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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Bethesda, MD
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Bethesda profile


Living in Bethesda



Bethesda is a larger medium-sized town located in the state of Maryland. With a population of 68,056 people and 20 associated neighborhoods, Bethesda is the tenth largest community in Maryland.

Bethesda home prices are not only among the most expensive in Maryland, but Bethesda real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Bethesda has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.

Also of interest is that Bethesda has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Of important note, Bethesda is also a town of artists. Bethesda has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Bethesda’s character.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 31.31% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

One thing noticeable about Bethesda, although not a huge town, is that it has a large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. That’s because Bethesda is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Bethesda a pretty good place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

In addition to being popular with young singles, Bethesda is also home to many people who can be described as "urban sophisticates". Urban sophisticates are educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums.

One downside of living in Bethesda is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Bethesda, the average commute to work is 31.02 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the town, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the town are by private automobile, Bethesda is somewhat unusual for a town of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the subway helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Bethesda area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Bethesda, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Bethesda is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 87.66% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in Bethesda in 2018 was $116,088, which is wealthy relative to Maryland and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $464,352 for a family of four.

Bethesda is a very ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Bethesda home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Bethesda residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Bethesda include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Russian.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Bethesda's cultural character, accounting for 24.38% of the town’s population.

The most common language spoken in Bethesda is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.