Best PlacesWaterview, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waterview, 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.
Waterview ranks 31,846th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Waterview
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.
Waterview's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waterview ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- QuietBetter than 87% of towns
Where Waterview ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Short commute40.6 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Waterview
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waterview home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,375, 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 Waterview's effective rate of 0.71%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Waterview
Waterview runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Waterview.
Who works in Waterview, and how
Work in Waterview centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Waterview
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Waterview, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Waterview, month by month
Waterview sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 37° | 30° |
| April | 67° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 87° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 70° | 61° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Waterview
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl, about 74 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waterview
Schools across Waterview average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Deal Island SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Vienna Elementary SchoolD− · 12% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Dorchester Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Salisbury MiddleD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- North Dorchester High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- James M. Bennett HighB− · 44% proficient
- Washington Academy And High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waterview school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waterview 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 Waterview against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Waterview
Is Waterview a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waterview ranks 31,846th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, health care access, and civic engagement, and lowest on taxes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waterview expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,900. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $98,375 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Waterview safe?
Yes, Waterview is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
Compare Waterview with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waterview. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waterview 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.
Waterview detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waterview: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waterview: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waterview: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waterview: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waterview 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.