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 2019:
- Chinquapin Park-Belvedere (Homes)
- Riverside (Homes)
- Cheswolde Area (Homes)
- Roland Parl-Homewood-Guilford (Homes)
- Fells Point (Homes)
- Locust Point (Homes)
- Federal Hill (Homes)
- Canton (Homes)
- Inner Harbor (Homes)
- Westgate (Homes)
So what’s the best neighborhood to live in Baltimore for 2019? According to the most recent census data, Chinquapin Park-Belvedere looks to be the best Baltimore neighborhood to live in.
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.
Once you’re done, you can look at the bottom of the story for a complete chart of every neighborhood we looked at from best to worst.
For more Maryland reading, check out:
- 10 Best Places To Live In Maryland
- 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Maryland
- These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Maryland
How we determined the best Baltimore hoods in 2019
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)
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 54 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, Chinquapin Park-Belvedere.
Read on below to learn more about what it’s like to live in the best places Baltimore, Maryland has to offer. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city from best to worst.
/10
Population: 24,827
Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)
Median Home Value: $309,844 (2nd best)
Median Income: $94,917 (4th best)
More on Chinquapin Park-Belvedere: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 9,001
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Median Home Value: $257,315 (6th best)
Median Income: $106,162 (2nd best)
More on Riverside: Homes For Sale | Data
Riverside Park is a nearly 17-acre public park located in the historic Riverside neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland.
/10
Population: 12,433
Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 2)
Median Home Value: $234,920 (8th best)
Median Income: $65,849 (10th best)
More on Cheswolde Area: Homes For Sale | Data
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.
/10
Population: 16,535
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 1)
Median Home Value: $314,367 (1st best)
Median Income: $84,167 (6th best)
More on Roland Parl-Homewood-Guilford: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 10,898
Rank Last Year: 13 (Up 8)
Median Home Value: $295,582 (4th best)
Median Income: $78,055 (7th best)
More on Fells Point: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 1,917
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 1)
Median Home Value: $239,675 (7th best)
Median Income: $112,879 (1st best)
More on Locust Point: Homes For Sale | Data
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.
/10
Population: 6,232
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 3)
Median Home Value: $302,082 (3rd best)
Median Income: $86,580 (5th best)
More on Federal Hill: Homes For Sale | Data
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.
/10
Population: 12,040
Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 2)
Median Home Value: $259,906 (5th best)
Median Income: $98,085 (3rd best)
More on Canton: Homes For Sale | Data
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.
/10
Population: 2,535
Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 3)
Median Home Value: $213,683 (12th best)
Median Income: $75,443 (8th best)
More on Inner Harbor: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 14,467
Rank Last Year: 16 (Up 6)
Median Home Value: $166,033 (16th best)
Median Income: $59,292 (15th best)
More on Westgate: Homes For Sale | Data
Putting A Bow On Our Analysis Of The Best Neighborhoods In Baltimore
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Baltimore where crime is low and everyone wants to live, this is an accurate list.
As we mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Baltimore aren’t all good. Fairfield Area takes the title of the worst neighborhood to live in Baltimore.
We ranked the neighborhoods from best to worst in the chart below.
For more Maryland reading, check out: