There’s no denying it: there are plenty of places in Maryland that are downright beautiful and full of excitement.
Unfortunately, not all towns and cities in Old Line State are so lucky.
Just like in all U.S. States, there are definitely some boring places within Maryland’s’ borders. You know the places where everyone has an AARP card and the most exciting thing they do all day is post a picture of their grandchild on Facebook.
Like Walkersville, for instance. In our latest analysis, we found that this city was the most boring city in all of Maryland according to Saturday Night Science. But don’t feel bad if you’re a resident of Walkersville. There are plenty of other boring, lackluster places in Maryland as well.
Here they are. Try not to jump out of your seat with excitement.
42.9 median age · 24.0% married households · #6 oldest 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
47.0 median age · 42.0% married households · #1 oldest in Maryland
Located in
Carroll County, Maryland
Hampstead is a town in Carroll County in the U.S. state of Maryland. The population was 6,323 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
41.9 median age · 10.0% married households · #8 oldest 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
45.8 median age · 15.0% married households · #2 oldest in Maryland
Located in
Talbot County, Maryland
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
41.9 median age · 18.0% married households · #8 oldest in Maryland
Located in
Calvert County, Maryland
Chesapeake Beach is a town in Calvert County, Maryland. Its major attractions include the Chesapeake Beach Railway Station, the Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail, a water park, marinas, piers, and charter boat fishing. The town’s population was recorded as 5,753 in the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
45.1 median age · 24.0% married households · #3 oldest in Maryland
Located in
Harford County, Maryland
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
39.9 median age · 32.0% married households · #13 oldest in Maryland
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
39.3 median age · 24.0% married households · #17 oldest in Maryland
Located in
Frederick County, Maryland
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
41.7 median age · 9.0% married households · #9 oldest in Maryland
Located in
Charles County, Maryland
La Plata is a town in Charles County, Maryland, United States. The population was 8,753 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Charles County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
41.1 median age · 25.0% married households · #11 oldest 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
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Maryland’s statewide median.
On the map
Where the quiet settles in Maryland
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the boring cities in the Old Line State
You would present the following case to your friends if you were argueing with them at a bar about the most boring place to live in Maryland. And that’s why we call it Saturday Night Science.
Because our data speaks more truth than feelings.
To figure out how boring a place is, we factored in things we generally think make people exciting, and then we figure out which cities have the least number of those exciting people.
We used the U.S. American Community Census data to gather the information presented here. Some of the things people tend to think of as making a city’s population boring include:
- % of Population Over 25 (higher is more boring)
- % of Married Household (higher is more boring)
- Average Age (higher is more boring)
- % of Households With Kids (higher is more boring)
- Population density (lower is more boring)
Then, our algorithm generates a ranking for each place in these categories. After crunching the numbers, all of the cities ranked from most boring to most exciting.
For this ranking, we used every Maryland city with at least 5,000 residents. This keeps us from prejudicing our rankings by including very small pockets of retired people.
Grab your rocker and hold on.
We updated this article for 2026, and it’s our eleventh time ranking the most boring cities in Maryland.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Most Boring Cities In Maryland For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Boring Score | Population | Average Age | % Married | % Kids |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walkersville | 8.30 | 6,414 | 42.9 | 24.0% | 33.8% |
| 2 | Hampstead | 9.80 | 6,251 | 47.0 | 42.0% | 25.1% |
| 3 | Poolesville | 10.70 | 5,764 | 41.9 | 10.0% | 39.7% |
| 4 | Easton | 11.40 | 17,308 | 45.8 | 15.0% | 26.7% |
| 5 | Chesapeake Beach | 11.50 | 6,456 | 41.9 | 18.0% | 37.1% |
| 6 | Havre de Grace | 12.70 | 14,994 | 45.1 | 24.0% | 25.4% |
| 7 | Manchester | 13.60 | 5,439 | 39.9 | 32.0% | 33.3% |
| 8 | Thurmont | 13.70 | 6,254 | 39.3 | 24.0% | 36.4% |
| 9 | La Plata | 14.90 | 10,683 | 41.7 | 9.0% | 33.0% |
| 10 | Cumberland | 15.30 | 18,804 | 41.1 | 25.0% | 25.5% |
| 11 | Berlin | 15.40 | 5,232 | 37.6 | 19.0% | 50.3% |
| 12 | Aberdeen | 15.60 | 17,298 | 38.8 | 20.0% | 28.6% |
| 13 | Taneytown | 15.70 | 7,932 | 38.4 | 26.0% | 33.9% |
| 14 | Bowie | 15.80 | 57,926 | 44.0 | 9.0% | 30.3% |
| 15 | Cambridge | 16.00 | 13,152 | 39.4 | 18.0% | 22.6% |
| 16 | Mount Airy | 16.20 | 9,805 | 37.8 | 25.0% | 40.8% |
| 17 | Fruitland | 17.80 | 5,801 | 32.4 | 27.0% | 34.4% |
| 18 | Glenarden | 18.30 | 6,344 | 39.6 | 5.0% | 43.0% |
| 19 | Brunswick | 18.50 | 8,450 | 37.2 | 17.0% | 30.3% |
| 20 | Elkton | 18.60 | 15,910 | 37.4 | 11.0% | 32.5% |
| 21 | Annapolis | 18.70 | 40,720 | 43.0 | 12.0% | 23.3% |
| 22 | Rockville | 19.90 | 67,671 | 39.6 | 5.0% | 28.0% |
| 23 | Westminster | 20.50 | 20,445 | 38.5 | 24.0% | 26.9% |
| 24 | Takoma Park | 21.40 | 17,632 | 41.3 | 4.0% | 36.7% |
| 25 | Frederick | 21.80 | 83,395 | 37.1 | 11.0% | 32.1% |
| 26 | Gaithersburg | 24.10 | 69,825 | 37.8 | 4.0% | 32.2% |
| 27 | Laurel | 24.40 | 29,798 | 36.3 | 5.0% | 27.9% |
| 28 | Hagerstown | 25.00 | 43,665 | 35.8 | 14.0% | 30.1% |
| 29 | Cheverly | 25.70 | 6,096 | 38.4 | 4.0% | 30.9% |
| 30 | Riverdale Park | 26.20 | 7,270 | 37.0 | 2.0% | 37.9% |
| 31 | Mount Rainier | 26.40 | 8,245 | 40.1 | 2.0% | 23.5% |
| 32 | Baltimore | 26.90 | 573,243 | 36.2 | 12.0% | 22.2% |
| 33 | Hyattsville | 27.30 | 20,966 | 35.6 | 3.0% | 26.2% |
| 34 | Salisbury | 27.80 | 33,285 | 30.1 | 11.0% | 27.1% |
| 35 | New Carrollton | 28.40 | 13,564 | 35.5 | 4.0% | 29.7% |
| 36 | Greenbelt | 29.20 | 24,678 | 34.6 | 4.0% | 27.6% |
| 37 | Bladensburg | 29.70 | 9,583 | 31.5 | 3.0% | 41.3% |
| 38 | Frostburg | 29.80 | 6,977 | 25.6 | 18.0% | 19.1% |
| 39 | College Park | 37.00 | 34,540 | 21.5 | 2.0% | 20.2% |
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
On a ranking like this, there are usually no winners, but since Maryland isn’t necessarily the most boring state in the United States, the cities on this ranking can at least take solace that there are, in fact, more boring cities in the country.
The most boring cities in Maryland are Walkersville, Hampstead, Poolesville, Easton, Chesapeake Beach, Havre de Grace, Manchester, Thurmont, La Plata, and Cumberland.
If you’re also curious enough, here are the most exciting places in Maryland, according to science.
