MD Towns Graded, From A+ To D-: How Did Your Community Do?

Here's a Maryland report card you should pay attention to. And you may want to think twice about living in a place that was graded with a D.

Niche has come out with its new 2018 rankings of the "Best Places to Live" in Maryland, but for at least second year in row, it took a bit of a unique approach: The consumer rankings service assigned a grade, on an A+ to D- scale, to almost every town in the state.

Over 40 communities received A+ grades, topped with towns such as Bethesda, Ellicott City, Columbia, Chevy Chase, Towson and Crofton. Seven communities received D- grades. The list included sections of towns and city neighborhoods.

"I have been living here for a year and I absolutely love living here! The neighbors are so friendly, and the communitiss well kept! There are plenty of shopping centers offering variety of stores, from retail to grocery to huge department stores such as Target and TJ Maxx. ... It is safe and provides me comfort to know that I may walk to the store at night without any disruptions. Great area!" one reviewer said of North Bethesda, which earned an A+ score.

To arrive at the rankings, Niche.com took several factors into consideration, such as the quality of local schools, crime rates, housing trends, employment statistics and access to amenities.

Niche created a standardized score for each factor, and after weighting each factor, an overall score was calculated, which was again given a new standardized score.

Finally, Niche.com created a numerical ranking and assigned grades for each place. Click here to read more about the methodology.

Here are the highest- and lowest-rated Maryland towns, and how they were graded:

A+

• North Bethesda
• Garrett Park
• North Potomac
• Bethesda
• South Kensington
• Kensington
• Ellicott City
• Rockville
• Urbana
• Columbia
• Potomac
• Chevy Chase
• Forest Glen
• Travilah
• Takoma Park
• Ilchester
• Somerset
• Darnestown
• Derwood
• Cabin John
• Chevy Chase Village
• Four Corners
• Chevy Chase Town
• Fulton
• Clarksburg
• Scaggsville
• Mays Chapel
• Olney
• Towson
• Brookmont
• Gaithersburg
• Silver Spring
• Crofton
• Cloverly
• Blythewood
• North Kensington
• Germantown
• Lutherville
• Elkridge
• Burtonsville
• Guilford
• Federal Hill
• North Laurel

A

• Wyman Park
• Locust Point Industrialrea
• Kemp Mill
• Spring Ridge
• Downtown West
• University Park
• Colesville
• Locust Point
• Redland
• Butcher's Hill
• Cockeysville
• Damascus
• Severna Park
• Riverside
• Upper Fells Point
• Roland Park
• Middletown
• Keswick
• South Baltimore
• Homeland
• Downtown
• Catonsville
• Hampton
• Kernewood
• Mid-Town Belvedere
• Timonium
• Savage
• Tuscany-Canterbury
• Perry Hall
• Inner Harbor
• Odenton
• Ballenger Creek
• Pikesville
• Wyndhurst
• Arnold
• Fairland
• Braddock Heights
• Hillandale
• Canton
• Poolesville
• Lake Evesham
• Parole
• Oakenshawe
• Frederick
• Montgomery Village
• Riva
• Belir
• Spencerville
• Sykesville
• New Market
• Maryland City
• Calverton
• Otterbein
• Fells Point
• Eldersburg

A-

• Evergreen
• North Roland Park/Poplar Hill
• Crownsville
• Sharp-Leadenhall
• Bowie
• Brewers Hill
• Hampden
• Layhill
• White Marsh
• Severn
• Pleasant Hills
• Havre de Grace
• Berlin
• Patterson Place
• Remington
• Mount Airy
• Belvedere
• Jefferson
• Reisterstown
• Greenbelt
• Walkersville
• Fairwood
• La Plata
• Kingsville
• Berwyn Heights
• Arbutus
• Wheaton
• California
• Manchester
• Parkville
• Carney
• Ocean Pines
• Medfield
• Woodsboro

D+

• Dames Quarter
• Moscow
• Henderson
• Crellin

D

• Bier
• Taylors Island
• Georgetown
• Danville

D-

• Smith Island
• Sandy Hook
• Fairmount
• Templeville
• Bivalve
• Dargan
• Nanticoke Acres

See more than 500 Maryland towns and neighborhoods and their letter grades on Niche.com.

PHOTO of park courtesy of Fairfax County, Va.

Patch Editor Tom Davis contributed to this story.