Town · Carroll County, Maryland

Hampstead, Maryland

Hampstead is a town in Carroll County, Maryland, part of the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metro area. It has 6,251 residents. Hampstead, Maryland has a quality-of-life score of 83 out of 100 (very high), ranking #2,620 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Maryland it ranks #103 of 334 cities and towns. It ranks best on math scores (high), reading scores (high) and voter turnout (high). It ranks worst on average commute time (high), drought exposure (high) and time spent in the emergency room (high).

83Very high

Quality-of-life score: #2,620 of 15,651 cities and towns
Maryland: #103 of 334 in MD
Population: 6,251 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 1,825.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 2436500

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.

Safety85#2,301/15,637
Economy74#4,127/15,631
Housing39#9,088/14,977
Health77#3,604/15,609
Healthcare44#8,789/15,650
Environment78#3,465/15,453
Education92#1,297/15,649
Infrastructure75#3,941/15,650
Community83#2,683/15,651
Leisure & amenities46#8,375/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Hampstead, Maryland ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Carroll 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

Math scores · high3.55
98/100Maryland 2.96United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCarroll County value
Reading scores · high3.37
93/100Maryland 3.00United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCarroll County value
Voter turnout · high77.4%
92/100Maryland 68.6%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionCarroll County value
Lack of reliable transportation · low5.3%
91/100Maryland 8.2%United States 8.3%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Uninsured residents (under 65) · low2.1%
91/100Maryland 7.2%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010High uncertainty
Natural hazard risk · low6.3
90/100Maryland 4.72025Federal Emergency Management AgencyCarroll County value

Weaknesses

Average commute time · high30.5 min
8/100Maryland 31.0 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Drought exposure · high83%
9/100Maryland 64%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAACarroll County value
Time spent in the emergency room · high214 min
15/100Maryland 246 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesCarroll County value
New business applications · low9.3 /1k
18/100Maryland 16.2 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauCarroll County value
Primary care shortage · high15.0
21/100Maryland 7.1United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationCarroll County value
Restaurants and bars · low6.3 /10k
23/100Maryland 7.2 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsCarroll County value

Trends

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

Child poverty rateWorsening
4.9% (2015-2019) → 12.8% (2020-2024)
+7.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
89.0% (2015-2019) → 96.6% (2020-2024)
+7.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
59.0% (2015-2019) → 51.6% (2020-2024)
−7.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$77,083 (2015-2019) → $97,871 (2020-2024)
+27%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Average commute timeImproving
40.4 min (2015-2019) → 30.4 min (2020-2024)
−25%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Rent as share of incomeImproving
34.5% (2015-2019) → 30.7% (2020-2024)
−3.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

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, Hampstead, Maryland improved on 3 of 10 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 7 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

Commute−10.0 min40.4 min → 30.4 min
Household income+27%$77,083 → $97,871
Broadband+7.6 points89.0% → 96.6%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Hampstead, Maryland between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	40.4 min2015-2019	30.4 min2020-2024	−10.0 min	Improved	98%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.3%2015-2019	40.4%2020-2024	+3.1 points	Within the margin of error	52%
Broadband subscriptions	89.0%2015-2019	96.6%2020-2024	+7.6 points	Improved	47%
Effective property tax rate	1.20%2015-2019	1.01%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	56%
High school diploma or higher	94.3%2015-2019	97.4%2020-2024	+3.1 points	Within the margin of error	69%
Home price to income ratio	3.2×2015-2019	3.4×2020-2024	+0.2×	Within the margin of error	67%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3902015-2019	0.3882020-2024	−0.002	Within the margin of error	53%
Median household income	$77,0832015-2019	$97,8712020-2024	+27%	Improved	49%
Rent as share of income	34.5%2015-2019	30.7%2020-2024	−3.8 points	Within the margin of error	78%
Rent-burdened households	59.0%2015-2019	51.6%2020-2024	−7.4 points	Within the margin of error	77%

“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 Hampstead, Maryland five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Hampstead, 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, Hampstead, Maryland itself moved +10.1 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

6,251 residents (±41)

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

2,731 households (±202)

Hampstead, Maryland
Maryland share

Under $25k9.2%†251
$25k–50k17%†474
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,731 households (±202)

Hampstead, Maryland
Maryland share

Own80%2,194
Rent20%537

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

3,633 workers (±308)

Hampstead, Maryland
Maryland share

Drive alone79%2,863
Carpool5.5%†198
Public transit0.3%†

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 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD

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 Carroll County, the county holding most of Hampstead's residents.

Carroll County has 4,279 employer establishments, 242 for every 10,000 residents (0.98× the US rate of 248; 1.05× Maryland's), with 53,981 paid employees at an average annual pay of $51,797. The Census Bureau also counts 14,257 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 4,279; 14,257 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 242; US 248 · Maryland 230
Paid employees: 53,981
Average annual pay: $51,797; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Carroll County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	486	27.5	1.78×More than typical	4,560	$68,576	998
Ambulatory health care services	350	19.8	0.95×About typical	3,414	$60,751	702
Restaurants and other eating places	270	15.3	0.83×About typical	5,480	$21,724	41
Construction of buildings	213	12.1	1.59×More than typical	786	$60,682	423
Building equipment contractors	208	11.8	1.96×More than typical	2,158	$67,312	226
Services to buildings and dwellings	186	10.5	1.56×More than typical	1,587	$47,245	756
Lessors of real estate	156	8.8	0.72×Fewer than typical	388	$53,802	1,346
Landscaping services	131	7.4	2.12×More than typical	1,031	$52,256	317
Limited-service restaurants	131	7.4	0.92×About typical	2,476	$18,747	18
Automotive repair and maintenance	129	7.3	1.45×More than typical	654	$56,479	186
Computer systems design and related services	116	6.6	1.52×More than typical	651	$135,902	188
Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors	113	6.4	1.94×More than typical	1,141	$67,642	115

Rank places for an industry Open Carroll County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 176,625 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 $85.4K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Hampstead, Maryland: $13.67 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $85.4K; +166% vs FY2025
Per resident: $13.67; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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

Department of the Army$103.8K100%

Top recipients

ANACAPA MICRO PRODUCTS, INC.$103.8K100%
RIDGE ENGINEERING, LLC.-$18.4K0.0%

Spending by fiscal year

128.6KFY2017
192.7KFY2018
197.4KFY2019
36.1KFY2020
-12KFY2021
6.6KFY2022
16.6KFY2023
24.7KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing · 3341$103.8K100%

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

Hampstead, Maryland's figures are part of those of Carroll County, MD ($49M 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: Hampstead is mostly in Carroll County.

See federal money in Carroll 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.

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

House

Senate

County

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

Carroll County89100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD69

Other cities and towns in Carroll 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/2436500

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends