Best PlacesUpper Marlboro, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Upper Marlboro, 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.
Upper Marlboro ranks 24,112th 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 Upper Marlboro
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 Marlboro's strengths and weaknesses
Where Upper Marlboro ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$128,107 median, better than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of towns
Where Upper Marlboro ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute38.4 minutes each way, better than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Upper Marlboro
A household needs to earn about $129,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Upper Marlboro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $128,107; 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 Upper Marlboro's effective rate of 0.99%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Upper Marlboro
Upper Marlboro runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Upper Marlboro.
Who works in Upper Marlboro, and how
Work in Upper Marlboro centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Upper Marlboro
The coast is about 24 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Upper Marlboro, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Upper Marlboro, month by month
Upper Marlboro sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Upper Marlboro
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 13 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.0 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Upper Marlboro
Schools across Upper Marlboro average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Baden ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
- Francis T. Evans ElementaryD · 19% proficient
- Ardmore ElementaryD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Benjamin Tasker Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
- Ernest Everett Just MiddleD− · 19% proficient
- James Madison MiddleD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Bowie HighB · 47% proficient
- Charles Herbert Flowers HighB− · 42% proficient
- Duval HighC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Upper Marlboro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Upper Marlboro 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 Marlboro against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Upper Marlboro
Is Upper Marlboro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Upper Marlboro ranks 24,112th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, high incomes, and transit, and lowest on taxes and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Upper Marlboro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $479,570. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $128,107 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Upper Marlboro safe?
Upper Marlboro is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $502 per resident a year.
Compare Upper Marlboro with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Upper Marlboro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Upper Marlboro 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 Marlboro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Upper Marlboro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Upper Marlboro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Upper Marlboro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Upper Marlboro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Upper Marlboro 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.