Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Baltimore might be more expensive than living in rural Maryland, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Baltimore neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Baltimore are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Baltimore for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Pulaski looks to be the cheapest Baltimore neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Baltimore. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
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.
For more Maryland reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Maryland
- Cheapest Places To Live In Maryland
- Cheapest Cities To Live In America
- Cheapest States To Live In America
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Baltimore For 2024
/10
Population: 475
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (3rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.1 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.009 (cheapest)
More on Pulaski: Data | Real Estate
/10
Population: 5,628
Cost Of Living Index: 86 (7th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.6 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (13th cheapest)
More on Berea Area: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 10,629
Cost Of Living Index: 89 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.1 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (14th cheapest)
More on Midway-Coldstream: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 13,252
Cost Of Living Index: 88 (10th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (29th cheapest)
More on Brooklyn-Curtis Bay: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 2,695
Cost Of Living Index: 92 (22nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.1 (10th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (12th cheapest)
More on Cedonia: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,174
Cost Of Living Index: 86 (7th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.4 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (35th cheapest)
More on Orangeville: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 7,411
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (3rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.4 (38th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (4th cheapest)
More on Old Town Area: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 13,570
Cost Of Living Index: 89 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.0 (9th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (23rd cheapest)
More on Beechfielf-Irvington Area: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 3,168
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (3rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.5 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.025 (43rd cheapest)
More on Monument Street Area: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 11,041
Cost Of Living Index: 85 (5th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.0 (7th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.025 (42nd cheapest)
More on Greenmount East: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Baltimore Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Baltimore, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 54 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Baltimore.” We’re lookin’ at you, Pulaski.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Baltimore. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Baltimore
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Baltimore where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Baltimore are Pulaski, Berea Area, Midway-Coldstream, Brooklyn-Curtis Bay, Cedonia, Orangeville, Old Town Area, Beechfielf-Irvington Area, Monument Street Area, and Greenmount East.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Baltimore aren’t all cheap. Wakefield takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Baltimore.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Baltimore are Wakefield, Jonestown, Reservoir Hill-Bolton Hill Area, Forest Park, and Westgate.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more Maryland reading, check out:
- Most Dangerous Cities In Maryland
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