Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 4,727: a town settled in 1889.
The picture is mixed. Shady Side’s overall grade is B−, better than 54% of U.S. towns. It ranks 157th of 259 in Maryland. Health is where it shines — it is healthier than 83% of U.S. towns. Its weakest is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $429K, 4.3 years of the Baltimore metro’s $99K median household income. Walkability is weaker too (C). Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 69% of U.S. towns. The town has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Capt. Salem Avery House and Columbia Beach.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Shady Side beats most towns.
Coastal flooding makes up 22% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Maryland), ordered by how far Shady Side is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1984 and 6 maps from 1892 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Shady Side. Close and well known come first.
Big draw28 mi National park siteWhite House311K visitors a year
Big draw28 mi National MemorialWashington Monument204K visitors a year
Big draw30 mi LandmarkArlington National Cemetery
Big draw29 mi LandmarkUnited States Triumphal Arch
Big draw28 mi MuseumSmithsonian Institution30.0M visitors a year
Big draw19 mi Stadium & arenaNorthwest 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 · Northwest Stadium: Maryland GovPics, CC BY 2.0
Shady Side 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Shady Side.
Shady Side has less food insecurity than most of Maryland and sends most of its workers to Parole and beyond.
Its widest gap with Maryland is food insecurity: 9% of its 4,644 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.4% statewide. Against the 2,530 U.S. towns with household incomes like Shady Side’s, it is less healthy than 70%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
One in ten adults have diabetes in Shady Side, where Maryland’s towns sit at 12% and U.S. towns at 12%. For adults here, the share who binge drink is 17%. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Shady Side is ahead of Maryland on 13 and behind on 2. Two figures for adults here: 19% get no exercise outside work, 9% worry about having enough food.
| Shady Side | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 14% | 16% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 23% | 25% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 9% | 14% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 19% |
| What stands out | Shady Side | MD |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9% | 15.4% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.8% | 9.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.7% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Public schools: the Anne Arundel County Public Schools. Its one school is below. 391 students attend Shady Side’s public school.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shady Side ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 391 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MD on state tests and graduation
Shady Side has had 409 paid flood insurance claims since 1979. On expected storm and flood damage, Shady Side sits below 87% of U.S. communities. Also worth knowing: households locally have drawn federal disaster aid once, in 2003. Expected losses in Shady Side break down as 40% from inland flooding and 22% from coastal flooding.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In Shady Side, the trail density is 0.7 miles per square mile, close to Maryland’s towns (0.6) and above U.S. towns (0.4). Across 5 parks and preserves: 5.7 miles of trail. The biggest place to walk is Franklin Point State Park, 487 acres with 3.7 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Franklin Point State Park | 3.7 mi | 487 |
| 2. Jack Creek Park | 1.4 mi | 56 |
| 3. Shady Cove Natural Area | 0.6 mi | 26 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Shady Side has 447 jobs for its 2,476 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here fell from 1,222 in 2013 to 447.
For Shady Side, the middle household income is $154,000. Just 3% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. Jobs based locally fell to 447 in 2023, 775 fewer than in 2013. 3.8% of Shady Side residents live below the poverty line.
| Shady Side | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $154,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 37 minutes | 32 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 3.8% | 7% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.3% | 3.1% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The share of residents in Shady Side who are 65 or older: 19%. Adults 18 to 34 are 13% of residents (22% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 45% of residents (40% statewide). The age of the median resident locally is 49.8 years. Maryland has 44% of adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more; here it is 37%.
| Shady Side | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 49.8 years | 39.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 37% | 42% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 19% | 16% | 18% |
46% women, 54% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.3 points. Across Maryland, 51.3% of residents are women.
| Shady Side | MD | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 15.1% | 10.3% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.5% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 6.7% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 7.9% | 13.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 16% | 12.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 20.6% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.6% | 9.9% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.6% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 1.1% | 8.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.2% | 23.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 31.3% | 17.4% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 4% | 6.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.4% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 18% | 20.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,700, single groups can be off by several points
The seasons in Shady Side: mild winters, warm summers. Summer afternoons peak near 88° in July, and January nights bottom out around 28°; snowfall runs to about 14 inches a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median rent for Shady Side comes to $2,490 a month. The typical home value here is about $429,000, up 1.5% in a year, close to the Maryland typical home. Nearly nine in ten households live in a home they own locally.
| Shady Side | Maryland towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,490 a month | $1,809 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 89% | 74% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Shady Side
About 7 of every 100 Shady Side residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Maryland.
Where Shady Side’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
3 places in Shady Side on the National Register of Historic Places.
Census-designated place in Maryland, United States
Shady Side is a census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 5,803 at the 2010 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Shady Side.
| Town | MD rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shady Side | #157 | B− | C | — | B− | A− |
| Galesville | — | — | C | — | B− | A− |
| Deale | #127 | B+ | C− | — | B− | A |
Galesville has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Shady Side, Galesville and Deale report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Shady Side with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Shady Side grades B− overall, better than 54% of U.S. towns and #157 of 259 in Maryland. It grades A− for health and B− for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
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