Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,630.
Ashton-Sandy Spring is one of the best-graded places in America: an A+, ranked 4th of 259 in Maryland. The median household earns $174K, it is healthier than 95% of U.S. towns, and natural-hazard risk is low. Its lowest mark, a C+, is in cost of living. Ashton-Sandy Spring’s median household income is $174,000, against $113,000 in Maryland’s towns and $80,000 across U.S. towns. Ashton-Sandy Spring is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns. Ashton-Sandy Spring has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Sandy Spring Friends Meetinghouse and Clifton.
Where Ashton-Sandy Spring beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maryland), ordered by how far Ashton-Sandy Spring is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,437 in 2000, 5,746 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 4 maps from 1948 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ashton-Sandy Spring. Close and well known come first.
Big draw17 mi National park siteWhite House311K visitors a year
Big draw18 mi National MemorialWashington Monument204K visitors a year
Big draw19 mi LandmarkArlington National Cemetery
Big draw19 mi LandmarkUnited States Triumphal Arch
Big draw18 mi MuseumSmithsonian Institution30.0M visitors a year
Big draw18 mi National MemorialLincoln Memorial7.7M visitors a yearWhite House: This image or media was taken or created by Matt H. Wade. To see his entire port, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Washington Monument: Oren Rozen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Arlington National Cemetery: Protoant, Public domain · United States Triumphal Arch: Hstoops, CC0 · Smithsonian Institution: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer, Public domain · Lincoln Memorial: Aerial_view_of_Lincoln_Memorial_-_east_side.jpg: Carol M. Highsmith derivative w, Public domain
Ashton-Sandy Spring is unincorporated, so Montgomery County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Mar 11, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Ashton-Sandy Spring.
Ashton-Sandy Spring trades workers with Washington and other neighbors and has less utility shut-off threats than most of Maryland, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Maryland.
Its widest gap with Maryland is utility shut-off threats: 4.3% of its 4,491 adults were threatened with a utility shut-off, against 8.4% statewide. Against the 1,556 U.S. towns with household incomes like Ashton-Sandy Spring’s, it is healthier than 60%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
24% of Ashton-Sandy Spring adults have obesity. Ashton-Sandy Spring beats the Maryland average on 19 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 12% of Ashton-Sandy Spring adults report frequent mental distress.
| Ashton-Sandy Spring | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 36% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 6.6% | 11% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 38% | 36% |
| What stands out | Ashton-Sandy Spring | MD |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 4.3% | 8.4% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 7.6% | 13.5% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.9% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Montgomery County Public Schools. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Sherwood High, with 1,675 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sherwood ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 498 | A− |
| Sherwood HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,675 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MD on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 97% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
7.5 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is T. Howard Duckett Watershed, 284 acres with 3 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. T. Howard Duckett Watershed | 3 mi | 284 |
| 2. Northwest Branch Stream Valley Park | 1.4 mi | 186 |
| 3. Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park | 0.4 mi | 79 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Ashton-Sandy Spring has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 25° and about 16 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Ashton-Sandy Spring has about as many jobs (2,129) as working residents, but only 106 people both live and work here. 39.2% of workers work from home, against 19.3% across Maryland.
Most working residents leave Ashton-Sandy Spring for work: only 4% work in town. The average trip to work in Ashton-Sandy Spring is 36 minutes. Since 2013, Ashton-Sandy Spring has added 278 jobs, to 2,129 in 2023.
| Ashton-Sandy Spring | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 36 minutes | 32 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 1.8% | 7% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.3% | 3.1% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 6.4 years of the Washington metro’s $127K median household income, the typical home costs more against local pay than in 94% of Maryland towns; that ratio is one input to its C+ for cost of living. The median property tax bill is $6,759, against $4,093 across Maryland, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
94% of households own their home in Ashton-Sandy Spring.
| Ashton-Sandy Spring | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 94% | 74% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,369 a month | $1,810 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
12 within 15 miles of the center of Ashton-Sandy Spring
About 5 of every 100 Ashton-Sandy Spring residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Maryland.
2 places in Ashton-Sandy Spring on the National Register of Historic Places.
Census-designated place in Maryland, United States
Ashton-Sandy Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The CDP is designated to include the two unincorporated communities of Ashton and Sandy Spring, as well as the smaller community of Brinklow. It had a population of 5,746 as of the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Ashton-Sandy Spring.
At #4 in MD, it grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Olney (A+) comes closest.
| Town | MD rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashton-Sandy Spring | #4 | A+ | C+ | — | B+ | A |
| Olney | #18 | A+ | C− | — | B+ | A+ |
| Spencerville | — | — | C− | — | B+ | A |
| Burtonsville | #38 | A | C | — | B+ | A |
| Cloverly | #73 | A− | C− | — | B+ | A |
Spencerville has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Ashton-Sandy Spring, Olney, Spencerville, Burtonsville and Cloverly report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Ashton-Sandy Spring with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Ashton-Sandy Spring grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #4 of 259 in Maryland. It grades A for health and B+ for schools.
The typical home is worth about $809,000, 90% above the Maryland typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
