You probably won’t find these places featured on the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, but Maryland’s richest places house many of the state’s super-wealthy.
Yes, The Old Line State has the finest blue crab cakes, some super-rich housewives in Potomac, and now, we’ll list the top ten richest places for 2026.
How do you get your hands on one of these Maryland gems? You are going to need a high-paying job. You need to make one that pays on average $108,136/year. The highest-paying jobs in the state are in healthcare and tech, and the state’s overall unemployment rate is below the national average.
However, the upside to living the Maryland dream is that once you get settled in one of the state’s richest places, you will be able to experience all of the posh features that this state has to offer. Like, the Michelin Star restaurants in Rockville, season passes to the Baltimore Ravens, and/or five star weekends in Annapolis.
$205,919 median income · 2.8% poverty · #1 income in Maryland
Poolesville is a town in the western portion of Montgomery County, Maryland. The population was 4,883 at the 2010 United States Census. It is surrounded by the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve, and is considered a distant bedroom community for commuters to Washington, D.C.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$151,324 median income · 2.3% poverty · #4 income in Maryland
Located in
Frederick County, Maryland
Mount Airy is a town located in Carroll and Frederick counties in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is part of both the Washington Metropolitan Area and Baltimore Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census the population was 9,288.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$173,333 median income · 1.1% poverty · #2 income in Maryland
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$153,819 median income · 1.6% poverty · #3 income in Maryland
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$128,649 median income · 7.6% poverty · #10 income in Maryland
Located in
Montgomery County, Maryland
Rockville is a U.S. city located in the central region of Montgomery County, Maryland. It is the county seat and is a major incorporated city of Montgomery County and forms part of the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. The 2010 census tabulated Rockville’s population at 61,209, making it the third largest incorporated city in Maryland, behind Baltimore and Frederick. Rockville is the largest incorporated city in Montgomery County, Maryland, although the nearby census-designated place of Germantown is more populous.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$139,556 median income · 3.1% poverty · #7 income in Maryland
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$141,995 median income · 3.8% poverty · #6 income in Maryland
Located in
Prince George’s County, Maryland
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$108,136 median income · 9.1% poverty · #18 income in Maryland
Located in
Montgomery County, Maryland
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$113,860 median income · 7.8% poverty · #16 income in Maryland
Located in
Anne Arundel County, Maryland
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$130,893 median income · 2.4% poverty · #9 income in Maryland
Located in
Frederick County, Maryland
Walkersville is a town in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The population was 5,800 at the 2010 census.
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.
Maryland statewide median: $103,678
Maryland statewide median: $429,705
Maryland statewide median: 9.4%
Maryland statewide median: 4.9%
On the map
Where the money lives in Maryland
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the richest places in Maryland for 2026
The first thing most people reach for is personal income. After all, rich people have really high salaries. But one statistic doesn’t capture what it means to be one of the “richest places,” so we applied Saturday Night Science to two measures from the 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Median household income
- Median home value
Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place is, and home values are a measure of accumulated wealth. The two combine to define a “Rich City.”
After collecting the data for all 60 places in Maryland with more than 3,000 people, we ranked each place from 1 to 60 on both criteria, then averaged the two ranks into a “Rich Score.” The place with the lowest Rich Score, Poolesville, is crowned the richest city in Maryland for 2026.
The full plate
All 60 richest cities in Maryland, ranked
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Rich Score | Population | Median income | Median home value | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poolesville | 1.00 | 5,764 | $205,919 | $736,648 | 2.8% | 4.0% |
| 2 | Mount Airy | 3.50 | 9,805 | $151,324 | $639,007 | 2.3% | 2.2% |
| 3 | Middl | 4.50 | 5,014 | $173,333 | $567,755 | 1.1% | 4.0% |
| 4 | Leonar | 4.50 | 4,808 | $153,819 | $588,733 | 1.6% | 2.1% |
| 5 | Rockville | 7.00 | 67,671 | $128,649 | $618,892 | 7.6% | 3.9% |
| 6 | Sykesville | 7.50 | 4,491 | $139,556 | $556,418 | 3.1% | 2.3% |
| 7 | Bowie | 8.50 | 57,926 | $141,995 | $524,118 | 3.8% | 4.7% |
| 8 | Takoma Park | 10.00 | 17,632 | $108,136 | $686,399 | 9.1% | 4.9% |
| 9 | Annapolis | 10.50 | 40,720 | $113,860 | $618,838 | 7.8% | 3.7% |
| 10 | Walkersville | 12.50 | 6,414 | $130,893 | $466,394 | 2.4% | 0.9% |
| 11 | Gaithersburg | 13.00 | 69,825 | $112,467 | $527,608 | 8.8% | 4.6% |
| 12 | La Plata | 13.00 | 10,683 | $121,208 | $481,282 | 6.6% | 3.4% |
| 13 | Cheverly | 13.00 | 6,096 | $123,535 | $468,344 | 6.3% | 7.2% |
| 14 | Riverdale Park | 13.00 | 7,270 | $120,043 | $486,910 | 17.7% | 2.8% |
| 15 | Chesapeake Beach | 13.50 | 6,456 | $138,895 | $462,696 | 2.8% | 2.0% |
| 16 | Berwyn Heights | 15.00 | 3,318 | $146,591 | $440,967 | 6.6% | 4.4% |
| 17 | Manchester | 16.00 | 5,439 | $121,676 | $462,578 | 4.8% | 0.1% |
| 18 | Laurel | 18.00 | 29,798 | $100,504 | $476,648 | 9.0% | 4.7% |
| 19 | Centreville | 20.00 | 4,761 | $89,602 | $526,175 | 5.4% | 2.2% |
| 20 | Frederick | 21.50 | 83,395 | $97,069 | $466,011 | 9.2% | 3.9% |
| 21 | Brunswick | 22.50 | 8,450 | $118,025 | $409,509 | 6.2% | 4.8% |
| 22 | Glenarden | 24.00 | 6,344 | $106,414 | $413,332 | 5.3% | 3.6% |
| 23 | Hampstead | 25.50 | 6,251 | $97,871 | $439,359 | 6.9% | 4.8% |
| 24 | Havre de Grace | 26.00 | 14,994 | $105,817 | $404,055 | 9.0% | 4.2% |
| 25 | Westminster | 26.00 | 20,445 | $86,219 | $462,869 | 10.0% | 5.2% |
| 26 | Boonsboro | 29.00 | 3,809 | $95,956 | $405,553 | 3.3% | 2.6% |
| 27 | Thurmont | 29.00 | 6,254 | $98,125 | $397,682 | 11.1% | 2.5% |
| 28 | Smithsburg | 30.00 | 3,115 | $100,673 | $367,371 | 15.7% | 4.1% |
| 29 | Hyattsville | 30.50 | 20,966 | $91,941 | $403,229 | 11.6% | 3.8% |
| 30 | Ocean City | 31.50 | 6,903 | $77,750 | $441,288 | 10.9% | 5.7% |
| 31 | Easton | 32.00 | 17,308 | $74,653 | $451,055 | 11.0% | 3.4% |
| 32 | Berlin | 32.00 | 5,232 | $81,438 | $440,463 | 18.9% | 2.1% |
| 33 | Bel Air | 32.00 | 10,585 | $74,605 | $461,262 | 13.8% | 4.4% |
| 34 | North East | 33.50 | 4,134 | $91,603 | $394,397 | 7.5% | 5.7% |
| 35 | Taneytown | 34.50 | 7,932 | $87,621 | $395,402 | 11.2% | 4.0% |
| 36 | Mount Rainier | 35.00 | 8,245 | $68,505 | $448,597 | 6.3% | 5.3% |
| 37 | New Carrollton | 35.50 | 13,564 | $81,509 | $399,605 | 4.9% | 6.1% |
| 38 | College Park | 36.00 | 34,540 | $69,721 | $437,694 | 33.2% | 7.1% |
| 39 | Capitol Heights | 36.00 | 4,020 | $97,155 | $326,172 | 8.9% | 16.7% |
| 40 | Indian Head | 37.50 | 4,055 | $89,063 | $345,309 | 9.7% | 3.1% |
| 41 | District Heights | 39.50 | 5,891 | $86,955 | $342,105 | 17.6% | 6.8% |
| 42 | Brentwood | 40.50 | 3,777 | $69,572 | $395,747 | 11.8% | 5.5% |
| 43 | Perryville | 41.50 | 4,447 | $77,733 | $345,545 | 11.4% | 4.2% |
| 44 | Aberdeen | 43.00 | 17,298 | $74,826 | $343,948 | 14.3% | 5.7% |
| 45 | Delmar | 43.50 | 4,261 | $85,174 | $295,768 | 10.0% | 4.1% |
| 46 | Greenbelt | 43.50 | 24,678 | $85,997 | $285,336 | 19.1% | 6.7% |
| 47 | Denton | 44.50 | 4,936 | $66,510 | $361,871 | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 48 | Elkton | 46.00 | 15,910 | $58,640 | $367,248 | 20.1% | 6.9% |
| 49 | Cheste | 48.50 | 5,594 | $54,346 | $352,032 | 11.6% | 3.8% |
| 50 | Bladensburg | 49.50 | 9,583 | $63,179 | $317,188 | 21.7% | 9.6% |
| 51 | Princess Anne | 51.00 | 3,569 | $69,116 | $225,499 | 22.7% | 5.9% |
| 52 | Seat Pleasant | 51.00 | 4,489 | $57,018 | $320,878 | 15.1% | 20.8% |
| 53 | Fruitland | 52.00 | 5,801 | $64,004 | $252,664 | 19.9% | 3.5% |
| 54 | Salisbury | 53.50 | 33,285 | $58,576 | $264,545 | 24.3% | 8.8% |
| 55 | Hagerstown | 54.00 | 43,665 | $52,221 | $300,051 | 21.9% | 7.2% |
| 56 | Baltimore | 54.50 | 573,243 | $62,177 | $188,101 | 19.7% | 6.5% |
| 57 | Cambridge | 56.50 | 13,152 | $47,323 | $266,444 | 26.4% | 8.7% |
| 58 | Pocomoke City | 56.50 | 4,405 | $53,203 | $224,982 | 15.3% | 3.0% |
| 59 | Frostburg | 58.00 | 6,977 | $52,977 | $176,235 | 28.8% | 6.7% |
| 60 | Cumberland | 59.50 | 18,804 | $48,162 | $152,202 | 25.1% | 6.3% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, Zillow research. 60 cities with more than 3,000 residents.
Poolesville is the richest place in Maryland for 2026
When we set out to identify the richest places in Maryland, we weren’t sure what we’d find, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in the state. The richest cities in Maryland are Poolesville, Mount Airy, and Middl, and when you look at the data they sit at the very top of the income ladder for everyone who lives there.
Breaking into the top ten takes a median household income of at least $108,136. If you’re curious about the other end of the ledger, the poorest places are listed to the right.
