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Place dossier plate
SheetMD-BEL-AIR-SOUTH-MD · Bel Air South, MD 57,702 pop · income 87th pct · 59 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Bel Air South
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bel Air South on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Decatur · lowest
59,831
Decatur · lowest
59,831 median HH income
42.2% of the leader · rank #1
West Haven-Sy… · near
120,709
West Haven-Sy… · near
120,709 median HH income
85.1% of the leader · rank #2
Hasley Canyon · near
120,714
Hasley Canyon · near
120,714 median HH income
85.1% of the leader · rank #3
Bel Air South · this city
120,721
Bel Air South · this city
120,721 median HH income
85.1% of the leader · rank #4
Heron Bay · near
120,735
Heron Bay · near
120,735 median HH income
85.1% of the leader · rank #5
Paia · near
120,735
Paia · near
120,735 median HH income
85.1% of the leader · rank #6
Bowie · highest
141,831
Bowie · highest
141,831 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Bel Air South on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 57,702.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Bel Air South places in the 87th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
87th
percentile, household income
76th
percentile, home value
84th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Bel Air South, MD
Bel Air South is a small city in Maryland, home to 57,702 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Bel Air South households earn a median of $120,721 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.9%. Bel Air South's housing stock carries a median value of $384,000, and the median resident age is 38.2 years. Educational attainment runs 47.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 65.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Maryland carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Maryland scores 105.0 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,657 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Maryland's average monthly utility costs around $255 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 60.2 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bel Air South's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to housing and income to within-city variation to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bel Air South, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Bel Air South?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Bel Air South?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
What can 59 Census tracts reveal inside Bel Air South?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 59 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Bel Air South?
Within Maryland, the closest population matches are Towson (57,683 residents, $100,481 income); Bowie (57,771 residents, $141,831 income); Severn (58,041 residents, $130,627 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lancaster, PA (57,683 residents); Decatur, AL (57,760 residents); Weymouth, MA (57,786 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income A
$120,721
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A-
47.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B+
2.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
105.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Bel Air South profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 86/100 (A) · $120,721
Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 47.2%
Poverty rate: 79/100 (B+) · 2.9%
Cost of living: 21/100 (F) · 105.0 index
How does Bel Air South compare to other US cities?
Here's how Bel Air South stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income87% higher than other cities
Home value76% pricier than other cities
Median rent84% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Bel Air South against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Maryland only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Maryland-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Bel Air South near the bottom of Maryland's cities
Among the 479 Maryland cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bel Air South ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bel Air South only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#146 of 445
67th percentile in Maryland
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 479
0th percentile in Maryland
Median Home Value
#199 of 450
56th percentile in Maryland
Poverty Rate
#274 of 479
43rd percentile in Maryland
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#130 of 479
73rd percentile in Maryland
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Maryland only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
87th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Bel Air South's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$384,00024th percentilemore affordable than 24% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Bel Air South's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,600 of 15,516
More affordable than 51% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#144 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 3.2×, Bel Air South sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,600 of 15,516 and #144 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$120,721Bel Air South, MD median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bel Air South, MD median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Bel Air South, MD.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)47.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
57,702
Median Income
$120,721
Median Home Value
$384,000
Median Age
38.2
Poverty Rate
2.9%
Labor force participation
65.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
47.2%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.3%
Carpool
6.1%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
0.5%
Work from Home
17.7%
Other
1.7%
Based on 29,950 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Maryland statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $255
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Maryland at $255 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Maryland statewide averages, not a meter reading for Bel Air South. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Maryland's BEA cost-of-living index is 105.0 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Bel Air South is $1,657/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Maryland statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 60.2 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Maryland statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Bel Air South sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bel Air South compares to similar-size Maryland cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.