Most Americans have never been to small town Maryland. However, as the Marylander who live there know, small town Maryland is an awesome place to call home.
But is it all roses? Definitely not. Just like any other state, Maryland has its trouble spots. This article aims to determine, using Saturday Night Science, the absolute worst small towns to live in the Old Line State. Don’t freak out, we will use data to show which places have high crime, poverty, and unemployment.
After analyzing more than 124 of Maryland’s smallest cities, we came up with this list as the 10 worst small towns in Maryland where you’d never want to live:
These are the worst small towns in Maryland for 2023:
So what is the worst small town to call home in Maryland for 2023? According to the most recent census data, Snow Hill is the worst small town to live in Maryland.
While many of these small towns have seen better days, they have wonderful communities and people. This report in no way means to knock the folks that call towns like Snow Hill home. Everyone
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers, or scroll to the bottom to see how your town ranked.
And if you already know about the small towns, check out the best places to live in Maryland or the worst places to live in Maryland.
If you’re looking for something more national, check out the worst cities in America or the worst states in America.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Worst Small Towns In Maryland For 2023
1. Snow Hill
/10
Population: 2,442
Median Home Value: $159,100 (16th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 11.1% (9th worst)
2. Crisfield
/10
Population: 2,533
Median Home Value: $110,100 (5th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 18.1% (3rd worst)
3. Willards
/10
Population: 1,104
Median Home Value: $152,800 (11th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 12.8% (6th worst)
4. Perryman
/10
Population: 2,767
Median Home Value: $211,300 (27th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 19.3% (2nd worst)
5. Greensboro
/10
Population: 2,590
Median Home Value: $154,800 (12th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 7.5% (29th worst)
6. Federalsburg
/10
Population: 2,824
Median Home Value: $123,400 (6th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 6.4% (36th worst)
7. Denton
/10
Population: 4,712
Median Home Value: $200,000 (24th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 9.5% (17th worst)
8. Ridgely
/10
Population: 1,868
Median Home Value: $198,500 (22nd worst)
Unemployment Rate: 7.0% (33rd worst)
9. Hurlock
/10
Population: 2,239
Median Home Value: $147,900 (10th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 9.5% (16th worst)
10. Trappe
/10
Population: 1,098
Median Home Value: $227,100 (30th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 9.7% (15th worst)
Methodology: How do you decide if a small place in Maryland is lousy or not?
To rank the worst small towns to live in Maryland, we had to determine what criteria people like or dislike about a place. Assuming that people like low crime, solid education, things to do, and a stable economy isn’t a stretch.
We then analyzed the criteria using Saturday Night Science, the thinking you’d use at a bar. It seems like even your crazy Uncle would agree that a town with high crime is worse than a town with low crime; all else the same.
Using FBI crime data and the Census’s 2017-2021 American Community Survey, this is the criteria we used:
- Population Density (The lower, the worse)
- Highest Unemployment Rates
- Low housing costs (meaning there’s no demand)
- Adjusted Median Income (Median income adjusted for the cost of living)
- Education (Number of high school dropouts)
- High Crime
We looked at cities with populations between 1,000 and 5,000 people, of which there were many – 124 to be exact.
We get the crime numbers from the FBI, which gets them from the cities. Dropout numbers are based on the adult population, not just the current graduation rates of teenagers.
We base all our research on facts, which is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2023, which is our tenth time ranking the worst small places to live in Maryland.
There You Have It – The Worst Small Towns In Maryland
If you’re analyzing teeny places in the Old Line State with the worst economic situations, where there’s high crime and there’s not a lot to do, this is an accurate list.
If you’re curious enough, here are the best small towns to live in Maryland, according to science:
- Cabin John (Pop. 2,335)
- Somerset (Pop. 1,031)
- Chevy Chase Village (Pop. 1,858)
For more Maryland reading, check out:
You have an inaccuracy regarding Crellin. I’m not from Crellin, but rather a larger town nearby that didn’t make your list. I realize you qualified that 45 minutes to the nearest town would be during a snow storm, but you’d have to be walking for it to take that long even with bad weather. I get the impression you didn’t interview many people when compiling your list. A lot of people in the areas with which I am familiar are quite happy living there, which is why they haven’t moved. I understand the spirit of your article, but highly recommend more thorough fact checking.
Not only that. But I’d say your unemployment numbers are way off. You don’t think a hard working farmer is,employed?
I’ve been sitting here trying to think of a polite way to respond to your article, but alas the only thing I can come up with is that you are a complete bonehead! Maryland has long considered the real Western Maryland, west of Frederick for you flatlanders, and the Eastern Shore red headed step children, but where do you all go in Maryland for your winter and summer fun close to home? I live in Garrett County and am darn proud of it, having been born and raised in the Baltimore metro area, I’ll take these small towns and the people here any day of the week. I challenge you to spend more than a few days out here and just maybe you’ll change your tune and if not go back to the city life cause we don’t need you anyway! By the way, your crime rate figures are a joke, nobody out here trashed their city or town because someone got killed, yes we have our crime and drug problems but at least I don’t have to carry a gun with me everywhere I go.
Grew up in kitzmiller don’t know where you got your info but No One goes to that shop in elk garden. The town does rather quickly after the county stopped funding the elementary school and took our children 30 minutes away. Rather a shithole town with the worst mayor and council in many years.
There on thing that bugs me about this, I’ve lived in pocomoke the majority of my life and this post said, “This Somerset county has a Walmart” first off most of this town especially the part where the Walmart is is in Worcester County, there is a very small portion was Pocomoke that is in Somerset and that is across the bridge more on the Northern eastern side, not West Pocomoke. This isn’t a big deal I just can stand the inaccuracy. If you did described the real West Pocomoke you would be right in this town it is the undesirable part of town, but you completely missed the area you were talking about when you were describing it. In fact the one area that is in Somerset is the country and is somewhat a desirable place to live, well at least more desirable than West Pocomoke.
This “article” is insulting. Who apporved this trash? The only reason anyone has read it is because the title immediately comes off as snobby and directed at people who live in small towns. You cannot write something, and publish it based solely on statistics crunching and Google Street View. It’s rediculous and the author and whoever appoved it should see just how hard it is to live as an Unemployment Statistic.
Where do you get off posting such crap?? I don’t know where you got your numbers but they are WRONG!! Finzel has the worst crime rate – are you kidding me??? I guess you haven’t counted Baltimore and all the surrounding areas?? Who are you to call any town a douchebag town? And GHETTO??? Again, have you over looked Baltimore and surrounding areas??? DID you even bother to drive through any of these towns – spend any time there – talk with any of the people?? You are completely wrong in this so called assessment and have absolutely no clue what you are talking about! Get the facts by spending time in these areas – go to the courthouses and get the public records and employment before you go running your mouth. Clearly the pictures came from Google maps and you showed the worst possible pictures out there! You are a complete moron of the worst kind. You think you are so smart but all you have done is piss off a bunch of people who love their towns and their people.
It’s funny, people from the rest of the state like to look down on us in Western Maryland but you don’t seem to have a problem coming to vacation here or taking our tax dollars. It’s okay though, articles like this keep snobbish city people out of our lovely rural communities where there is incredibly little crime (your numbers aren’t particularly detailed and are, of course, skewed by the population). In fact, crime only seems to start to go up when people from downstate move here. Isn’t that an odd coincidence?
I live in eden. I like the small town values, it beats city life any day. Don’t agree with the most high school drop outs either just your personal opinion which I don’t give a rat’s ass about.