Best PlacesWhitehaven, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Whitehaven, 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.
Whitehaven ranks 36,294th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Whitehaven
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.
Whitehaven's strengths and weaknesses
Where Whitehaven ranks high
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of towns
- Short commute24.1 minutes each way, better than 68% of towns
Where Whitehaven ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Whitehaven
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Whitehaven home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,676, 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 Whitehaven's effective rate of 0.71%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Whitehaven
Whitehaven runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Whitehaven.
Who works in Whitehaven, and how
Work in Whitehaven centers on manufacturing and other services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Whitehaven
The coast is about 21 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Whitehaven, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Whitehaven, month by month
Whitehaven sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Whitehaven
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 78 miles away.
The best schools in and around Whitehaven
Schools across Whitehaven average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Salisbury MiddleD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- 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 Whitehaven school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Whitehaven 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 Whitehaven against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Whitehaven
Is Whitehaven a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Whitehaven ranks 36,294th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, health care access, and big-city access, and lowest on taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Whitehaven expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $351,000. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $78,676 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Whitehaven safe?
Whitehaven is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $361 per resident a year.
Compare Whitehaven with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Whitehaven. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Whitehaven 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.
Whitehaven detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Whitehaven: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Whitehaven: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Whitehaven: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Whitehaven: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Whitehaven 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.