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Place dossier plate
SheetMD-HAGERSTOWN-MD · Hagerstown, MD 43,490 pop · income 19th pct · 36 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 Hagerstown
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hagerstown on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Merrill · lowest
49,947
Merrill · lowest
49,947 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #1
Clanton · near
49,952
Clanton · near
49,952 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #2
Richford · near
49,954
Richford · near
49,954 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #3
Hagerstown · this city
49,957
Hagerstown · this city
49,957 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #4
Boaz · near
49,962
Boaz · near
49,962 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #5
Madison · near
49,964
Madison · near
49,964 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #6
Potomac · highest
239,205
Potomac · highest
239,205 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Hagerstown on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 43,490.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hagerstown - the verdict
Nationally, Hagerstown sits in the 19th percentile for household income and the 14th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
19th
percentile, household income
45th
percentile, home value
84th
percentile, median rent
14th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Hagerstown, MD
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 43,490 residents in Hagerstown, a small city within Maryland. Hagerstown households earn a median of $49,957 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.9%. Home values in Hagerstown run a median of $207,700, and the median resident age is 36.4 years. Educational attainment runs 19.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 56.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 52 residential building permits were authorized in Hagerstown (Rapid Growth), up 27% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Hagerstown's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 3177.0 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Hagerstown's yearly average temperature at 54.1°F with 43.5 inches of precipitation per year.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Maryland run around $255, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Hagerstown'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 climate and hazard context to population change to reported crime to work and mobility to schools and households to housing and income to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hagerstown, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Hagerstown?
Within Maryland, the closest population matches are Catonsville (42,717 residents, $110,051 income); Odenton (45,585 residents, $126,455 income); Potomac (46,230 residents, $239,205 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Altoona, PA (43,508 residents); Newnan, GA (43,510 residents); Ormond Beach, FL (43,514 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What physical conditions frame life in Hagerstown?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 54.1°F, with 43.5 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Maryland is 60.2 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Is Hagerstown growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +690 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 52 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can 36 Census tracts reveal inside Hagerstown?
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 36 Census tracts to this city.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Hagerstown?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3177.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 39% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2463.1
Violent rate
713.9
Total reported rate
3177.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Hagerstown?
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 69.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
1.4%
Work from home
10.3%
Drive alone
69.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 18,728 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Hagerstown?
The NCES join finds 23 public schools within the city match. 19.7% 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 city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
23
Bachelor's degree+
19.7%
Poverty estimate
17.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Hagerstown?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.9%, 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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Household income
$49,957
Home value
$207,700
Value / income
4.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 F
19.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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.
Household income F
$49,957
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
714 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Hagerstown profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 33/100 (F) · 19.7%
Cost of living: 21/100 (F) · 105.0 index
Household income: 20/100 (F) · $49,957
Poverty rate: 17/100 (F) · 17.9%
Violent crime: 5/100 (F) · 714 /100k
Where Hagerstown sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hagerstown's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Hagerstown highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Hagerstown, MD (this city): home $207,700, crime 3,177/100k
Altoona, PA : home $113,600, crime 2,185/100k
Newnan, GA : home $327,800, crime 2,296/100k
Annapolis, MD : home $510,200, crime 2,903/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Hagerstown compare to other US cities?
Here's how Hagerstown stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income19% higher than other cities
Home value45% pricier than other cities
Median rent84% pricier than other cities
Safety14% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Maryland alone, Hagerstown ranks #50 of 70 Maryland cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Hagerstown 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 Hagerstown near the bottom of Maryland's cities
Among the 479 Maryland cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hagerstown ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hagerstown only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#418 of 445
6th percentile in Maryland
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 479
0th percentile in Maryland
Median Home Value
#388 of 450
14th percentile in Maryland
Poverty Rate
#42 of 479
91st percentile in Maryland
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#366 of 479
23rd 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
19th percentile nationally for median household income · 14th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hagerstown's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hagerstown's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Hagerstown's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$207,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 55% 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
Hagerstown's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,132 of 15,516
More affordable than 28% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,110 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.2×, Hagerstown sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,132 of 15,516 and #2,110 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$49,957Hagerstown, MD median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hagerstown, 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 Hagerstown, MD.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
43,490
Median Income
$49,957
Median Home Value
$207,700
Median Age
36.4
Poverty Rate
17.9%
Labor force participation
56.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3177.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
713.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2463.1
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
54.1°F
Annual Precipitation
43.5"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
23
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Hagerstown's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
43,538 residents
2021
43,639 residents
2022
43,653 residents
2023
43,714 residents
2024
44,107 residents
2025
44,228 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
52
housing units authorized
Single-Family
40
detached homes
Multifamily
12
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
41
41
0
$6.2M
2020
82
82
0
$9.2M
2021
94
94
0
$10.5M
2022
79
79
0
$9.6M
2023
66
66
0
$8.3M
2024
52
40
12
$9.8M
Permit volume increased 27% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
69.2%
Carpool
12.7%
Public Transit
1.4%
Walk
2.2%
Work from Home
10.3%
Other
4.2%
Based on 18,728 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 Hagerstown. 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 Hagerstown 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 Hagerstown sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hagerstown 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, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.