.
Compare Upper Fairmount with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Upper Fairmount. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Upper Fairmount 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.
Upper Fairmount detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Upper Fairmount: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Upper Fairmount: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Upper Fairmount: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Upper Fairmount: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Upper Fairmount 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.