Annapolis, Maryland

Area Profile

40,720 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Annapolis, in Anne Arundel County.

80out of 100
Area Score
Top 2% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 9% of 3,904 published cities79
GrowthTop 19% of 2,973 published cities69
Housing affordability2436th of 4,223 published cities76
ClimateTop 22% of 4,223 published cities78
Physical resilienceTop 5% of 4,182 published cities94
AccessTop 42% of 4,226 published cities94
Economic stabilityTop 37% of 4,226 published cities66
The quick read

Annapolis ranks in the top 9% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.3% and median household income of $113,860.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 258 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 659% on the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Annapolis in the top 5% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
40,720
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$113,860
Top 12% nationally
Density
5,651/sq mi
7.2 sq mi of land
Median age
43.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Anne Arundel County
Maryland
Metro area
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
Nearest major airport
BWI
17 mi · Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood Marshall
Median home value
$548,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.3% is lower than 89% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.4% over the past year, to 21,438 employed residents.

54% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 91% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 88% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,168$113,860Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,964$69,520Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.8%Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute32.1 minTop 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher53.8%Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment21,438Bottom 27%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.8%Bottom 37%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.4%Top 23%June 2026
Labor force22,161Bottom 27%June 2026
Labor force participation68.0%Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$76,370Top 27%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$59,070Top 25%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.3%Bottom 28%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.3%Bottom 11%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.21.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.3% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024114k92k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $113,860 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
General and Operations Managers44,960$117,040
Retail Salespersons39,920$34,800
Registered Nurses30,930$99,550
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive29,780$49,220
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand28,350$43,250
Home Health and Personal Care Aides26,880$37,640

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,860 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
19.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,860
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$548,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.82Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate62.0%Bottom 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±70819,598Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$109$1,860Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$32,957$548,900Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.6%Top 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.2%Bottom 43%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
69/ 100
Top 19% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 40,689 in 2024.

88% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 6.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
258
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.3
Top 23% nationally
Year over year
+659%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
87.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202441k41k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202220232024202525444
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+297%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 30°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 44.0 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 40, in the Good band, and about 2 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ANNAPOLIS NAF, 2.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index67.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation44.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low30°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high86°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10022024 calendar year
Median air quality index40.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing43°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
40
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
67
90th percentile index
Days above 100
2
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

94 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and cold wave.

HurricaneModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LandslideModerate
DroughtModerate
Coastal floodingModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, lightning, heat wave, strong wind, tornado, inland flooding, hail, ice storm, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Anne Arundel County records 2.4 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 6.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 17.8 per 100,000 residents in Anne Arundel County.

Homicide
2.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
6.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
17.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
8.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Anne Arundel County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Annapolis rather than Annapolis itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 17 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI17 mi10,503 ft
Washington Dulles IntlIAD51 mi11,500 ft
Harrisburg IntlMDT85 mi10,001 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
80
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Other cities in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BaltimoreBaltimore city573,24359vs Annapolis
ColumbiaHoward County104,338vs Annapolis
Ellicott CityHoward County75,257vs Annapolis
Glen BurnieAnne Arundel County72,590vs Annapolis
DundalkBaltimore County65,969vs Annapolis
TowsonBaltimore County58,679vs Annapolis
SevernAnne Arundel County58,402vs Annapolis
Bel Air SouthHarford County58,137vs Annapolis
OdentonAnne Arundel County45,002vs Annapolis
CatonsvilleBaltimore County43,368vs Annapolis
EssexBaltimore County40,580vs Annapolis
WoodlawnBaltimore County40,379vs Annapolis

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.