Dayton, Maryland.
Typical home $1,083,937 (+3.8% in a year). Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$3,096 (+119%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $39,312 +4%
- $1,044,625$1,083,937 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $237,080 +28%
- $846,857$1,083,937 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Dayton$5,689
- Maryland$2,230
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 14 years.
Typical home values in Dayton, MD rose 3.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Dayton, Howard County, Maryland
The Census does not count Dayton on its own, so the figures here are Howard County's. Half the county's households earn more than $149,763 a year and half less; 5% of the county's people live below the poverty line. 72% of the county's homes are lived in by their owners and 28% are rented. Unemployment in Howard County was 3.4% in August 2026, and the county had 0.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Howard County work in schools and health care, then professional services.
Written by AI Claude Haiku 5.5 wrote this on 22 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Dayton is a community within Howard County in central Maryland. Its residents share the county's mix of established neighborhoods, many of them owned by the families who live in them. Most homes here are lived in by their owners, and the county's typical home value is among the highest in the state.
Work. Across Howard County, many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, professional and business services, government, and retail. A high share of adults hold a four-year degree, and incomes are higher than in most of the country. Unemployment has eased over the past year, while the number of jobs dipped slightly. Winters are cold with snow at times, summers are hot, and rain falls heavily throughout the year.
Things to do. The Washington Monument, a protected area, is a longer drive away and is one of the best known landmarks in the capital. The Smithsonian Institution, a museum, is also a longer drive away and is a common destination for visitors. The National Mall, a park, lies a longer drive away and is a good place to walk among the memorials and museums.
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- 121,065households
- 39.8median age
- 64%of adults have a degree
- 5%below the poverty line
- 28 mintypical commute
- 26%work from home
What people in Howard County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Howard County had 173,088 jobs in 2025, 0.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 43° and lows near 26°; warmest in July, with highs near 89° and lows near 69°. About 48 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Laurel West weather station, 12 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Howard County
- Howard County Public SchoolsSchool district8,861FTE
- Howard CountyGeneral hospital1,492FTE
- Howard Community CollegeTwo-year college1,148
- FroneriCustard, frozen, manufacturing893
- Advarra -MarylandLaboratory testing services, medical818
- Maxim Healthcare ServicesHome health care agencies812
- Giant FoodGeneral warehousing and storag766
- Globus MedicalNeurologists' offices682
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 290 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 41,136 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- DroughtRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Howard County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Howard County and the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metro.
Dayton home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Dayton$1,083,937
- Maryland$424,890
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Dayton8
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Dayton address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Dayton — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.