Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,837.
Bel Air’s best subject grades are an A for cost of living and an A− for incomes and the outdoors; its weakest is a D for health. On cost of living, just 6 of Maryland’s 328 towns do better. Bel Air’s trail density is 1.3 miles per square mile, where Maryland’s towns sit at 0.6 and U.S. towns at 0.4. Bel Air has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Bel Air beats most towns.
1,258 counted in 2010 and 1,689 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maryland), ordered by how far Bel Air is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2004.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bel Air. Close and well known come first.
Big draw40 mi MuseumFallingwater
Big draw32 mi National MemorialFlight 93 National Memorial286K visitors a year
22 mi MountainMount Davis
5 mi National Historical ParkChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park4.6M visitors a year
29 mi LakeDeep Creek Lake
7 mi LandmarkFort CumberlandFallingwater: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain · Flight 93 National Memorial: James Steakley, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mount Davis: Wikiuser100, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park: Bonnachoven, CC0 · Deep Creek Lake: Gohens84, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Cumberland: Unknown, Public domain
Bel Air is unincorporated, so Allegany 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 Bel Air.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 97% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the Allegany County Public Schools. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bel Air ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 216 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MD on state tests and graduation
20% of adults smoke cigarettes in Bel Air, above both Maryland’s towns (11%) and U.S. towns (14%). 35% of adults get no exercise outside work in Bel Air. No town among the 262 in Maryland we compare has a higher share of adults who have been diagnosed with depression than Bel Air.
| Bel Air | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 11% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 12% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 23% | 25% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 20% | 23% |
| What stands out | Bel Air | MD |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 11.2% | 5.9% |
| More smokers | 20% | 10.9% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 14.8% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
0.2% of Bel Air residents live below the poverty line. Most working residents leave Bel Air for work: only 1% work in town. The median household income in Bel Air is $98,000.
| Bel Air | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 0.2% | 7% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 32 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1% | 3.1% | 8% |
| Median household income | $98,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Bel Air has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 23° and about 31 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Bel Air Area Park | — | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
3 within 15 miles of the center of Bel Air
About 2 of every 100 Bel Air residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Maryland.
Where Bel Air’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Census-designated place in Maryland, United States
Bel Air is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Allegany County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,258. It is surrounded by the Cresaptown CDP and prior to 2010 was listed by the Census Bureau as part of the Cresaptown-Bel Air CDP. Bel Air is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Bel Air.
| Town | MD rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bel Air | — | — | A | — | C+ | D |
| Cresaptown | #120 | B+ | A | — | C+ | D |
Bel Air has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Bel Air and Cresaptown report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Bel Air with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.
