Best Places To Retire In Maryland For 2020

The 10 Best Places To Retire In Maryland For 2020

1. Bowie

Bowie is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland. The population was 54,727 at the 2010 U.S. Census. Bowie has grown from a small railroad stop to the largest municipality in Prince George's County, and the fifth most populous city and third largest city by area in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2014 CNN Money ranked Bowie 28th in its Best Places to Live in America list.

2. Taneytown

Taneytown is a town in Carroll County, Maryland, United States. The population was 6,728 at the 2010 census. Taneytown was founded in 1754. Of the town, George Washington once wrote, "Tan-nee town is but a small place with only the Street through wch. the road passes, built on. The buildings are principally of wood." Taneytown has a history museum that displays the history of the town for visitors and citizens to see. The Bullfrog Road Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

3. Hampstead

Hampstead is a town in Carroll County in the U.S. state of Maryland. The population was 6,323 at the 2010 census.

4. Thurmont

Thurmont is a town in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The population was 6,170 at the 2010 census. The town is located in the northern part of Frederick County, approximately ten miles from the Pennsylvania border, along U.S. Highway 15. It is very close to Cunningham Falls State Park and Catoctin Mountain Park, which contains the presidential retreat of Camp David. Thurmont is also home to Catoctin Colorfest, an arts and crafts festival that draws in about 125,000 people each autumn.

5. Takoma Park

Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland. It is a suburb of Washington, D.C., and part of the Washington metropolitan area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea City", is a Tree City USA and a nuclear-free zone. A planned commuter suburb, it is situated along the Metropolitan Branch of the historic Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, just northeast of Washington, D.C., and it borders the neighborhood of Takoma, Washington, D.C. It is governed by an elected mayor and six elected councilmembers, who form the city council, and an appointed city manager, under a council-manager style of government. The city's population was 16,715 at the 2010 national census.

6. Easton

Easton, Maryland is an incorporated town and the county seat of Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,945 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population in 2015 of 16,617. The primary ZIPCode is 21601, and the secondary is 21606. The primary phone exchange is 822, the auxiliary exchanges are 820, 763, and 770, and the area code is 410.

7. Annapolis

Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, 25 miles south of Baltimore and about 30 miles east of Washington, D.C., Annapolis is part of the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Its population was measured at 38,394 by the 2010 census.

Review Of Annapolis by HomeSnacks User

Annapolis is the capital of Maryland and a very nice place to visit. The attractions, dining, nearby Naval Academy, and numerous parks and overlooks are a nice for a family.

The small independent shops and restaurants are all fantastic. And the local seafood is a real treat.

Review Where You Live

8. Havre De Grace

Havre de Grace , abbreviated HdG, is a city in Harford County, Maryland, situated at the mouth of the Susquehanna River and the head of Chesapeake Bay. It is named after the port city of Le Havre, France, which in full was once Le Havre de Grce. The population was 12,952 at the 2010 United States Census. The city was honored as one of America's 20 best small towns to visit in 2014 by Smithsonian magazine.

9. Cumberland

Cumberland Maryland, officially the City of Cumberland, is a western gateway city and seat of Allegany County, Maryland, United States and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a population of 103,299. Cumberland is a regional business and commercial center for Western and the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia. Cumberland is commonly referred to as "Where The South Begins," as official United States Census Bureau records place it below the Mason-Dixon line.

10. Brunswick

Brunswick is a city in Frederick County, Maryland, United States at the Maryland/Virginia border. The population was 5,870 at the 2010 census.

How We Determined The Best Places To Retire In the Old Line State for 2020

To create our list of the best places in Maryland to retire, we first used Census data to find all places in the Old Line State -- 508 cities and towns.

We then narrowed it down to places with at least 5,000 people that weren't townships. This left us with 32 places from across the state.

For these 32, we looked at the following criteria taken from the Census, the FBI's Crime Report, National Weather Service, and OpenFlights:

• Low cost of living as measured by rent
• Low crime
• Things to do (Museums, Colleges, and Libraries in town)
• Nice weather
• Distance to the closest international airport
• Other retirees (High median age)

We then ranked each of these places for each criteria from one to 32, with the lowest number being the best.

Finally, we took the average rank across these criteria. The place, in this case Bowie, with the lowest average rank was crowned the best of the best, a place for you to start your second careers. You can download the data here.