Census-designated place · Prince George's County, Maryland

Croom, Maryland

Croom is a census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, part of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area. It has 2,418 residents. Croom, Maryland has a quality-of-life score of 59 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #6,494 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Maryland it ranks #197 of 334 cities and towns. It ranks best on income inequality (Gini index) (low), natural hazard risk (low) and median household income (high). It ranks worst on time spent in the emergency room (high), math scores (low) and average commute time (high).

59Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #6,494 of 15,651 cities and towns
Maryland: #197 of 334 in MD
Population: 2,418 (2020-2024)
Land area: 34 mi²
Density: 70.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 2420925

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
Economy84#2,557/15,631
Housing51#7,293/14,977
Health80#3,154/15,609
Healthcare42#9,039/15,650
Environment66#5,180/15,453
Education36#9,947/15,649
Infrastructure85#2,391/15,650
Community50#7,813/15,651
Leisure & amenities21#12,375/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Croom, 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

Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.274
100/100Maryland 0.456United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Natural hazard risk · low1.4
98/100Maryland 4.72025Federal Emergency Management AgencyPrince George's County value
Median household income · high$187,667
98/100Maryland $102,835United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013
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 · low17.2%
93/100Maryland 19.9%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Distance to an Amtrak station · low6 mi
92/100Maryland 13 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauPrince George's County value

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
Math scores · low2.52
4/100Maryland 2.96United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePrince George's County value
Average commute time · high42.9 min
6/100Maryland 31.0 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
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.

PopulationRising
2,174 (2015-2019) → 2,418 (2020-2024)
+11%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
66.7% (2015-2019) → 14.5% (2020-2024)
−52 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
51.0% (2015-2019) → 17.9% (2020-2024)
−33 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Child poverty rateImproving
33.2% (2015-2019) → 5.4% (2020-2024)
−28 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Median household incomeImproving
$107,279 (2015-2019) → $187,667 (2020-2024)
+75%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
84.4% (2015-2019) → 98.0% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%

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, Croom, Maryland improved on 3 of 8 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 5 moved within the margin of error and 0 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.

Improved3

Inequality−0.1230.397 → 0.274
Household income+75%$107,279 → $187,667
Broadband+14 points84.4% → 98.0%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 8 measures

Change of every measure of Croom, Maryland between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	46.4 min2015-2019	42.9 min2020-2024	−3.5 min	Within the margin of error	83%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.8%2015-2019	43.6%2020-2024	+1.9 points	Within the margin of error	42%
Broadband subscriptions	84.4%2015-2019	98.0%2020-2024	+14 points	Improved	75%
Effective property tax rate	1.05%2015-2019	0.84%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	60%
High school diploma or higher	96.8%2015-2019	97.9%2020-2024	+1.1 points	Within the margin of error	48%
Home price to income ratio	4.4×2015-2019	3.4×2020-2024	−1.0×	Within the margin of error	98%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3972015-2019	0.2742020-2024	−0.123	Improved	98%
Median household income	$107,2792015-2019	$187,6672020-2024	+75%	Improved	96%

“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 Croom, Maryland five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Croom, 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, Croom, Maryland itself moved +13.8 points in standing on average over the same 8 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

2,418 residents (±578)

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

938 households (±190)

Croom, Maryland
Maryland share

Under $25k1.3%†12
$25k–50k2.3%†22
$50k–75k7.8%†

Homes

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

Owners and renters

938 households (±190)

Croom, Maryland
Maryland share

Own91%855
Rent8.8%†83

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

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

1,273 workers (±310)

Croom, Maryland
Maryland share

Drive alone59%†751
Carpool3.5%†45
Public transit

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 Croom'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 $6.4M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Croom, Maryland: $2,641 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $6.4M; −50% vs FY2025
Per resident: $2,641; US $1,994
Sole-source: 82%; US 30%
Single offer: 1.2%; 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

Federal Bureau of Investigation$2M31%
Offices, Boards and Divisions$1.5M23%
Office of Procurement Operations$984.6K15%
Department of Housing and Urban Development$688.8K11%
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acquisition and Property Management Division$495.6K7.8%
Department of the Navy$268.6K4.2%
Federal Aviation Administration$233.8K3.7%
Department of Energy$91.5K1.4%

Top recipients

MELWOOD HORTICULTURAL TRAINING CENTER, INC.$4M63%
CANDOR SOLUTIONS LLC$984.6K15%
MALMAR LLC$688.8K11%
CCI FACILITY SUPPORT SERVICES, LLC$268.6K4.2%
SMART1 MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS LLC$233.8K3.7%

Spending by fiscal year

4.1MFY2017
3.7MFY2018
4.8MFY2019
3.2MFY2020
3.4MFY2021
9.6MFY2022
9MFY2023
9.9M

Top industries (NAICS)

Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$2.1M33%
Management, scientific, and technical consulting services · 5416$1.6M25%
Business support services · 5614$1.2M18%
Computer systems design and related services · 5415$918.7K14%
Facilities support services · 5612$331.9K5.2%

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 Croom, Maryland, so they do not add up across cities.

Croom, 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: Croom 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.

Croom, 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/2420925

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends