The unfortunate fact of the matter is that some places in the Old Line State have a larger percent of their population that never graduated from high school.
While the emphasis on going to college might be overblown, the fact is that not graduating from high school puts you at a significant disadvantage on average. Educational attainment might not be the best way to measure one person’s intelligence, but it does shine a light on the state.
We will use Saturday Night Science to determine what places in Maryland have the highest percentage of adults without a high school degree.
A recent study we published found that Maryland is the 32nd smartest state in the United States, with an average IQ of 99.
But that doesn’t mean that a few cities in Maryland are a bit slower than others due to a lack of basic education.
#1 dumbest in Maryland
Located in
Prince George’s County, Maryland
Bladensburg is a town in Prince George’s County, Maryland, United States. The population was 9,148 at the 2010 census. Areas in Bladensburg have the ZIP code 20710. Bladensburg is 8.6 miles from central Washington, D.C.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 dumbest in Maryland
Located in
Washington County, Maryland
Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Washington County. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2010 census was 39,662, and the population of the Hagerstown-Martinsburg Metropolitan Area was 269,140. Hagerstown ranks as Maryland’s sixth largest incorporated city.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 dumbest in Maryland
Located in
Dorchester County, Maryland
Cambridge is a city in Dorchester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 12,326 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dorchester County and the county’s largest municipality. Cambridge is the fourth most populous city in Maryland’s Eastern Shore region, after Salisbury, Elkton and Easton.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 dumbest in Maryland
Located in
Prince George’s County, Maryland
New Carrollton is a city located in central Prince George’s County, Maryland, in the United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population was 12,135. New Carrollton is located 12 miles east of central Washington, D.C.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#5 dumbest in Maryland
Located in
Prince George’s County, Maryland
Riverdale Park, formerly known and often referred to as Riverdale, Maryland is a semi-urban town in Prince George’s County, Maryland, United States, a suburb in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 6,956 as of 2010.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#6 dumbest in Maryland
Located in
Prince George’s County, Maryland
Glenarden is a city in Prince George’s County, Maryland, United States. The population was 6,000 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 dumbest in Maryland
Located in
Cecil County, Maryland
The town of Elkton is the county seat of Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,443 at the 2010 census. It was formerly called Head of Elk because it sits at the head of navigation on the Elk River, which flows into the nearby Chesapeake Bay.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#8 dumbest in Maryland
Located in
Wicomico County, Maryland
Salisbury is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, United States, and the largest city in the state’s Eastern Shore region. The population was 30,343 at the 2010 census. Salisbury is the principal city of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is the commercial hub of the Delmarva Peninsula, which was long devoted to agriculture and had a southern culture. It calls itself “The Comfortable Side of Coastal”.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#9 dumbest in Maryland
Located in
Allegany County, Maryland
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 dumbest in Maryland
Located in
Baltimore city, Maryland
Baltimore is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland, and the 30th-most populous city in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers | Compare
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Maryland’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Maryland’s dumbest cities are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the dumbest cities in the Old Line State
We realize that formal education is only part of it when it comes to being intelligent, but on the other hand, knowing the difference between they’re, their, and there is always going to make you look pretty stupid.
So, we used Saturday Night Science to narrow down our criteria to focus on a city’s educational opportunities and what percentage of the population takes advantage of those opportunities.
In short, we came up with these criteria to determine the dumbest cities in Maryland:
- % of the city’s population with less than a high school education (Age 25+)
- % of city’s population with a college degree (Age 25+)
We got the data from the U.S. Census 2020-2024 American Community Survey.
Then, our algorithm generates a rank for each place in these categories. After crunching all the numbers, a ranking of the cities in Maryland from dumbest to brightest.
For this ranking, we used every Maryland city with at least 5,000 residents. We updated this article for 2026, and it’s our eleventh time ranking the dumbest cities in Maryland.
The full plate
Dumbest Cities In Maryland For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | % Adult High School Dropout | % Highly Educated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bladensburg | 9,583 | 18.0% | 17.0% |
| 2 | Hagerstown | 43,665 | 15.0% | 21.0% |
| 3 | Cambridge | 13,152 | 15.0% | 19.0% |
| 4 | New Carrollton | 13,564 | 19.0% | 25.0% |
| 5 | Riverdale Park | 7,270 | 25.0% | 34.0% |
| 6 | Glenarden | 6,344 | 15.0% | 34.0% |
| 7 | Elkton | 15,910 | 11.0% | 21.0% |
| 8 | Salisbury | 33,285 | 13.0% | 26.0% |
| 9 | Cumberland | 18,804 | 9.0% | 23.0% |
| 10 | Baltimore | 573,243 | 13.0% | 36.0% |
| 11 | Mount Rainier | 8,245 | 15.0% | 39.0% |
| 12 | Brunswick | 8,450 | 9.0% | 35.0% |
| 13 | Hyattsville | 20,966 | 20.0% | 50.0% |
| 14 | Aberdeen | 17,298 | 7.0% | 26.0% |
| 15 | Easton | 17,308 | 10.0% | 38.0% |
| 16 | Frederick | 83,395 | 11.0% | 43.0% |
| 17 | Taneytown | 7,932 | 4.0% | 24.0% |
| 18 | Greenbelt | 24,678 | 11.0% | 46.0% |
| 19 | College Park | 34,540 | 14.0% | 52.0% |
| 20 | Thurmont | 6,254 | 5.0% | 28.0% |
| 21 | Westminster | 20,445 | 7.0% | 37.0% |
| 22 | Frostburg | 6,977 | 8.0% | 41.0% |
| 23 | Fruitland | 5,801 | 7.0% | 37.0% |
| 24 | Laurel | 29,798 | 10.0% | 48.0% |
| 25 | Gaithersburg | 69,825 | 12.0% | 53.0% |
| 26 | Berlin | 5,232 | 8.0% | 42.0% |
| 27 | La Plata | 10,683 | 4.0% | 36.0% |
| 28 | Havre de Grace | 14,994 | 5.0% | 43.0% |
| 29 | Manchester | 5,439 | 2.0% | 37.0% |
| 30 | Annapolis | 40,720 | 9.0% | 54.0% |
| 31 | Walkersville | 6,414 | 4.0% | 43.0% |
| 32 | Bowie | 57,926 | 6.0% | 51.0% |
| 33 | Hampstead | 6,251 | 2.0% | 40.0% |
| 34 | Rockville | 67,671 | 8.0% | 65.0% |
| 35 | Takoma Park | 17,632 | 7.0% | 62.0% |
| 36 | Cheverly | 6,096 | 6.0% | 54.0% |
| 37 | Chesapeake Beach | 6,456 | 4.0% | 49.0% |
| 38 | Poolesville | 5,764 | 5.0% | 64.0% |
| 39 | Mount Airy | 9,805 | 4.0% | 54.0% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 39 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
There You Have It – Now That You’re Asleep
If you’re measuring the locations in Maryland where there are a high number of dropouts and adults who never received a formal education, this is an accurate ranking.
The dumbest cities in Maryland are Bladensburg, Hagerstown, Cambridge, New Carrollton, Riverdale Park, Glenarden, Elkton, Salisbury, Cumberland, and Baltimore. Not sold on Maryland? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
