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Place dossier plate
SheetMD-MARDELA-SPRINGS-MD · Mardela Springs, MD 473 pop · income 38th 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 Mardela Springs
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mardela Springs on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
New England · lowest
27,473
New England · lowest
27,473 median HH income
15.6% of the leader · rank #1
East Stroudsb… · near
61,792
East Stroudsb… · near
61,792 median HH income
35.0% of the leader · rank #2
Mardela Sprin… · this city
61,797
Mardela Sprin… · this city
61,797 median HH income
35.0% of the leader · rank #3
Valle Vista · near
61,799
Valle Vista · near
61,799 median HH income
35.0% of the leader · rank #4
Sardis · near
61,799
Sardis · near
61,799 median HH income
35.0% of the leader · rank #5
Riverdale Park · near
61,802
Riverdale Park · near
61,802 median HH income
35.0% of the leader · rank #6
Kent Narrows · highest
176,429
Kent Narrows · highest
176,429 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 Mardela Springs 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: 473.
Nationally, Mardela Springs sits in the 38th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
38th
percentile, household income
53rd
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: Mardela Springs, MD
473 people live in Mardela Springs, Maryland - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Mardela Springs households earn a median of $61,797 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.7%. Mardela Springs's housing stock carries a median value of $239,700, and the median resident age is 31.1 years. Educational attainment runs 21.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 57.9% 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: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Maryland at 105.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). 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 Mardela Springs'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 to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Mardela Springs, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Mardela Springs?
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.
Within Maryland, the closest population matches are Fairplay (473 residents, $115,978 income); Chesapeake Landing (465 residents, $53,516 income); Mount Savage (462 residents, $53,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Icehouse Canyon, AZ (473 residents); New England, GA (473 residents); Malden, IL (473 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Mardela Springs?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
What does the education layer cover for Mardela Springs?
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.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 21.8% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Mardela Springs?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Population change
Is Mardela Springs growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +3 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.9% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
2020 estimate
343
2025 estimate
346
Period change
+0.9%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 6.7% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
105.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Maryland average
F
City profile score · Mardela Springs, MD
38/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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.
Poverty rate C-
6.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
21.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$61,797
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Mardela Springs profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 54/100 (C-) · 6.7%
Bachelor's+ share: 40/100 (D) · 21.8%
Household income: 37/100 (F) · $61,797
Cost of living: 21/100 (F) · 105.0 index
How does Mardela Springs compare to other US cities?
Where Mardela Springs sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income38% higher than other cities
Home value53% 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 Mardela Springs 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 Mardela Springs near the bottom of Maryland's cities
Among the 479 Maryland cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mardela Springs ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mardela Springs only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#380 of 445
15th percentile in Maryland
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 479
0th percentile in Maryland
Median Home Value
#357 of 450
21st percentile in Maryland
Poverty Rate
#153 of 479
68th percentile in Maryland
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#343 of 479
28th 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
38th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Mardela Springs's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$239,70047th percentilemore affordable than 47% 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
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,322 of 15,516
More affordable than 33% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,123 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.9×, Mardela Springs sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,322 of 15,516 and #8,123 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$61,797Mardela Springs, MD median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mardela Springs, 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 Mardela Springs, MD.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
473
Median Income
$61,797
Median Home Value
$239,700
Median Age
31.1
Poverty Rate
6.7%
Labor force participation
57.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.8%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Mardela Springs's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
343 residents
2021
343 residents
2022
345 residents
2023
345 residents
2024
346 residents
2025
346 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.3%
Carpool
5.8%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
5.8%
Other
0.6%
Based on 189 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 Mardela Springs. 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 Mardela Springs 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 Mardela Springs sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mardela Springs 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.