Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
This town of 2,462 people was settled in 1832.
Point of Rocks’ best subject grades are an A for incomes and health and an A− for the outdoors. Point of Rocks’ mean commuting time is 44 minutes, against 32 minutes in Maryland’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. On cost of living, just 26 of Maryland’s 328 towns do better. Point of Rocks's schools rank ahead of 76% of Maryland towns. Point of Rocks’ density of trails is 1.6 miles per square mile, where Maryland’s towns sit at 0.6 and U.S. towns at 0.4. Point of Rocks has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Point of Rocks Railroad Station and St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Point of Rocks has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Point of Rocks beats most towns.
The archive holds 30 old photos and papers going back to 1860 and 3 maps from 1944 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maryland), ordered by how far Point of Rocks is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Point of Rocks. Close and well known come first.
Big draw37 mi National park siteWhite House311K visitors a year
Big draw38 mi National MemorialWashington Monument204K visitors a year
Big draw37 mi LandmarkArlington National Cemetery
Big draw37 mi LandmarkUnited States Triumphal Arch
Big draw38 mi MuseumSmithsonian Institution30.0M visitors a year
Big draw32 mi LandmarkRaven Rock Mountain ComplexWhite 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 · Raven Rock Mountain Complex: US Government, Public domain
Point of Rocks is unincorporated, so Frederick 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 Point of Rocks.
Against the Maryland average, Point of Rocks comes out ahead on 15 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 2. Point of Rocks: nearly one in ten adults have diabetes. In Point of Rocks, 18% of adults get no exercise outside work, and 13% say their health is fair or poor.
| Point of Rocks | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 12% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 23% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 17% | 19% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.2% | 12% | 12% |
| What stands out | Point of Rocks | MD |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.4% | 15.4% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.3% | 9.9% |
| More binge drinkers | 16.9% | 14.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Federal disaster aid has reached households in Point of Rocks once, in 2003. On expected storm and flood damage, Point of Rocks sits below 95% of U.S. communities. Of the losses FEMA expects in the town, 65% come from inland flooding and 7% from hurricanes.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Point of Rocks dropped by 371, to 462. Only 1% of working residents stay in Point of Rocks for work; the rest commute out. Point of Rocks’ typical household income comes in at $160,000. Among 262 Maryland towns, just 10 have a lower share of residents below the poverty line than Point of Rocks.
| Point of Rocks | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $160,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 1.5% | 7% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 0.6% | 3.1% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Among residents in Point of Rocks, 13% are 65 or older. Adults 35 to 64 are 52% of residents (40% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 15% of residents (22% statewide). 45% of adults 25 and older hold at least a bachelor’s degree, against 44% across Maryland.
| Point of Rocks | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 13% | 16% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 45% | 42% | 29% |
| Median age | 43.8 years | 39.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 21% | 23% | 22% |
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.8 points. Across Maryland, 51.3% of residents are women.
| Point of Rocks | MD | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.4% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.3% | 10.3% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.7% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 7.8% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 16.1% | 13.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 20.3% | 12.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.5% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.7% | 9.9% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 3.2% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.2% | 8.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 27.8% | 23.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 12% | 17.4% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.2% | 6.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.5% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 18.3% | 20.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,500, single groups can be off by several points
July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 25° and about 31 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Across 3 parks and preserves: 1.8 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park | 1.3 mi | 61 |
| 2. Point of Rocks Community Park | 0.2 mi | 17 |
| 3. Point of Rocks Community Commons Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
A typical home in Point of Rocks is worth about $481,000, about the same as a year ago, 13% above the Maryland typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
3 within 15 miles of the center of Point of Rocks
About 5 of every 100 Point of Rocks residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Maryland.
1,466 counted in 2010 and 1,886 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
2 places in Point of Rocks on the National Register of Historic Places.
Census-designated place in Maryland, United States
Point of Rocks is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Frederick County, Maryland. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 1,466. Point of Rocks is named for a rock formation on the adjacent Catoctin Mountain, which was formed by the Potomac River cutting through the ridge in a water gap, a typical formation in the Appalachian Mountains. The formation is not visible from the town and can only be seen from boats on the river, or in Loudoun County, Virginia, from the southern bank of the river.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
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 B+.
