FerndaleMD
A town of 17,529.
Is Ferndale a good place to live?
Ferndale's standout: natural-hazard risk is low. Overall it grades B, 128th among Maryland's 259 graded towns. It is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns. On the outdoors, just 28 of Maryland’s 329 towns do worse. Ferndale’s median rent is $2,022 a month, against $1,809 a month in Maryland’s towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is North Glen Park, at 42 acres.
What makes Ferndale stand out
Where Ferndale beats most towns.
97% of working residents leave Ferndale for work
Where Ferndale’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Ferndale grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maryland), ordered by how far Ferndale is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
White House and 278 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ferndale. Close and well known come first.
Big draw29 mi National park siteWhite House311K visitors a year
Big draw30 mi National MemorialWashington Monument204K visitors a year
Big draw6 mi Stadium & arenaM&T Bank Stadium
Big draw32 mi LandmarkArlington National Cemetery
Big draw31 mi LandmarkUnited States Triumphal Arch
Big draw30 mi MuseumSmithsonian Institution30.0M visitors a yearPhoto credits
White 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 · M&T Bank Stadium: United States Department of Defense Cherie Cullen, Public domain · Arlington National Cemetery: Protoant, Public domain · United States Triumphal Arch: Hstoops, CC0 · Smithsonian Institution: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer, Public domain
Moving to Ferndale: who provides what
Ferndale is unincorporated, so Anne Arundel 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Ferndale.
Natural hazards: very low risk in Ferndale, mostly inland flooding
Ferndale’s risk rating from FEMA comes in at 2 of 100. It has had 14 paid flood insurance claims since 1979. FEMA puts nearly two fifths of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 12% to heat waves.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
On state tests, Ferndale’s schools trail 52% of Maryland districts
The largest public high school is North County High, with 2,161 students. Public schools: the Anne Arundel County Public Schools. Below: Two of its 6 schools, each with why it was picked.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hilltop ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 521 | D |
| North County HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,161 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MD on state tests and graduation
Most of Ferndale’s workers head elsewhere: there are 0.7 jobs for each of them
The top destinations are Baltimore (15%), Glen Burnie (8%) and Parole (4%). Most working residents leave Ferndale for work: only 3% work in town. One in ten workers do their job from home locally. Half of commuters travel less than 10 miles.
| Ferndale | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 9.7% | 18% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 32 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $95,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.9% | 3.2% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In Ferndale, expect four seasons and hot summers
Summer afternoons peak near 89° in July, and January nights bottom out around 28°; snowfall runs to about 19 inches a winter. Summers in Ferndale are warm, and winters chilly.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Residents of Ferndale are healthier than two in three U.S. towns
Within Maryland it is less healthy than 60% of the 261 graded towns: Maryland sets a high bar.
Among adults in Ferndale, 17% report frequent mental distress. The town beats the Maryland average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. In Ferndale, 36% of adults feel lonely, and 21% have been diagnosed with depression.
| Ferndale | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 38% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 34% | 33% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 20% | 23% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 16% |
| What stands out | Ferndale | MD |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 10.9% | 12.5% |
| Fewer adults with high cholesterol | 34.7% | 38.1% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 13.3% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2.2% of Ferndale is conserved land
Ferndale’s concentration of trails stands at 0.1 miles per square mile. Walkers can cover 0.3 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Ferndale | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.2% | 9.5% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. North Glen Park | 0.1 mi | 42 |
| 2. Cabin Branch Park | — | 25 |
| 3. Pleasantville Park | 0.2 mi | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
A home in Ferndale sells for about $435K at the median
Homes sold in Ferndale spent a median 33 days on the market. In Ferndale, 38% of sales closed above the list price. For households locally, the share who are owner-occupiers is 68%.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Ferndale
Colleges nearby
18 within 15 miles of the center of Ferndale
About 9 of every 100 Ferndale residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Maryland.
Ferndale’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Ferndale.
| Town | MD rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferndale | #128 | B | C | — | B− | B+ |
| Glen Burnie | #138 | B | C | — | B− | B− |
| Linthicum | #77 | A− | C+ | — | B− | A |
| Brooklyn Park | #94 | A− | B | — | B− | B− |
Ferndale, Glen Burnie, Linthicum and Brooklyn Park report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Ferndale with a neighbor →
Questions about Ferndale
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Ferndale, MD a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Ferndale grades B overall, better than 64% of U.S. towns and #128 of 259 in Maryland. It grades B+ for health and B− for schools.
Is Ferndale, MD expensive?
The typical home is worth about $328,000, 23% below 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.