City · Prince George's County, Maryland

Bowie, Maryland

Bowie is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, part of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area. It has 57,926 residents. Bowie, Maryland has a quality-of-life score of 63 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,741 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Maryland it ranks #172 of 334 cities and towns. It ranks best on child poverty rate (low), natural hazard risk (low) and suicide rate (low). It ranks worst on time spent in the emergency room (high), average commute time (high) and math scores (low).

63High

Quality-of-life score: #5,741 of 15,651 cities and towns
Maryland: #172 of 334 in MD
Population: 57,926 (2020-2024)
Land area: 20 mi²
Density: 2,834.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 2408775

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety27#11,420/15,637
Economy91#1,436/15,631
Housing45#8,307/14,977
Health83#2,644/15,609
Healthcare51#7,669/15,650
Environment66#5,180/15,453
Education48#8,173/15,649
Infrastructure86#2,128/15,650
Community51#7,656/15,651
Leisure & amenities21#12,375/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Bowie, Maryland ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Prince George's County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Child poverty rate · low2.8%
99/100Maryland 11.2%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Natural hazard risk · low1.4
98/100Maryland 4.72025Federal Emergency Management AgencyPrince George's County value
Suicide rate · low6.1 /100k
97/100Maryland 10.0 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataPrince George's County value
Depression · low15.8%
96/100Maryland 19.9%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Frequent mental distress · low13.7%
96/100Maryland 17.0%United States 18.6%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Median household income · high$141,995
94/100Maryland $102,835United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013

Weaknesses

Time spent in the emergency room · high272 min
1/100Maryland 246 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesPrince George's County value
Average commute time · high34.8 min
2/100Maryland 31.0 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Math scores · low2.52
4/100Maryland 2.96United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePrince George's County value
Reading scores · low2.64
6/100Maryland 3.00United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePrince George's County value
Public libraries · low0.2 /10k
7/100Maryland 0.3 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesPrince George's County value
Restaurants and bars · low4.7 /10k
8/100Maryland 7.2 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPrince George's County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Public transit commutersWorsening
10.0% (2015-2019) → 3.0% (2020-2024)
−7.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B08301US 5.0% → 3.2%
Median household incomeImproving
$113,338 (2015-2019) → $141,995 (2020-2024)
+25%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
52.0% (2015-2019) → 48.9% (2020-2024)
−3.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
94.7% (2015-2019) → 97.2% (2020-2024)
+2.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
48.2% (2015-2019) → 50.4% (2020-2024)
+2.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.0× (2015-2019) → 3.2× (2020-2024)
+8.4%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Bowie, Maryland improved on 2 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 10 moved within the margin of error and 1 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Household income+25%$113,338 → $141,995
Broadband+2.5 points94.7% → 97.2%

Declined2

Transit use−7.1 points10.0% → 3.0%
Price / income+0.3×3.0× → 3.2×

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Bowie, Maryland between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	37.2 min2015-2019	34.8 min2020-2024	−2.4 min	Within the margin of error	74%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.2%2015-2019	50.4%2020-2024	+2.2 points	Within the margin of error	45%
Broadband subscriptions	94.7%2015-2019	97.2%2020-2024	+2.5 points	Improved	17%
Child poverty rate	2.4%2015-2019	2.8%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	37%
Effective property tax rate	1.38%2015-2019	1.14%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Little change	66%
High school diploma or higher	95.4%2015-2019	94.1%2020-2024	−1.3 points	Within the margin of error	20%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	3.2×2020-2024	+0.3×	Declined	64%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3622015-2019	0.3722020-2024	+0.010	Within the margin of error	42%
Median household income	$113,3382015-2019	$141,9952020-2024	+25%	Improved	45%
Poverty rate	3.2%2015-2019	3.8%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Public transit commuters	10.0%2015-2019	3.0%2020-2024	−7.1 points	Declined	4%
Rent as share of income	30.9%2015-2019	29.6%2020-2024	−1.3 points	Within the margin of error	64%
Rent-burdened households	52.0%2015-2019	48.9%2020-2024	−3.1 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Unemployment rate	4.8%2015-2019	4.7%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	53%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	4.1%2015-2019	4.6%2020-2024	+0.5 points	Within the margin of error	40%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Bowie, Maryland five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Bowie, Maryland in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Bowie, Maryland itself moved +1.3 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

57,926 residents (±93)

Men
Women

80 and over
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

21,551 households (±581)

Bowie, Maryland
Maryland share

Under $25k5.9%1,264
$25k–50k6.3%1,359
$50k–75k9.1%1,969

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

21,551 households (±581)

Bowie, Maryland
Maryland share

Own84%18,085
Rent16%3,466

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

31,871 workers (±979)

Bowie, Maryland
Maryland share

Drive alone61%19,325
Carpool8.1%2,590
Public transit3.0%943

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Prince George's County, the county holding most of Bowie's residents.

Prince George's County has 16,350 employer establishments, 171 for every 10,000 residents (0.69× the US rate of 248; 0.74× Maryland's), with 276,055 paid employees at an average annual pay of $59,686. The Census Bureau also counts 106,257 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 16,350; 106,257 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 171; US 248 · Maryland 230
Paid employees: 276,055
Average annual pay: $59,686; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Prince George's County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	1,576	16.5	0.79×Fewer than typical	17,852	$65,015	7,109
Restaurants and other eating places	1,327	13.9	0.76×Fewer than typical	25,531	$23,601	666
Specialty trade contractors	1,197	12.5	0.81×About typical	25,533	$79,430	7,583
Limited-service restaurants	875	9.2	1.14×About typical	15,454	$21,543	263
Lessors of real estate	656	6.9	0.56×Fewer than typical	7,029	$70,582	5,488
Construction of buildings	610	6.4	0.84×About typical	4,759	$70,485	4,281
Religious organizations	522	5.5	0.99×About typical	3,450	$38,051	—
Computer systems design and related services	521	5.5	1.26×More than typical	8,498	$106,161	1,162
Management, scientific and technical consulting	486	5.1	0.76×Fewer than typical	9,490	$76,606	4,142
Services to buildings and dwellings	482	5	0.75×Fewer than typical	6,972	$39,008	5,696
Offices of physicians	460	4.8	0.74×Fewer than typical	4,434	$83,854	551
Building equipment contractors	421	4.4	0.73×Fewer than typical	14,753	$88,113	1,763

Rank places for an industry Open Prince George's County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 954,813 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $7.1M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Bowie, Maryland: $122 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $7.1M; −55% vs FY2025
Per resident: $122; US $1,994
Sole-source: 49%; US 30%
Single offer: 13%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Internal Revenue Service$1.5M21%
Department of the Army$1.3M19%
Department of the Navy$741.8K10%
Defense Health Agency$685.1K9.7%
Offices, Boards and Divisions$681.4K9.6%
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources$515.6K7.3%
Federal Aviation Administration$422K6.0%
National Science Foundation$372.2K5.3%

Top recipients

COMPASS LEXECON LLC$1.5M21%
YTI CATERING LLC$728.4K10%
DISTINCTIVE HEALTH SPECTRUM CARE JV LLC$722.5K10%
FTI CONSULTING, INC.$484.3K6.8%
LEGACY MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS LLC$479.2K6.8%

Spending by fiscal year

15MFY2017
24.1MFY2018
45.2MFY2019
35.1MFY2020
27.2MFY2021
29.9MFY2022
21.7MFY2023
15.9M

Top industries (NAICS)

Management, scientific, and technical consulting services · 5416$1.6M22%
Other professional, scientific, and technical services · 5419$1.3M18%
Computer systems design and related services · 5415$882.2K12%
Special food services · 7223$728.4K10%
General medical and surgical hospitals · 6221$722.5K10%
Legal services · 5411

Part of this section could not be loaded in time.

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Bowie, Maryland, so they do not add up across cities.

Bowie, Maryland's figures are part of those of Prince George's County, MD ($3.8B in FY2026), never added to them: 0.2% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Bowie is mostly in Prince George's County.

See federal money in Prince George's County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Bowie, Maryland is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

Angela D. AlsobrooksD-

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Prince George's County51100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV86

Other cities and towns in Prince George's County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2408775

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends