Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
28,364 people live in this town, settled in 1761.
A good place to live, if you can afford it. Its standout strength is health (A+) — it is healthier than 97% of U.S. towns. Overall, Ilchester earns an A+: better than 95% of U.S. towns, and 23rd of 259 in Maryland. Incomes are a strength too (A+): the median household earns $152K. What counts against it is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $532K, 5.4 years of the Baltimore metro’s $99K median household income. The town’s trail network density is 3.2 miles per square mile, against 0.6 in Maryland’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. This Maryland town 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.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow · OpenStreetMap · National Register of Historic Places.
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.
Rockburn Branch Park, at 393 acres with 7.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. There are 35 miles of trail across 8 parks and preserves.
| 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.
Two of its 9 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. Its public schools are run by the Howard County Public Schools. The 4 public schools in Ilchester teach 2,575 students between them.
| 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.
9.3% of adults worry about having enough food in Ilchester. CDC measures, 32 in all: Ilchester beats Maryland on 22 and trails on 1. Two figures for adults in the town: 15% get no exercise outside work, 13% report frequent mental distress.
| 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
FEMA expects less storm and flood damage in Ilchester than in 97% of U.S. communities. Paid flood insurance claims here since 1979: one.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
27.7% of workers work from home, against 19.3% across Maryland.
Half the trips to work are shorter than 11 miles. Employers in Ilchester added 478 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 4,480. For workers in the town, the share who work from home is 28%. The top destinations are Columbia (14%), Baltimore (14%) and Washington (5%).
| 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
The range runs from 25° on a January night to 88° on a July afternoon, with about 19 inches of snow 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.
Homes sold in Ilchester spent a median 28 days on the market. Its rent at the middle of the market is $2,115 a month. In Ilchester, 36% of sales closed above the list price.
| 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.
