Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Elkton grades D− overall, 255th among Maryland's 259 graded towns, mostly because of safety and health. Its police reported 126 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 98% of U.S. towns. Residents are less healthy than 92% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. In its favor, natural-hazard risk is low. Elkton’s violent crime rate is 7.9 per 1,000 residents, where Maryland’s towns sit at 2.3 and U.S. towns at 1.6. Only 18 of Maryland’s 329 towns score lower on incomes. Its National Register listings include Mitchell House and Holly Hall.
Where Elkton beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Mitchell House
Its founding year, 1694, comes before those of 98% of the Maryland towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 1,099 in 1850, 15,807 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1777 and 8 maps from 1898 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maryland), ordered by how far Elkton is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for hazard risk (better than 96% of comparable towns) to D− for safety (better than 2%), so the D− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Elkton. Close and well known come first.
39 mi Park & preserveSchuylkill River
20 mi GardenLongwood Gardens
18 mi MuseumWinterthur Museum, Garden and Library
18 mi LandmarkFort Christina
28 mi Stadium & arenaSubaru Park
13 mi LandmarkFort DelawareSchuylkill River: Emy111 at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Longwood Gardens: P. Hughes, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library: Photo by and (c)2007 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man), CC BY-SA 2.5 · Fort Christina: Jerrye & Roy Klotz MD, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Subaru Park: Something Original (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Delaware: Michael Swanda, U.S. Army Corps of Enginers, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Elkton, 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 Elkton.
Elkton sends many workers across the state line to Wilmington, but it reports violent crime at about twice the Maryland rate and has poverty well above the Maryland rate.
Violent crime runs at 7.9 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Maryland rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D−. Property crime runs at 43.3 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Maryland rate, most of it theft.
Elkton’s property crime rate is 43.3 per 1,000 residents. Elkton reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 98% report less.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by the Cecil County Public Schools. Two of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Elkton High, with 1,050 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elkton MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 538 | C+ |
| Elkton HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,050 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MD on state tests and graduation
20% of adults smoke cigarettes in Elkton. Elkton beats the Maryland average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 25. 34% of adults get no exercise outside work in Elkton.
| Elkton | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 11% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 46% | 36% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 15% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 23% | 25% |
| What stands out | Elkton | MD |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 18.8% | 9.9% |
| More smokers | 19.7% | 10.9% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.1% | 5.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
100 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 15 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 92% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 100 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Elkton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Elkton has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 25° and about 20 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
33% of working residents cross a state line to work, Wilmington among the top destinations. Jobs based here grew from 6,970 in 2013 to 9,180.
Most working residents leave Elkton for work: only 16% work in town. 20% of Elkton residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Elkton grew to 9,180 in 2023, 2,210 more than in 2013.
| Elkton | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 20% | 7% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $59,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 16% | 3.1% | 8% |
| Work from home | 9.2% | 18% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
3.4 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is John P. Stanley Park, at 113 acres.
| Elkton | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 7.4% | 9.5% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hatchery Park | 1 mi | 91 |
| 2. John P. Stanley Park | 0.7 mi | 113 |
| 3. Eder Park | 0.4 mi | 33 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
69.4% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 51.5% across Maryland.
The typical Elkton home is worth about $372,000, up 1.7% in a year, 13% below the Maryland typical home. The median rent in Elkton is $1,382 a month.
| Elkton | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 51% | 74% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,382 a month | $1,810 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
5 within 15 miles of the center of Elkton
About 5 of every 100 Elkton residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Maryland.
4 places in Elkton on the National Register of Historic Places.
25 notable people were born in Elkton.
City in Maryland, United States
Elkton is a town in and the county seat of Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,776 at the 2020 census, up from 15,443 in 2010. It was formerly called Head of Elk because it sits at the head of navigation on the Elk River, one of the five tributary rivers that flow into the north of the Chesapeake Bay, east of the Susquehanna River and North East River, and north of the Bohemia River, and Sassafras River. Elkton was once known as the Gretna Green of the East of the US because of its popularity as a place for eloping couples to marry.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Elkton grades D− overall, better than 4% of U.S. towns and #255 of 259 in Maryland. It grades D for health, D− for safety and C+ for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 4.1 years of the area's median household income ($91,289 across the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
25 notable people were born here, including Bernard Purdie and James Black Groome.
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