The 10 Worst Washington, D.C. Suburbs

The 10 Worst Washington Suburbs To Live For 2025

We’ll get the ball rolling with Bladensburg, the absolute worst place to live around Washington according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Bladensburg beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 2nd worst in the Washington area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 2nd worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Bladensburg.

You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

Welcome to Greenbelt. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 9.4 miles to Washington. Income levels here are the 10th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $86,352 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Washington suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Dumfries on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Washington suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

If you live in Brentwood, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 4th lowest Washington suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 24th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Washington. Remember, we looked at 35 cities for this study.

Brentwood is about 4.2 miles to downtown.

College Park has the distinction of being a Washington suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, College Park has the 12th lowest home values in the metro Washington area, where the median price is $440,329. The median income is $223,571.

College Park has an unemployment rate of 7.67% which ranks 8th worst.

Seat Pleasant has 4,515 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 15.592469545957918%.

Ah, Forest Heights. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Washington.

It’s the place with the 3rd most out of work residents in the Washington metro area (13.08%).

Capitol Heights is a city about 6.2 miles from Washington, but Washington probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Capitol Heights has the 25th most uninsured people, 11th worst incomes, and has the 6th highest unemployment rate (9.17%) in the entire Washington metro area.

Homes only cost $332,067 for a reason. That’s cheap for Washington standards.

If you absolutely have to live near Washington, then Riverdale Park might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Washington suburb.

About 2.48% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst Washington suburbs to call home is New Carrollton.

Located 8.7 miles outside the city, New Carrolltons is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 5th highest unemployment rate (10.56%), and poverty is far above the area average.