You might have suspected that North Bethesda is the best place to live in Maryland. But now it is official according to a new set of rankings released by the neighborhood data site, Niche.com.
Niche.com creates a list of best places to live around the country each year. It examines several factors before determining its rankings, such as: the quality of local schools, crime rates, housing trends, diversity, nightlife, walkability, weather, employment statistics and access to amenities.
Researchers gave North Bethesda an A+ for Public Schools, an A+ for Good for Families, an A in Nightlife, an A for Diversity and a B- for Housing because of the higher cost of housing. The median home value is estimated at $543,000.
A current resident said: “There are still some comparatively affordable single-family
homes on fenced lots, on streets with sidewalks (great for kids and pets). Close to parks, Metro, Strathmore Music Center, health clubs, and an increasingly vibrant “faux urban” atmosphere as exemplified by Pike & Rose. The whole White Flint/North Bethesda planning area is undergoing a major remake as a more walkable, bikeable, urbanized suburban hub, so there’s a lot more changes to come.”
Bethesda placed at No. 4 with an A+ for Public Schools, an A+ for Good for Families, an A- in Nightlife, an B+ for Diversity and a B- for Housing.
The suburbs in Montgomery County dominated the Niche rankings. According to Niche.com, these are the best places to live in Maryland:
- North Bethesda
- Garrett Park
- North Potomac
- Bethesda
- South Kensington
- Kensington
- Ellicott City
- Rockville
- Urbana
- Columbia
Niche.com “rigorously analyze dozens of public data sets and millions of reviews to produce comprehensive rankings, report cards, and profiles for every K-12 school, college, and neighborhood in the U.S.” Niche has over 100 million reviews and poll responses.
In case you are wondering where North Bethesda is, you are not alone.
Some people actually doubt that it exists at all! Neve fear. It is real. North Bethesda’s boundaries have been defined since at least the 1970s, when the county first drafted the North Bethesda/ Garrett Park Master Plan.
North Bethesda is a census-designated place with defined boundaries. It is bound to the south by the southern portion of I-495, to the west by I-270, to the north by Rockville’s city limits and to the east by Rock Creek Park.
The U.S. Census map of North Bethesda (outlined in gold in center) via the Census website
Neighborhoods inside the census-designated boundaries of North Bethesda include Luxmanor, Wickford, Parkside and Lone Oak, as well as new developments such as Pike & Rose and North Bethesda Market. The property that formerly housed the now-demolished White Flint Mall is also inside the census boundaries, although Garrett Park is not—the neighborhood has its own census-designated boundaries.
As of the 2010 census, North Bethesda had about 44,000 residents, a mostly white (70 percent) population and a median household income of $105,968. The median home price in the area was $524,100 from 2010 to 2014, according to census figures.
To find single family homes for sale in the 20814 zipcode, just click here!
