City profile · Maryland · Census ACS 2023

Melwood, MD

Melwood's Census ACS profile: residents, income, housing, and the joined public-record layers available for this place.

3,734
Residents
$83,917
Median income
$430,700
Median home
$1,657
Median rent (state)
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See how it ranks

State rank, size-class rank, and four peer cities for Melwood.

Place dossier plate

Sheet MD-MELWOOD-MD · Melwood, MD 3,734 pop · income 66th pct

POP-VILLAGE · INC-HIGH · COL-ABOVE · SAFE-UNK · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · HOME-HIGH · BOOK-UNK

  • POP-VILLAGE 3,734
  • INC-HIGH $83,917
  • COL-ABOVE 105.0
  • SAFE-UNK Safety pending
  • RANK-UPPER 66th
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Collingswood
  • HOME-HIGH $430,700
  • BOOK-UNK Tracts pending

Nearest income peer: Collingswood, NJ (+ $0 income $)

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 Melwood

Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Melwood on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.

median HH income

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.

Source U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 5-Year Estimates As of 2026-08-08

Compare beyond this state

Nationwide peers by population, income

Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Melwood 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: 3,734.

4 peers

Similar household income

Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS median household income. This city: $83,917. Population peers are excluded.

4 peers

Melwood - the verdict

Melwood ranks in the 66th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.

66th
percentile, household income
80th
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: Melwood, MD

Melwood is a small town in Maryland, home to 3,734 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Melwood brings in $83,917 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.1%. Melwood's housing stock carries a median value of $430,700, and the median resident age is 43.0 years. About 37.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 54.2% 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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,657 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $255 across Maryland, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Melwood'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.

For Melwood, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares. No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.

Question 1

What does the journey to work look like in Melwood?

Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.4%. 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. 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.

Compare commute patterns →

2. Housing and income

How far does income reach against housing in Melwood?

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.

The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.

Compare the housing trade-off →

3. Comparison shortlist

Which cities make useful reference points for Melwood?

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 Brentwood (3,753 residents, $70,573 income); Boonsboro (3,799 residents, $93,730 income); Brookmont (3,825 residents, $250,000+ income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are San Joaquin, CA (3,734 residents); Honea Path, SC (3,734 residents); Sixteen Mile Stand, OH (3,735 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.

Open a side-by-side comparison →

Population

3,734 residents

Micro place (under 10k)

Median Household Income

$83,917 /yr

Above median income · poverty 9.1% (Above-median poverty)

Cost of Living Index (state)

105.0 (US=100)

High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Maryland average

City profile score · Melwood, MD

49/100

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.

Bachelor's+ share B
37.0%

Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.

Household income C+
$83,917

Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.

Poverty rate D
9.1%

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).

Melwood profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions) 4-axis radar comparing 1 series across Bachelor's+ share, Household income, Poverty rate, Cost of living. Bachelor's+ shareHousehold incomePoverty rateCost of living 49 D
Melwood profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)
Read the chart values
  • Bachelor's+ share: 70/100 (B) · 37.0%
  • Household income: 63/100 (C+) · $83,917
  • Poverty rate: 43/100 (D) · 9.1%
  • Cost of living: 21/100 (F) · 105.0 index

How does Melwood compare to other US cities?

Where Melwood sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.

Household income 66% higher than other cities
Home value 80% pricier than other cities
Median rent 84% 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 Melwood 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 Melwood near the bottom of Maryland's cities

Among the 479 Maryland cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Melwood ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Melwood only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.

Median Household Income
#295 of 445
34th percentile in Maryland
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 479
0th percentile in Maryland
Median Home Value
#162 of 450
64th percentile in Maryland
Poverty Rate
#100 of 479
79th percentile in Maryland
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#215 of 479
54th 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.

66thIncome percentile
Gauge source note

66th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.

How Melwood's home value compares nationally

Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)

$430,700 20th percentile more affordable than 20% of 15,600 US cities

Show national distribution $0–$25,000: 5 US cities (0%). Below this entry. $25,000–$50,000: 54 US cities (0%). Below this entry. $50,000–$75,000: 352 US cities (2%). Below this entry. $75,000–$100,000: 1,086 US cities (7%). Below this entry. $100,000–$125,000: 1,516 US cities (10%). Below this entry. $125,000–$150,000: 1,170 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $150,000–$175,000: 1,278 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $175,000–$200,000: 1,229 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $200,000–$225,000: 1,035 US cities (7%). Below this entry. $225,000–$250,000: 976 US cities (6%). Below this entry. $250,000–$275,000: 754 US cities (5%). Below this entry. $275,000–$300,000: 712 US cities (5%). Below this entry. $300,000–$325,000: 521 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $325,000–$350,000: 526 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $350,000–$375,000: 465 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $375,000–$400,000: 393 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $400,000–$425,000: 317 US cities (2%). Below this entry. $425,000–$450,000: 300 US cities (2%). This entry sits in this band. $450,000–$475,000: 307 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $475,000–$500,000: 250 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $500,000–$525,000: 160 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $525,000–$550,000: 156 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $550,000–$575,000: 172 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $575,000–$600,000: 172 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $600,000–$625,000: 163 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $625,000–$650,000: 167 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $650,000–$675,000: 135 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $675,000–$700,000: 101 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $700,000–$725,000: 95 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $725,000–$750,000: 71 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $750,000–$775,000: 65 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $775,000–$800,000: 70 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $800,000–$825,000: 57 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $825,000–$850,000: 67 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $850,000–$875,000: 60 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $875,000–$900,000: 58 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $900,000–$925,000: 47 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $925,000–$950,000: 37 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $950,000–$975,000: 31 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $975,000–$1,000,000: 470 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $1,000,000–$1,025,000: 0 US cities (0%). Above this entry. Melwood $0 $1,025,000 every US city, bucketed by value

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

Melwood's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.1×

ACS median home value divided by median household income.

Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,107 of 15,516
More affordable than 16% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,879 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)

At 5.1×, Melwood sits in the pressured band: national rank #13,107 of 15,516 and #9,879 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000). Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.

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

$83,917 Melwood, MD median household income (Census ACS)

Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Household income distribution - Melwood, MD Melwood, MD's median household income ($83,917) against the U.S. national quintile-share pattern. The Lorenz curve and quintile bars are national context, not Melwood, MD-specific shares. $ Household Income Distribution Melwood, MD median $83,917/yr, vs. U.S. national quintile pattern QUINTILE SHARE OF AGGREGATE INCOME Lowest 20% 3.4% Second 20% 9.2% Middle 20% 15.1% Fourth 20% 23.2% Top 20% 49.1% LORENZ CURVE cumulative income vs. population 100% 0% 100% pop. 0%
Melwood, 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 Melwood, MD.

Key socioeconomic indicators

Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+) 37.0%

Census ACS S1501, educational attainment

Poverty rate (households below FPL) 9.1%

Census ACS S1701, poverty status

Labor force participation (adults 16+) 54.2%

Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force

Population
3,734
Median Income
$83,917
Median Home Value
$430,700
Median Age
43.0
Poverty Rate
9.1%
Labor force participation
54.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
37.0%

Commute Patterns

Commute source

How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023

Drive Alone
70.4%
Carpool
9.5%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
3.4%
Work from Home
14.8%
Other
1.4%

Based on 1,603 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 Melwood. 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 Melwood 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 Melwood sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.

How Melwood 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.

City Population Median Household Income
Melwood (this city) 3,734 $83,917
Brentwood 3,753 $70,573
Boonsboro 3,799 $93,730
Brookmont 3,825 $250,000+
Primary sources on this page

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.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Citation & verification links Data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCities

Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES. Joins use OMB Bulletin 23-01 / FIPS keys.

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Estimate caveats

ACS and UCR figures are citywide estimates with vintage lags; they do not replace a local visit, school visit, or insurance quote.

Editorial standards, provenance, and how to cite this page

Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

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