Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Capitol Heights gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $322K for a typical one, or 2.5 years of the Washington metro’s $127K median household income. It grades C overall, ranked 197th of 259 in Maryland. The low prices come with trade-offs. Its public schools trail 92% of Maryland towns on state tests and graduation, and it reports more crime per resident than 77% of U.S. towns, including 8 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. Capitol Heights is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns. Capitol Heights's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 89% of U.S. towns. Only 5 of the 261 Maryland towns we compare have a lower share of working residents who work in town than Capitol Heights.
Where Capitol Heights beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Capitol Heights Elementary | PK–5 | 317 |
Where Capitol Heights’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maryland), ordered by how far Capitol Heights is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for hazard risk (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for schools (better than 8%), so the C overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,194 in 1920, 4,050 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 3 maps from 1900 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Capitol Heights. Close and well known come first.
Big draw7 mi National park siteWhite House311K visitors a year
Big draw7 mi National MemorialWashington Monument204K visitors a year
Big draw6 mi MuseumSmithsonian Institution30.0M visitors a year
Big draw9 mi LandmarkArlington National Cemetery
Big draw8 mi LandmarkUnited States Triumphal Arch
Big draw3 mi Stadium & arenaNorthwest StadiumWhite 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 · Smithsonian Institution: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer, Public domain · Arlington National Cemetery: Protoant, Public domain · United States Triumphal Arch: Hstoops, CC0 · Northwest Stadium: Maryland GovPics, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Capitol Heights, and how to reach them.
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 Capitol Heights.
Capitol Heights sends many workers across the state line to Arlington and has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it trails even towns with similar incomes on health.
Its public schools are run by the Prince George's County Public Schools. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capitol Heights ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 317 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MD on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 98% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 6 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Capitol Heights.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Reported crimes fell from 110 to 68 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Capitol Heights reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 77% report less. Within Maryland, it does better than 47% of towns. Capitol Heights’ property crime rate is 14.9 per 1,000 residents, where Maryland’s towns sit at 13.8 and U.S. towns at 9.9.
| Capitol Heights | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 14.9 per 1,000 residents | 13.8 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2 per 1,000 residents | 2.4 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
46% of working residents cross a state line to work, Arlington among the top destinations. Capitol Heights has 296 jobs for its 1,698 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Capitol Heights for work: only 0% work in town. Capitol Heights’ average trip to work is 32 minutes, close to Maryland’s towns (32 minutes) and above U.S. towns (25 minutes). Since 2013, Capitol Heights has added 97 jobs, to 296 in 2023.
| Capitol Heights | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 32 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $97,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 8.9% | 7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 8,993 U.S. towns with household incomes like Capitol Heights’s, it is less healthy than 91%, so it trails even them.
Capitol Heights beats the Maryland average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 19. 48% of Capitol Heights adults sleep under 7 hours. Among 261 Maryland towns, just 8 have a higher share of adults who feel lonely than Capitol Heights.
| Capitol Heights | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 48% | 38% | 36% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 14% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 47% | 36% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 34% | 33% |
| What stands out | Capitol Heights | MD |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.8% | 7.6% |
| Fewer adults with depression | 15.4% | 19.4% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 29.6% | 15.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 2.5 years of the Washington metro’s $127K median household income, the typical home (about $322K) costs less against local pay than in 94% of Maryland towns; that ratio is one input to its A− for cost of living.
The median rent in Capitol Heights is $1,306 a month. The typical Capitol Heights home is worth about $322,000, down 3.3% in a year, 24% below the Maryland typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Capitol Heights has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 26° and about 6 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Capitol Heights | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 3% | 9.5% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rollins Avenue Park | 0.3 mi | 4 |
| 2. Capitol Heights South Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
31 within 15 miles of the center of Capitol Heights
About 5 of every 100 Capitol Heights residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Maryland.
3 notable people were born in Capitol Heights.
Town in Maryland, United States
Capitol Heights is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located on the border of both the Northeast & Southeast quadrants of Washington. Per the 2020 census, the population was 4,050. The town of Capitol Heights is officially bounded between Southern Avenue NE/SE to the north, Yost Place, and Eastern Avenue NE to the east, the Watts Branch Stream, Brooke Road, and Capitol Heights Boulevard to the south, and Marlboro Pike to the west. The zip code of Capitol Heights is 20743.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Capitol Heights.
| Town | MD rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capitol Heights | #197 | C | A− | C− | D | C |
| Walker Mill | #217 | C | B− | — | D | C |
| Coral Hills | #227 | C− | B− | — | D | C |
| Maryland Park | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Walker Mill and Coral Hills report no FBI crime data of their own. Maryland Park isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Capitol Heights with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Capitol Heights grades C overall, better than 34% of U.S. towns and #197 of 259 in Maryland. It grades C for health, C− for safety and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
Within Maryland, it does better than 47% of towns.
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−.
3 notable people were born here, including Gary Antuanne Russell and Chad Scott.
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