11 Best Places To Live In Maryland

Home prices in Frostburg currently sit at less than half the national median. The town has a university and an Allegheny Mountain backdrop. Frostburg is not the exception in Maryland's small-town landscape but closer to the rule. Lonaconing's coal-era cottages and Crisfield's working crab boats both sit well below the national price curve. Most of these towns stay within driving distance of Baltimore or another major Mid-Atlantic city for jobs and services. The 11 Maryland towns ahead each show a different version of that same trade-off.

Perryville

Perryville sits at the mouth of the Susquehanna River in Cecil County with around 4,300 residents. The town developed as a stop on the colonial-era post road between Philadelphia and Baltimore, with Rodgers Tavern (built in 1740) hosting George Washington multiple times during his presidency and Lafayette during his 1824 tour. Perryville Community Park runs along the river with 75 acres of waterfront, boat launches, and a fishing pier. Susquehanna State Park, just across the river in Harford County, holds the Rock Run Historic Area with an operating 1798 grist mill open Saturdays from May through October. The town's commuter rail station provides daily Amtrak service to Wilmington, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.

Hurlock

Hurlock is a Dorchester County rail town of around 2,100 residents about 60 miles southeast of Annapolis. The town grew up around the Cambridge and Seaford Railroad in 1869 and the restored 1894 Hurlock Train Station now operates as a museum tracing the Delmarva Peninsula's agricultural and railroad history. The Hurlock Volunteer Fire Company hosts the annual Hurlock Fall Festival each October, drawing several thousand visitors for a small-town parade, food vendors, and amusement rides. Two large food-processing employers (B&G Foods and Amick Farms) anchor the local economy, with manufacturing and trucking rounding out the job base. Housing costs run well below state averages.

Greensboro

Greensboro sits on the Choptank River in Caroline County, about 50 minutes east of Annapolis, with around 2,000 residents. The town was originally called Choptank Bridge when settled in the 1730s and renamed Greensborough in 1791 in honour of Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene. The annual Greensboro Car Show and Music Fest each fall brings several hundred classic-car enthusiasts to Main Street. Adkins Arboretum, just southwest of Greensboro, runs 400 acres of native Eastern Shore woodland and meadow with a 5-mile trail network and year-round plant sales. The Choptank River itself supports paddle access from the town docks year-round, with the river running 71 miles from Greensboro south to Cambridge.

Snow Hill

Snow Hill, the Worcester County seat with around 2,000 residents, sits on the Pocomoke River and serves as the gateway to Pocomoke River State Park (14,753 acres across two areas: Milburn Landing and Shad Landing) and Pocomoke State Forest. The Pocomoke is the northernmost cypress-swamp river system in the United States, with bald cypress trees rising directly from the water and a paddling environment unique to this latitude. The state park holds 25 miles of marked hiking trails and a 17-site campground at Shad Landing. The historic district downtown holds around 100 pre-Civil War buildings, with the Furnace Town Living Heritage Museum just outside town preserving an 1840s iron-furnace village and the Nassawango Furnace itself. TidalHealth runs the local medical clinic in town with the larger regional hospital in Salisbury, about 17 miles north.

Crisfield

Crisfield, on Tangier Sound at the southern tip of Maryland's Eastern Shore, calls itself the Crab Capital of the World and runs a working commercial fishing harbour with around 2,400 residents. The annual J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake each July (named for the Crisfield-born former Maryland governor) draws thousands and serves locally-caught blue crab and corn on the cob in unlimited quantities for a single ticket price. The National Hard Crab Derby, running since 1947 over Labor Day weekend, includes a crab race, crab-picking contest, and parade. Tangier Island Cruises run daily ferries to Tangier Island (a Virginia island in the Chesapeake Bay accessible only by boat). Janes Island State Park, just outside town, runs 30 miles of marked paddling trails through the salt marsh that supports the local soft-shell crab industry.

Delmar

Delmar is a Wicomico County town of around 3,400 that straddles the Maryland-Delaware state line, with the actual border running down State Street through the middle of downtown. The town operates two separate municipal governments on either side of the line under a unified mutual-aid agreement (Delmar Maryland and Delmar Delaware). The Maryland Welcome Center on US-13 just north of town is a Wicomico County tourist office with regional maps and Eastern Shore travel info. Gordy Park covers around 32 acres with sports fields, a skate park, and walking paths. Delmar's Wicomico County side is part of the Salisbury metro area, putting full-service hospitals, university campuses, and an airport within 15 minutes.

Hancock

Hancock sits at Maryland's narrowest point in Washington County, where the state pinches between Pennsylvania and West Virginia to just 1.83 miles wide. The town of around 1,500 has been a transportation hub since the 1700s, with the C&O Canal Towpath, the Western Maryland Rail Trail, and Interstate 70 all running directly through it. The Western Maryland Rail Trail provides 28 miles of paved bike trail (one of the longest paved rail-trails on the East Coast) running through town. Tri-State Community Health Center provides primary care, with the regional hospital in Hagerstown 25 minutes east. The Blue Goose Fruit Market & Bakery on East Main Street has been a town fixture since 1962.

Frostburg

Frostburg, in the Allegheny Mountains of western Maryland with around 8,500 residents, is home to Frostburg State University (around 4,000 students) and the western terminus of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. The railroad runs a restored Baldwin steam locomotive (No. 1309, the largest articulated steam locomotive built for a domestic American railroad) on a 16-mile round trip to Cumberland through the Cumberland Narrows. The Thrasher Carriage Museum holds one of the country's most complete collections of 19th-century horse-drawn carriages including the carriage President Theodore Roosevelt rode in for his second inauguration in 1905. Mountain City Traditional Arts on Main Street showcases Appalachian craft including handmade brooms, traditional pottery, and regional music recordings. Frostburg sits at 2,000 feet of elevation and receives an average of around 100 inches of snow annually.

Lonaconing

Lonaconing, an old coal-mining town in Allegany County with around 1,100 residents, holds the Lonaconing Iron Furnace, an 1837 stone blast furnace that produced the first commercial pig iron in the United States smelted entirely with mineral coal (rather than charcoal). The furnace is a National Historic Landmark and open to the public for free. Dans Mountain State Park, 9 miles south of Frostburg and east of Lonaconing, covers 482 acres on a 16-mile ridge with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a fishing pond, and the 2,898-foot Dans Rock Overlook with views over four states. The pitcher Lefty Grove (Hall of Fame 1947, 300-game winner) was born in Lonaconing in 1900; his birthplace home is now a small museum on Main Street.

Pocomoke City

Pocomoke City sits on the Pocomoke River in Worcester County with around 3,800 residents, about 15 miles south of Snow Hill. The town was originally called Stevens Ferry and renamed in 1878 after a request by residents to incorporate as a city. The Mar-Va Theater, built in 1927 as a 700-seat movie palace and restored as a community performing-arts center, runs regular live theatre and concerts. The Costen House Museum on Market Street, the 1870 home of Dr. Isaac Costen, is open for tours of period Victorian rooms. Cypress Park downtown borders the Pocomoke River with a small swimming beach. The Pocomoke City Public Library has been operating in town since 1947.

Hampstead

Hampstead is a Carroll County town of around 6,300 in north-central Maryland, about 35 minutes north of downtown Baltimore. The town sits on the western edge of the Prettyboy Reservoir watershed; the 1,500-acre Prettyboy Reservoir itself, completed in 1932 with Prettyboy Dam, is owned by the city of Baltimore and supplies about a third of the Baltimore-metro drinking water. The Prettyboy Reservoir Cooperative Wildlife Management Area covers 7,380 acres around the reservoir, open year-round to hiking, paddling, fishing (electric motors only), and bird-watching. Oakmont Green Golf Course is the town's 18-hole public course. The North Carroll Branch Library on Hanover Pike is one of the largest library branches in Carroll County. Hampstead's location keeps it both within commuting distance of Baltimore and close to working farmland on most sides of town.

Maryland's Small-Town Spread

The 11 Maryland towns above run the spectrum from coal-country Allegany at the western edge to Tangier Sound on the Eastern Shore. Frostburg, Lonaconing, and Hancock anchor the western mountain corner with elevation, hiking, and rail history. Perryville and Hurlock represent the canal- and rail-era northeastern shore. Crisfield, Pocomoke City, Snow Hill, Greensboro, and Delmar handle the Delmarva agricultural and waterman traditions. Hampstead bridges Carroll County farmland with Baltimore-metro proximity. Each one keeps housing costs below national averages while staying within an hour or two of a major Mid-Atlantic urban centre.