21157Westminster, Maryland

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 21157.

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 6% of 6,210 published ZIP areas81
SchoolsTop 18% of 4,422 published ZIP areas76
Housing affordabilityTop 36% of 6,685 published ZIP areas88
Climate4643rd of 6,789 published ZIP areas64
Physical resilienceTop 13% of 6,709 published ZIP areas88
Access4844th of 6,791 published ZIP areas85
Economic stabilityTop 23% of 6,742 published ZIP areas74
The quick read

21157 ranks in the top 6% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.0% and median household income of $104,966.

Rent takes 15% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 4.0 times that income.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 21157 in the top 13% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
38,984
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$104,966
Top 16% nationally
Density
502/sq mi
77.7 sq mi of land
Median age
43.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Westminster
Maryland
Metro area
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
Nearest major airport
BWI
31 mi · Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood Marshall
Median home value
$424,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.0% is lower than 96% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 0.5% over the past year, to 94,146 employed residents.

38% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 77% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$9,822$104,966Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,198$49,793Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate6.7%Bottom 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute34.1 minTop 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher37.9%Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment94,146Top 36%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.3%Top 46%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.5%Top 20%June 2026
Labor force97,070Top 36%June 2026
Labor force participation66.0%Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$76,370Top 23%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$59,070Top 20%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.2%Bottom 36%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.0%Bottom 4%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024105k93k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $104,966 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 does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Westminster, MD, the city containing this ZIP code.

25% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 34% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.4 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
16
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
25.4%
Top 18% in Maryland
Reading proficiency
34.1%
Top 25% in Maryland
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Westminster HighCarroll County Public Schools1,47716.6
Winters Mill HighCarroll County Public Schools1,15618.3
Westminster West MiddleCarroll County Public Schools92315.912%32%
Westminster East MiddleCarroll County Public Schools79613.517%37%
Winfield ElementaryCarroll County Public Schools72413.937%39%
Cranberry Station ElementaryCarroll County Public Schools59315.228%27%
William Winchester ElementaryCarroll County Public Schools58715.437%40%
Friendship Valley ElementaryCarroll County Public Schools51814.032%37%
Robert Moton ElementaryCarroll County Public Schools4409.624%23%
Gateway SchoolCarroll County Public Schools804.7
Flexible Student SupportCarroll County Public Schools44
Post Secondary ProgramCarroll County Public Schools369.0

34.8% 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 $1,331 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
15.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,331
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$424,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.04Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate76.8%Bottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±52115,471Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$52$1,331Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,444$424,100Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income15.2%Bottom 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.4%Bottom 20%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 →

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

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 21°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 42.1 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 42, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station YORK AP, 26.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index67.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation42.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low21°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index42.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing44°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
42
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
67
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
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

88 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are strong wind, hurricane and heat wave.

Strong windModerate
HurricaneModerate
Heat waveModerate
DroughtElevated
LandslideModerate
Cold waveElevated

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, lightning, earthquake, inland flooding, hail, tornado, ice storm, wildfire, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. 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.

Carroll County records 1.7 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 6.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 15.9 per 100,000 residents in Carroll County.

Homicide
1.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
6.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
15.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.0
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 Carroll 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 21157 rather than 21157 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 31 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI31 mi10,503 ft
Harrisburg IntlMDT46 mi10,001 ft
Washington Dulles IntlIAD49 mi11,500 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

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)
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.

21157 vs Westminster

How this ZIP area compares with Westminster as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

21157
Westminster
Median household income
$104,966
vs
$86,219
Per capita income
$49,793
vs
$44,953
Population density
502/sq mi
vs
3,023/sq mi
Median home value
$424,100
vs
$337,600
Median gross rent
$1,331
vs
$1,476
Homeownership rate
76.8%
vs
56.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher
37.9%
vs
36.3%
Poverty rate
6.7%
vs
10.0%
Median age
43.2
vs
38.5

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.