Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bel Air South is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #134 of 261 in Maryland. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Few Maryland towns list much on the Register (a typical Maryland town has 0.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bel Air South’s 2.2 sits near the middle of its state (54% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 13 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bel Air South’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bel Air South. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bel Air South.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bel Air South yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bel Air South is a census-designated place (CDP) in Harford County, Maryland, United States. The population was 47,709 at the 2010 census, up from 39,711 in 2000.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 47,709 to 57,648 (+21%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
20192019-06-05 13 55 30 View north along Interstate 95 (J…
20192019-06-05 13 53 51 View north along Interstate 95 (J…
20192019-06-05 10 23 48 View south along Interstate 95 (J…
20192019-06-05 10 22 35 View south along Interstate 95 (J…
20162016-06-11 12 58 12 View north along Maryland State R…
2011MD 22 westbound approaching MD 543The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 3,360 people in 1970 to 57,648 in 2020, more than tenfold.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bel Air South’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Bel Air South itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Bel Air South is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #134 of 261 in Maryland. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
7 listings: 6 buildings, among them the St. Mary's Church (listed 1973, the first), and 1 historic district, the Whitaker's Mill Historic District, with 3 contributing buildings. 13 historic buildings in all.
0.8% of Bel Air South’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1991.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (7), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
