Fort Meade, Maryland

Area Profile

11,225 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Fort Meade, in Anne Arundel County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 10% of 3,904 cities measured78
SchoolsTop 49% of 2,668 cities measured52
Housing affordability3516th of 4,223 cities measured57
ClimateTop 36% of 4,223 cities measured73
Physical resilienceTop 5% of 4,182 cities measured94
AccessTop 19% of 4,226 cities measured98
Economic stabilityTop 15% of 4,226 cities measured76
The quick read

Fort Meade ranks in the top 10% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.4% and median household income of $103,261.

Housing sits below most published city profiles for affordability: rent takes 28% of median household income — each just short of the thresholds that would count as strained, but both toward the costly end.

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

At a glance

Population
11,225
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$103,261
Top 17% nationally
Density
1,389/sq mi
8.1 sq mi of land
Median age
25.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Anne Arundel County
Maryland
Metro area
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
Nearest major airport
BWI
6 mi · Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood Marshall
Median home value

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.4% is lower than 87% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.4% over the past year, to 308,887 employed residents.

50% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 89% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$9,448$103,261Top 17%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,607$39,039Top 35%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate4.1%Bottom 20%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.3 minBottom 12%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher50.2%Top 11%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment308,887Top 22%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.5%Bottom 44%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.4%Top 23%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force319,879Top 22%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation79.9%Top 4%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$76,370Top 27%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$59,070Top 25%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.2%Bottom 35%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.4%Bottom 13%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024103k93k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $103,261 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Anne Arundel County, MD, which contains this city.

11% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 23% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.8 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
10.9%
Bottom 45% in Maryland
Reading proficiency
23.3%
Top 50% in Maryland
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Meade HighAnne Arundel County Public Schools2,04515.9
MacArthur MiddleAnne Arundel County Public Schools99212.712%27%
Meade MiddleAnne Arundel County Public Schools69711.13%17%
Meade Heights ElementaryAnne Arundel County Public Schools49413.48%22%
Pershing Hill ElementaryAnne Arundel County Public Schools43412.421%31%
Manor View ElementaryAnne Arundel County Public Schools37415.015%18%
West Meade Early Education CenterAnne Arundel County Public Schools24615.4

51.6% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Maryland’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $2,435 takes 28% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

Rent as a share of income
28.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$2,435
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Homeownership rate0.0%Bottom 1%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2813,459Top 15%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$68$2,435Top 4%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income28.3%Top 9%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate12.2%Top 42%of 32,0012024 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 →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 89°F and January a low of 25°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 45.0 inches, including 19.3 inches of snow.

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.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BALTIMORE WASH INTL AP, 5.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index67.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation45.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall19.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low25°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high89°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10022024 calendar year
Median air quality index40.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing44°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 — they say 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 Fort Meade rather than Fort Meade 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
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 6 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI6 mi10,503 ft
Washington Dulles IntlIAD40 mi11,500 ft
Harrisburg IntlMDT75 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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Other cities in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BaltimoreBaltimore city573,24359vs Fort Meade
ColumbiaHoward County104,338vs Fort Meade
Ellicott CityHoward County75,257vs Fort Meade
Glen BurnieAnne Arundel County72,590vs Fort Meade
DundalkBaltimore County65,969vs Fort Meade
TowsonBaltimore County58,679vs Fort Meade
SevernAnne Arundel County58,402vs Fort Meade
Bel Air SouthHarford County58,137vs Fort Meade
OdentonAnne Arundel County45,002vs Fort Meade
CatonsvilleBaltimore County43,368vs Fort Meade
AnnapolisAnne Arundel County40,72080vs Fort Meade
EssexBaltimore County40,580vs Fort Meade

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)
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
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
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.

ZIP codes in Fort Meade

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2075511,225$103,261