The 10 Best Places To Buy A House In Maryland For 2024


The best places to buy a house in Maryland are Berlin and Manchester for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Editor’s Note: This is not investment advice, and we are not financial advisers.

Suppose real estate is the most significant investment a majority of people make in their lifetime. In that case, it’s best to understand the places in Maryland with best potential return on investment.

After working in real estate adjacent roles for over a decade, I had the hypothesis that the best place to buy for a return on investment would be up-and-coming cities. Smaller cities where crime might be high now, but people still move to.

To test my hypothesis, we are going to look at places in Maryland that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average, and crime rates are higher than average.

In everyday terms, these might be “deals”. The best deal in Maryland at the moment according to Saturday Night Science? That would be Berlin.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


Best Places To Buy A House In Maryland Map

The methodology that wen’t into this can be a bit complicated, so we’ll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below.

For more Maryland reading:

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In Maryland For 2024

Berlin, MD

Source: Wikipedia User Squelle | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 5,056
Median Home Price: $434,662
Population Change: 2.1%
Home Price Change: 7.1%
More on Berlin: Data | Crime | Real Estate

Manchester, MD

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,403
Median Home Price: $425,271
Population Change: 1.0%
Home Price Change: 5.2%
More on Manchester: Data | Crime | Real Estate

Source: Public Domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 5,522
Median Home Price: $321,064
Population Change: -0.6%
Home Price Change: 3.7%
More on Cheste: Data | Real Estate

Poolesville, MD

Source: Wikipedia User Famartin | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,686
Median Home Price: $664,155
Population Change: 0.4%
Home Price Change: 2.6%
More on Poolesville: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Fruitland, MD

Source: Wikipedia User User:Fbot | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 5,603
Median Home Price: $227,517
Population Change: 2.7%
Home Price Change: 6.6%
More on Fruitland: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Chesapeake Beach, MD

Source: Wikipedia User PierreSelim | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,358
Median Home Price: $432,240
Population Change: 0.9%
Home Price Change: 4.0%
More on Chesapeake Beach: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

District Heights, MD

Source: Flickr User aboutmytripdotcom | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,905
Median Home Price: $327,778
Population Change: -0.4%
Home Price Change: 0.8%
More on District Heights: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Glenarden, MD

Source: Flickr User MDGovpics | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,335
Median Home Price: $412,112
Population Change: -0.1%
Home Price Change: 2.4%
More on Glenarden: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Walkersville, MD

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,239
Median Home Price: $425,026
Population Change: 1.7%
Home Price Change: 6.3%
More on Walkersville: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Brunswick, MD

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 7,781
Median Home Price: $361,416
Population Change: 2.7%
Home Price Change: 4.9%
More on Brunswick: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Maryland for 2024?

We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for another 9. Suffice it to say we’ve put a lot of thought into finding an excellent place to buy a home.

So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we’d approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Maryland. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Maryland with undervalued homes relative to pent-up demand using Saturday Night Science.

To do that, we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2018-2022 and compared it to the previous vintage. Specifically, we used the following criteria:

  • Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
  • Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
  • Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It’s still kinda cheap)

We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still “cheap” for Maryland with the following caveats:

So of the 0 cities and towns in Maryland, only 43 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.

We then ranked each place from 1 to 43 for the above criteria, with 1 being the best. We averaged the rankings to create a “best place to buy” index, with the place having the lowest index being the best.

Turns out that Berlin is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Old Line State.

Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Maryland for 2024

There’s our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Maryland. And, to be clear, we aren’t necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.

In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 0 places in the state.

The best cities to buy a house in Maryland are Berlin, Manchester, Cheste, Poolesville, Fruitland, Chesapeake Beach, District Heights, Glenarden, Walkersville, and Brunswick.

So if we’d could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy.

For more Maryland reading, check out:

Best Places To Buy A Home In Maryland

Rank City Population Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
1 Berlin 5,056 $434,662 2.1% 7.1%
2 Manchester 5,403 $425,271 1.0% 5.2%
3 Cheste 5,522 $321,064 -0.6% 3.7%
4 Poolesville 5,686 $664,155 0.4% 2.6%
5 Fruitland 5,603 $227,517 2.7% 6.6%
6 Chesapeake Beach 6,358 $432,240 0.9% 4.0%
7 District Heights 5,905 $327,778 -0.4% 0.8%
8 Glenarden 6,335 $412,112 -0.1% 2.4%
9 Walkersville 6,239 $425,026 1.7% 6.3%
10 Brunswick 7,781 $361,416 2.7% 4.9%
11 Hampstead 6,278 $397,582 0.1% 5.5%
12 Cheverly 6,132 $468,015 -1.0% 1.2%
13 Thurmont 6,313 $355,126 1.1% 6.2%
14 Taneytown 7,234 $362,419 0.7% 5.0%
15 Ocean City 6,879 $449,391 0.1% 4.9%
16 Riverdale Park 7,284 $457,160 -0.5% 6.3%
17 Mount Rainier 8,262 $471,063 -0.3% -0.5%
18 Frostburg 7,118 $164,894 -2.3% 4.0%
19 Bladensburg 9,574 $315,966 -0.2% 2.3%
20 Mount Airy 9,667 $575,869 0.5% 3.8%
21 La Plata 10,283 $458,131 2.3% 1.6%
22 Bel Air 10,630 $432,116 -0.3% 5.2%
23 Cambridge 13,058 $242,774 0.2% 4.8%
24 New Carrollton 13,580 $385,956 0.0% 1.7%
25 Havre De Grace 14,743 $376,608 0.8% 4.6%
26 Elkton 15,830 $327,018 0.7% 5.1%
27 Aberdeen 16,422 $314,123 1.5% 5.4%
28 Easton 17,118 $415,598 1.2% 3.9%
29 Takoma Park 17,542 $667,796 -0.4% 0.7%
30 Hyattsville 20,851 $396,591 0.3% 1.6%
31 Westminster 20,099 $423,805 1.6% 5.1%
32 Cumberland 19,041 $139,025 0.1% 3.0%
33 Greenbelt 24,646 $273,558 0.2% 2.4%
34 Laurel 29,581 $443,952 0.5% 3.2%
35 College Park 34,416 $418,488 -1.6% 3.2%
36 Salisbury 32,960 $241,424 1.2% 7.3%
37 Annapolis 40,719 $571,003 0.3% 3.6%
38 Hagerstown 43,374 $260,493 0.8% 6.7%
39 Bowie 57,922 $495,660 -0.3% 2.4%
40 Gaithersburg 69,016 $498,395 0.3% 3.3%
41 Rockville 67,142 $606,807 0.1% 3.8%
42 Frederick 78,390 $434,950 2.6% 4.7%
43 Baltimore 584,548 $179,189 -1.3% 2.0%
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.