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Place dossier plate
SheetMD-FORT-MEADE-MD · Fort Meade, MD 10,477 pop · income 79th pct
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 Fort Meade
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Fort Meade on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sweetwater · lowest
45,720
Sweetwater · lowest
45,720 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #1
Cornwall · near
102,861
Cornwall · near
102,861 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #2
Sicklerville · near
102,881
Sicklerville · near
102,881 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #3
Rutland · near
102,885
Rutland · near
102,885 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #4
Fort Meade · this city
102,886
Fort Meade · this city
102,886 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #5
North Lynnwood · near
102,888
North Lynnwood · near
102,888 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #6
Scaggsville · highest
183,125
Scaggsville · highest
183,125 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 Fort Meade 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: 10,477.
Nationally, Fort Meade sits in the 79th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
79th
percentile, household income
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: Fort Meade, MD
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 10,477 residents in Fort Meade, a small town within Maryland. Households in Fort Meade report a median income of $102,886 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.6%. The median resident age is 27.2 years. Educational attainment runs 47.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 36.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Maryland carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 105.0 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,657 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Maryland's average monthly utility costs around $255 (state average). Commute times here average 16.3 minutes, with 76.1% driving alone and 11.7% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 60.2 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Fort Meade'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Fort Meade, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Fort Meade?
Within Maryland, the closest population matches are White Marsh (10,480 residents, $123,302 income); La Plata (10,470 residents, $121,707 income); Garrison (10,449 residents, $96,916 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Marlton, NJ (10,473 residents); River Grove, IL (10,482 residents); Española, NM (10,472 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Fort Meade?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 16.3 minutes.
What does the education layer cover for Fort Meade?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 47.1% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
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.
Bachelor's+ share A-
47.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B+
$102,886
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B
3.6%
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).
Fort Meade profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 47.1%
Household income: 78/100 (B+) · $102,886
Poverty rate: 74/100 (B) · 3.6%
Cost of living: 21/100 (F) · 105.0 index
How does Fort Meade compare to other US cities?
Here's how Fort Meade stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income79% higher 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 Fort Meade 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 Fort Meade near the bottom of Maryland's cities
Among the 479 Maryland cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Fort Meade ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Fort Meade only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#215 of 445
52nd percentile in Maryland
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 479
0th percentile in Maryland
Poverty Rate
#245 of 479
48th percentile in Maryland
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#131 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
79th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$102,886Fort Meade, MD median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Fort Meade, 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 Fort Meade, MD.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)47.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)36.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
10,477
Median Income
$102,886
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
27.2
Poverty Rate
3.6%
Labor force participation
36.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
47.1%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
16.3 minutes
Drive Alone
76.1%
Carpool
2.7%
Public Transit
2.6%
Walk
6.3%
Work from Home
11.7%
Other
0.6%
Based on 5,358 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 Fort Meade. 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 Fort Meade 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 Fort Meade sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Fort Meade 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, NCES CCD, 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.