The 10 Cheapest Baltimore, MD Neighborhoods To Live In For 2022


We used science and data to determine which neighborhoods in Baltimore are the cheapest of the cheap.

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Everything else equal, I think 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.

So 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 find out which neighborhoods in Baltimore are the cheapest.

What's the cheapest neighborhood to live in Baltimore for 2022? According to the most recent census data, Fairfield Area looks to be the cheaptest 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 in return 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.

Once you're done, you can look at the bottom of the story for a complete chart of every neighborhood we looked at from cheapest to most expensive.

For more Maryland reading, check out:

The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Baltimore For 2022

1. Fairfield Area

Overall SnackAbility

1
/10

Population: 530
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.9 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.011 (3rd cheapest)
More on Fairfield Area: Homes For Sale | Data

2. Pulaski

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 475
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.1 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.009 (2nd cheapest)
More on Pulaski: Homes For Sale | Data

3. Berea Area

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,628
Cost Of Living Index: 85 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.6 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (17th cheapest)
More on Berea Area: Homes For Sale | Data

4. Lakeland

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 6,288
Cost Of Living Index: 91 (15th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.1 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (11th cheapest)
More on Lakeland: Homes For Sale | Data

5. Midway-Coldstream

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 10,629
Cost Of Living Index: 88 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.1 (13th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (18th cheapest)
More on Midway-Coldstream: Homes For Sale | Data

6. Monument Street Area

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 3,168
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.5 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.025 (45th cheapest)
More on Monument Street Area: Homes For Sale | Data

7. Beechfielf-Irvington Area

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 13,570
Cost Of Living Index: 89 (10th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.0 (10th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (30th cheapest)
More on Beechfielf-Irvington Area: Homes For Sale | Data

8. Morrell Park

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 6,002
Cost Of Living Index: 92 (19th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.7 (28th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (6th cheapest)
More on Morrell Park: Homes For Sale | Data

9. Brooklyn-Curtis Bay

Brooklyn-Curtis Bay Baltimore, MD

Source: Flickr User presmd | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 13,252
Cost Of Living Index: 91 (15th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (32nd cheapest)
More on Brooklyn-Curtis Bay: Homes For Sale | Data

10. Old Town Area

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 7,411
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.4 (44th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (8th cheapest)
More on Old Town Area: Homes For Sale | Data

Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Baltimore Hoods In 2022

In order to rank the cheapest places to live in Baltimore, we had to determine what criteria defines "cheap".

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, Fairfield Area.

Read on below to learn more about what it's like to live in the cheapest places Baltimore. Or 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.

As we mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Baltimore aren't all cheap. Wakefield takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Baltimore.

We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.

For more Maryland reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Baltimore For 2022

Rank Neighborhood Cost Of Living Index
1 Fairfield Area 80
2 Pulaski 80
3 Berea Area 85
4 Lakeland 91
5 Midway-Coldstream 88
6 Monument Street Area 80
7 Beechfielf-Irvington Area 89
8 Morrell Park 92
9 Brooklyn-Curtis Bay 91
10 Old Town Area 80
11 Greenmount East 88
12 Hamilton Area 97
13 Orangeville 85
14 Dundalk Cityside 89
15 Grove Park 92
16 Cherry Hill 89
17 Belaire-Edison 94
18 Greater Rosemont 89
19 Winsor Hills 98
20 Bayview Area 92
21 Govans 96
22 Westgate 100
23 Cedonia 95
24 Hunting Ridge 96
25 Upper Northwood 99
26 Greater Mount Washington 104
27 Mondawin-Walbrook Area 91
28 Madison-Eastend 91
29 Howard Park 101
30 Pimlico 94
31 Park Heights 93
32 Glen-Fallstaff Area 93
33 Canton 120
34 Locust Point 119
35 Forest Park 101
36 Lower Northwood 104
37 Chinquapin Park-Belvedere 115
38 West Baltimore 91
39 Inner Harbor 109
40 Riverside 121
41 Patterson Park East 105
42 Jonestown 101
43 Roland Parl-Homewood-Guilford 121
44 Highlandtown 102
45 Hampden-Woodberry-Remington 104
46 Cheswolde Area 112
47 Federal Hill 122
48 Hopkins-Middle East 95
49 Charles Village 100
50 Downtown 99
51 Fells Point 121
52 Franklintown 110
53 Reservoir Hill-Bolton Hill Area 103
54 Wakefield 110

Editor's Note: We updated this article for 2022. This is our third time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Baltimore.

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.

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