These Are The 10 Best Neighborhoods In Baltimore, MD For 2018

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Do you like your neighborhood? Is it friendly, and where everyone knows their neighbors? No matter if you live in the sticks or in an apartment building in downtown Baltimore, you have a little pocket that you can call home. And each neighborhood is different.

Smaller neighborhoods usually have obvious benefits — less crime, a slower pace of life, and a lower cost of living. But not all Baltimore neighborhoods are created equal. Some are better than others. But which ones?

Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and find out which neighborhoods in Baltimore are the best. If you’re in one of the places we’re about to highlight, odds are you know you’ve got it made.

Here are the best neighborhoods in Baltimore for 2018:

Read on to see how we determined the places around Baltimore that deserve a little bragging rights or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Baltimore.

If you’re thinking of moving to elsewhere in Maryland check out:

How do you determine the top neighborhoods in Baltimore for 2018?

In order to rank the best neighborhoods in Baltimore, we had to determine what criteria defines a ‘best’.

Using crime, census, and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:

High incomes
Low unemployment rates
Low crime
High home prices
High population densities (A proxy for things to do)

10 Best Places To Live In Maryland

We limited the analysis to neighborhoods with over 1,000 people.

We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 52 in each category, where 1 was the best.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a best neighborhood index.

And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest best neighborhood index the ‘Best City Neighborhood In Baltimore.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Riverside.

Read on below to learn more about what it’s like to live in the best places Baltimore has to offer. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city from best to worst.

1. Riverside

Source: Wikipedia User | GFDL

Population: 8,935
Median Income: $99,540
Median Home Value: $251,715

Riverside Park is a nearly 17-acre public park located in the historic Riverside neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland.
More on Riverside: Real Estate | Data

2. Chinquapin Park-Belvedere

Population: 24,317
Median Income: $89,602
Median Home Value: $306,496

More on Chinquapin Park-Belvedere: Real Estate | Data

3. Roland Parl-Homewood-Guilford

Population: 16,183
Median Income: $81,083
Median Home Value: $309,257

More on Roland Parl-Homewood-Guilford: Real Estate | Data

4. Federal Hill

Source: Wikipedia User | CC BY-SA 3.0

Population: 6,289
Median Income: $83,734
Median Home Value: $290,718

The neighborhood is named for the prominent hill that is easily viewed from the Inner Harbor area, to which the neighborhood forms the physical south boundary. The hillside is a lush green and serves as a community park. The neighborhood occupies the northwestern part of a peninsula that extends along two branches of the Patapsco Riverthe Northwest Branch and the Middle Branch. This peninsula is generally referred to as the South Baltimore Peninsula, and includes the neighborhoods of Federal Hill, Locust Point, Riverside, South Baltimore, and Sharp-Leadenhall. While not physically a part of the peninsula, Otterbein is also included in the collection of neighborhoods which make up greater South Baltimore. Traditionally, Federal Hill was roughly triangular, bordered by Hanover Street to the west; Hughes Street, the harbor, and Key Highway to the north and east; and Cross Street to the south.
More on Federal Hill: Real Estate | Data

5. Cheswolde Area

Source: Public domain

Population: 11,895
Median Income: $54,016
Median Home Value: $233,790

Cheswolde is residential community in northwest Baltimore, Maryland. It is located along the Western Run. The main roads running through the area are Greenspring Avenue, Cross Country Boulevard, and Taney Road.
More on Cheswolde Area: Real Estate | Data

6. Canton

Source: Public domain

Population: 11,398
Median Income: $85,646
Median Home Value: $249,175

Canton is a neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The neighborhood is along Baltimore’s outer harbor in the southeastern section of the city, roughly two miles east of Baltimore’s downtown district and next to or near the neighborhoods of Patterson Park, Fells Point, Highlandtown, and Greektown.
More on Canton: Real Estate | Data

7. Locust Point

Source: Public domain

Population: 1,681
Median Income: $100,948
Median Home Value: $220,125

Locust Point is a peninsular neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. Located in South Baltimore, the neighborhood is entirely surrounded by the Locust Point Industrial Area; the traditional boundaries are Lawrence street to the west and the Patapsco River to the north, south, and east. It once served as a center of Baltimore’s Polish-American, Irish-American and Italian-American communities; in more recent years Locust Point has seen gradual gentrification with the rehabilitation of Tide Point and Silo Point. The neighborhood is also noted as being the home of Fort McHenry.
More on Locust Point: Real Estate | Data

8. Franklintown

Source: Public domain

Population: 1,495
Median Income: $39,798
Median Home Value: $190,900

Franklintown Historic District is a national historic district in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is the result of a plan developed in 1832 by William H. Freeman, a local politician and entrepreneur. His plan evolved gradually over the course of several decades and owes its success to his untiring promotion of the village. The central feature is an oval plan with radiating lots around a central wooded park. The district includes an old stone grist mill known as Franklin Mill, the innovative radiating oval plan, and the associated hotel and commercial area. The key residential buildings are excellent examples of the ‘I’-house form and display steeply pitched cross gables found in vernacular rural buildings throughout much of Maryland.
More on Franklintown: Real Estate | Data

9. Greater Mount Washington

Population: 5,353
Median Income: $70,684
Median Home Value: $235,875

Mount Washington is an area of northwest Baltimore, Maryland. It is a designated city historic district and divided into two sections: South Road/Sulgrave to the Southeast and Dixon’s Hill to the North. The Mount Washington Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 with a boundary increase in 2001, with five contributing buildings and four contributing structures.
More on Greater Mount Washington: Real Estate | Data

10. Brooklyn-Curtis Bay

Source: Flickr User presmd | CC BY-SA 2.0

Population: 13,862
Median Income: $42,041
Median Home Value: $84,200

The residential community of Curtis Bay is along three major north-south thoroughfares of Curtis Avenue, Pennington Avenue and residential Fairhaven Avenue and a partial street of Prudence Street. Running west to east are fifteen smaller residential streets named alphabetically for various types of trees. ‘The Bay’, as it is often called colloquially, also offers a variety of housing, townhouses, rowhouses, individual homes, and corner stores, taverns/bars.
More on Brooklyn-Curtis Bay: Real Estate | Data

Putting A Bow On Our Analysis Of Baltimore

If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Baltimore where crime is low and everyone wants to live, this is an accurate list.

If you’re curious, here are the worst places in Baltimore:

Berea Area
Belaire-Edison
Govans

For more reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Best Neighborhoods In Baltimore

Rank	Neighborhood	Population	Home Prices	Crimes Per 100k	Unemployment Rate
1	Riverside	8,935	$251,715	2,933	4.6%
2	Chinquapin Park-Belvedere	24,317	$306,496	3,736	5.8%
3	Roland Parl-Homewood-Guilford	16,183	$309,257	2,961	2.6%
4	Federal Hill	6,289	$290,718	2,756	5.3%
5	Cheswolde Area	11,895	$233,790	5,753	4.9%
6	Canton	11,398	$249,175	3,872	3.4%
7	Locust Point	1,681	$220,125	2,623	3.5%
8	Franklintown	1,495	$190,900	7,567	3.6%
9	Greater Mount Washington	5,353	$235,875	4,801	3.8%
10	Brooklyn-Curtis Bay	13,862	$84,200	10,043	15.7%
11	Hamilton Area	45,011	$165,450	7,535	7.4%
12	Inner Harbor	2,575	$223,933	4,133	4.7%
13	Fells Point	11,341	$277,700	4,275	6.3%
14	West Baltimore	52,690	$87,692	10,119	12.9%
15	Hunting Ridge	12,138	$136,153	8,773	12.6%
16	Westgate	13,224	$167,275	7,520	8.8%
17	Lower Northwood	14,108	$155,508	8,231	8.0%
18	Cherry Hill	8,182	$79,338	10,328	10.1%
19	Upper Northwood	20,413	$142,976	8,427	8.5%
20	Greenmount East	10,165	$71,175	10,394	14.7%
21	Wakefield	2,135	$217,633	6,272	4.9%
22	Park Heights	35,512	$120,226	9,616	10.7%
23	Highlandtown	12,166	$148,626	8,642	6.5%
24	Jonestown	3,122	$195,643	6,909	8.2%
25	Howard Park	6,857	$173,800	8,074	8.8%
26	Hampden-Woodberry-Remington	6,806	$156,400	7,677	7.7%
27	Forest Park	6,507	$174,008	7,898	8.1%
28	Midway-Coldstream	10,478	$107,676	9,530	10.1%
29	Lakeland	6,786	$104,078	9,438	10.1%
30	Cedonia	19,322	$133,211	8,807	8.5%
31	Mondawin-Walbrook Area	11,096	$107,100	9,438	10.4%
32	Winsor Hills	2,677	$185,725	7,520	5.4%
33	Reservoir Hill-Bolton Hill Area	21,947	$231,337	7,242	6.8%
34	Hopkins-Middle East	7,950	$113,662	9,724	12.8%
35	Downtown	3,927	$132,600	8,299	4.4%
36	Orangeville	2,420	$59,540	10,494	12.2%
37	Beechfielf-Irvington Area	13,668	$92,638	9,818	13.6%
38	Glen-Fallstaff Area	15,699	$133,125	8,433	7.9%
39	Monument Street Area	2,933	$39,850	10,494	13.8%
40	Greater Rosemont	17,517	$79,043	9,965	11.2%
41	Dundalk Cityside	2,914	$68,460	10,494	9.0%
42	Patterson Park East	11,429	$163,517	8,200	9.4%
43	Madison-Eastend	4,496	$73,800	10,494	12.7%
44	Pimlico	6,298	$117,613	9,050	7.8%
45	Bayview Area	7,460	$109,725	9,255	6.8%
46	Old Town Area	7,908	$18,483	10,494	4.1%
47	Morrell Park	6,353	$117,660	8,730	8.6%
48	Grove Park	1,851	$146,000	8,346	9.8%
49	Charles Village	23,494	$145,367	8,782	8.2%
50	Govans	13,747	$128,129	8,857	9.1%
51	Belaire-Edison	20,906	$111,033	9,098	9.6%
52	Berea Area	5,187	$76,280	9,928	8.5%