Here at HomeSnacks, we wanted to know just how safe each place and city in Maryland is.
More importantly, where are the safest cities in The Old Line State? So, we consulted the numbers. We analyzed 40 cities with over 5,000 residents. We looked at important factors like property crimes and violent crimes per capita for every place from Salisbury on Maryland's Eastern Shore to Cumberland in the state's northwest corner.
Moreover, if you choose one of Maryland's safest places to live, you'll get to experience the Mid-Atlantic's great places like Columbia, Severn, and Bowie. These are not only some of the best places in the state, they are some of Maryland's safest.
So, if you're looking to live near the beaches in Annapolis, the crab cakes in Baltimore, and some super fun, super safe places to live in Maryland, read on.
14 violent / 101 property per 100k
Located in
Allegany County, Maryland
Frostburg, located in the Allegheny Mountains on the eastern slope of Big Savage Mountain is our safest city in Maryland. Don't let the words frost and savage scare you, it's really safe here. This little city river city is super family friendly and virtually crime free. It's one of the safest places to call home on our list.
Frostburg's overall HomeSnacks snackability score was off the hook: a straight up 7/10! Not surprising, considering their safety rating is an 8/10 and percentage of educated residents is 8/10. Busy people = less naughty people. If that doesn't say safe, we don't know what does.
Keep making' the Old Line State proud, Frostburg. We all could learn a lot from this Allegany County city.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
33 violent / 327 property per 100k
Located in
Worcester County, Maryland
Ocean Pines is the ideal destination when you're trying to find that true Maryland feel with safe, small city vibes and big city pride. This is definitely one of the reasons it has held strong in the top three to be our second safest city in Maryland.
Ocean Pines' gold star qualities like the non-existent number of crimes per 100,000 residents, their large number of educated residents, and their A+ social and economic infrastructure, speaks volumes.
It might not be Baltimore, but this little beach city with a vibrant art scene, five star restaurants, unforgettable summer festivals, and endless fun, is just as notable and just as safe. Probably why it's one of the most populous cities on the Atlantic side of Maryland.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
130 violent / 495 property per 100k
Located in
Frederick County, Maryland
Brunswick is a super consistent place: it has the fourth safest rate of property crime and fifth safest rate of violent crime in Maryland, giving it the third place ranking overall.
And for those into the world's safest hobby, Brunswick has just the place for you. Judging by the fact that Brunswick averages just one violent crime per month, I'd say your day is unlikely to go off the rails in Brunswick.
Brunswick is just over the Potomac River from Virginia.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
88 violent / 571 property per 100k
Located in
Frederick County, Maryland
No this is not a suburb of Washington, D.C., but Thurmont, Maryland is just as safe and just as cool. It's so safe that it made the number 4 spot on our Safest Places to Live in Maryland 2026 list.
Located on Maryland's northern border, the only crimes that might happen in this city of 6,500 residents is someone dips their crab cake in ranch or someone is caught wearing a Redskins jersey.
When Thurmont's residents aren't busy spying on Camp David or checking on their neighbors, they are busy running around adding those "Your Children Live Here" signs to the community. Good work Thurmont.
There really is a true sense of community in this quaint town in Frederick county. Thurmont's gold star qualities like the non-existent number of crimes, their large number of educated residents, and just their overall safety standards.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
180 violent / 108 property per 100k
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
73 violent / 900 property per 100k
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
155 violent / 822 property per 100k
Located in
Carroll County, Maryland
Boy, oh boy does Hampstead have a lot going for it. What with a perfect 10/10 snackability score, a low cost of living, and now the title of fifth safest town in Maryland. It's hard to think of anything wrong with Hampstead really. Hampstead averaged exactly 1 crime per week in the last year of available data, so it's probably a pretty uneventful place to be a detective.
But for everyone else, kick back with a nice Ruhlman Brewery ale and enjoy the sanctuary of Hampstead.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
139 violent / 1,265 property per 100k
Located in
Harford County, Maryland
Welcome to our eighth safest city in Maryland: Havre de Grace. This city with a little over 13,000 residents in Harford County, should be called the 'The Best City to live in Maryland,' too, because all is crazy safe and super fine in "The City Where the East Begins and the Hospitality Never Ends."
Havre de Grace's snackability rating is off the charts: a whopping 8.5/10! Their number of amenities scored 8.5/10 and their education rating a 8.5/10! This Harford County city at the head of the Chesapeake Bay has a strong sense of community with a big city focus. Check it out! We're pretty sure you will want to call it home.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
150 violent / 1,523 property per 100k
Located in
Montgomery County, Maryland
Data | Cost of living | Movers
209 violent / 883 property per 100k
Located in
Prince George's County, Maryland
It might not be Barney Fife's Mayberry, or maybe it is, but this safe, little Prince George County city with a vibrant community, quiet neighborhoods, and hardworking residents is just as notable and just as safe. And it is definitely why Glenarden is our tenth safest city in Maryland.
It doesn't end there, folks. This little Maryland gem, scored a strong 9/10 on our snackability scale. They scored an 8/10 for job opportunities and an 8/10 for number of educated residents. I think it's safe to say they're the poster city for the rest of the state. And word on the street, young professionals are starting to take notice and move Glenarden's direction. So don't wait, because the word is out.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Maryland's statewide median. Lower is safer.
Maryland statewide median: 340
Maryland statewide median: 2,038
Maryland statewide median: 0
On the map
Where the safety is in Maryland
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the safest cities in Maryland for 2026
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in Maryland are the safest, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from the FBI's most recent crime report in Maryland.
Specifically, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of property and violent crimes in each city annually. We used two criteria:
- Violent crimes per capita (murders, assaults, rapes, armed robberies)
- Property crimes per capita (thefts, burglaries, motor vehicle thefts)
For example, there were 8 crimes committed in Frostburg, with a reported population of 6,946. That means the number of crimes per capita is 0.0012, which translates into a 1 in 868 chance of being the victim of a crime.
We only looked at Maryland cities that have populations of more than 5,000. This filter left us with 40 of the biggest cities in Maryland to rank.
We ranked each city for each criterion from 1 to 40 where 1 in any particular category is the safest.
Next, we averaged each place's two criteria to create a Safety Index. We crowned the place with the lowest overall Safety Score, "The Safest Place In Maryland," with any ties going to the bigger city.
The safest city in Maryland, based on our criteria, is Frostburg. The most dangerous city in Maryland? Ocean City, where residents had a 1 in 10 chance of being the victim of a crime.
This article has been update for 2026. This report marks our eleventh time ranking the safest places to live in Maryland. All the data comes from the FBI's Crime In The USA 2024 report.
Summary
Summary: The Safest Cities In The Old Line State
Looking at the data, you can tell that Frostburg is as safe as they come in Maryland, according to science and data.
But as most Maryland residents would agree, almost every place here has its safe and not safe parts. So just make sure you're informed ahead of time.
The safest places in Maryland are .
For more reading, check out:
The full plate
Where Are The Safest Cities In Maryland For 2026?
Click any column to sort. All 40 ranked Maryland cities.
| Rank | City | Population | Violent / 100k | Property / 100k | Murders / 100k | Murders |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frostburg, MD | 6,946 | 14 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Ocean Pines, MD | 12,233 | 32 | 326 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Brunswick, MD | 8,488 | 129 | 494 | 11 | 1 |
| 4 | Thurmont, MD | 6,832 | 87 | 570 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Manchester, MD | 5,567 | 179 | 107 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Berlin, MD | 5,443 | 73 | 900 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Hampstead, MD | 6,445 | 155 | 822 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Havre De Grace, MD | 15,099 | 139 | 1,264 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Rockville, MD | 67,285 | 150 | 1,523 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Glenarden, MD | 6,230 | 208 | 882 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Gaithersburg, MD | 69,590 | 252 | 1,311 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | La Plata, MD | 11,114 | 215 | 1,754 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Mount Airy, MD | 9,966 | 321 | 1,023 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | New Carrollton, MD | 13,312 | 292 | 1,645 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Chestertown, MD | 5,616 | 231 | 1,851 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Bowie, MD | 56,929 | 193 | 2,280 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Fruitland, MD | 5,987 | 200 | 2,188 | 16 | 1 |
| 18 | Bel Air, MD | 10,422 | 239 | 2,005 | 9 | 1 |
| 19 | Frederick, MD | 88,428 | 405 | 1,673 | 2 | 2 |
| 20 | Westminster, MD | 20,671 | 241 | 2,041 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Easton, MD | 17,268 | 399 | 1,980 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Cheverly, MD | 5,970 | 217 | 2,864 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | District Heights, MD | 5,769 | 780 | 1,681 | 17 | 1 |
| 24 | Aberdeen, MD | 18,635 | 595 | 2,033 | 21 | 4 |
| 25 | Denton, MD | 5,025 | 358 | 3,024 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | Hagerstown, MD | 43,563 | 713 | 2,463 | 9 | 4 |
| 27 | Annapolis, MD | 40,446 | 808 | 2,094 | 7 | 3 |
| 28 | Cambridge, MD | 13,205 | 545 | 3,188 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Laurel, MD | 29,209 | 393 | 4,861 | 6 | 2 |
| 30 | Cumberland, MD | 18,661 | 460 | 3,927 | 10 | 2 |
| 31 | Mount Rainier, MD | 8,055 | 782 | 2,631 | 37 | 3 |
| 32 | Hyattsville, MD | 20,506 | 687 | 3,340 | 4 | 1 |
| 33 | Salisbury, MD | 33,205 | 954 | 3,005 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Greenbelt, MD | 24,193 | 648 | 4,377 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | Takoma Park, MD | 17,418 | 539 | 7,073 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Riverdale Park, MD | 7,109 | 984 | 2,911 | 14 | 1 |
| 37 | Bladensburg, MD | 9,382 | 969 | 3,517 | 10 | 1 |
| 38 | Baltimore, MD | 566,632 | 1,606 | 4,157 | 34 | 197 |
| 39 | Elkton, MD | 16,017 | 1,080 | 5,231 | 12 | 2 |
| 40 | Ocean City, MD | 6,938 | 980 | 8,806 | 0 | 0 |
Breaking Down Crime In The Safest And Most Dangerous Cities In Maryland
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