Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 28,364, settled in 1761.
Ilchester is one of the best-graded places in America: an A+, ranked 23rd of 259 in Maryland. It is healthier than 97% of U.S. towns, the median household earns $152K, and its schools outperform 88% of the state's. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $532K, 5.4 years of the Baltimore metro’s $99K median household income. Ilchester’s trail density is 3.2 miles per square mile, against 0.6 in Maryland’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. Ilchester has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Lawyers Hill Historic District and Curtis-Shipley Farmstead. Ilchester is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns.
Where Ilchester beats most towns.
The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1895 and 6 maps from 1892 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ilchester takes its name from Ilchester in Somerset, England, 3,550 miles across the Atlantic.
UKUK editionIlchester, settled in 1761, takes its name from Ilchester, a village in Somerset, England.
Named after: each U.S. town’s Wikipedia article. Grades compare each town with towns in its own country, so they aren’t a head-to-head.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maryland), ordered by how far Ilchester is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for hazard risk (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 13%), so the A+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ilchester. Close and well known come first.
Big draw26 mi National park siteWhite House311K visitors a year
Big draw27 mi National MemorialWashington Monument204K visitors a year
Big draw29 mi LandmarkArlington National Cemetery
Big draw28 mi LandmarkUnited States Triumphal Arch
Big draw27 mi MuseumSmithsonian Institution30.0M visitors a year
Big draw9 mi Stadium & arenaM&T Bank 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 · Arlington National Cemetery: Protoant, Public domain · United States Triumphal Arch: Hstoops, CC0 · Smithsonian Institution: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer, Public domain · M&T Bank Stadium: United States Department of Defense Cherie Cullen, Public domain
Ilchester is unincorporated, so Howard 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 Ilchester.
Ilchester has schools in the top 5% of Maryland and has less tooth loss than most of Maryland, but it has property taxes 1.6 times the Maryland norm.
35 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. Rockburn Branch Park, at 393 acres with 7.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Patapsco Valley State Park Orange Grove Area | 20.4 mi | 1,095 |
| 2. Rockburn Branch Park | 7.7 mi | 393 |
| 3. Patapsco Valley State Park Avalon Area | 4.2 mi | 168 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A ranks #12 of the 261 Maryland towns we grade for schools. Its A for schools comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $532K.
Its public schools are run by the Howard County Public Schools. Two of its 9 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bellows Spring ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 806 | B+ |
| Ilchester ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 482 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MD on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with Maryland is tooth loss: 5.1% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 9.9% statewide.
9.2% of adults report frequent physical distress in Ilchester, where Maryland’s towns sit at 12% and U.S. towns at 14%. 15% of Ilchester adults get no exercise outside work. Ilchester beats the Maryland average on 22 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1.
| Ilchester | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.2% | 12% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 23% | 25% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 17% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 17% | 19% |
| What stands out | Ilchester | MD |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.1% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.3% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 71.9% | 76.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 97% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Ilchester since 1979.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
27.7% of workers work from home, against 19.3% across Maryland.
Most working residents leave Ilchester for work: only 3% work in town. 28% of workers work from home in Ilchester. Since 2013, Ilchester has added 478 jobs, to 4,480 in 2023.
| Ilchester | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 28% | 18% | 11% |
| Median household income | $152,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 32 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 5.1% | 7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Ilchester has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 25° and about 19 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median property tax bill is $6,631, against $4,093 across Maryland, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Ilchester’s median rent is $2,115 a month.
| Ilchester | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,115 a month | $1,809 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 76% | 74% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
19 within 15 miles of the center of Ilchester
About 8 of every 100 Ilchester residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Maryland.
18.7% of the town is conserved land, across 8 parks and preserves.
2 places in Ilchester on the National Register of Historic Places.
Census-designated place in Maryland
Ilchester is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland, United States. The population was 23,476 at the 2010 census. It was named after the village of Ilchester in the English county of Somerset.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Ilchester.
At #23 in MD, it grades higher overall than all 5 graded towns on its borders; Columbia (A) comes closest. Arbutus next door grades lower for schools (C− to Ilchester’s A) and higher for cost of living (B− to D).
| Town | MD rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ilchester | #23 | A+ | D | — | A | A+ |
| Ellicott City | #50 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Catonsville | #131 | B | C− | — | C− | A− |
| Columbia | #36 | A | D | — | A | A |
| Elkridge | #49 | A | D | — | A | A |
| Arbutus | #109 | B+ | B− | — | C− | A− |
Ilchester, Ellicott City, Catonsville, Columbia, Elkridge and Arbutus report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Ilchester with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Ilchester grades A+ overall, better than 95% of U.S. towns and #23 of 259 in Maryland. It grades A+ for health and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $532,000, 25% above 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 D.
2 notable people were born here, including Thomas Riggs Jr. and Avra M. Warren.
