Shady Side, MD population, income and ZIP codes

Shady Side CDP is a small town in Maryland, with 4,460 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #214 of 536 ranked by population — larger than 60% of them. The median age here is 50 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Shady Side CDP earn a median of $138,346 a year, 76.2% above the national figure of $78,538 and 27% above the $109,026 median for the 332 Maryland cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 5% of residents here, less than half the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Shady Side CDP is valued at $446,800, 47.3% above the national figure and 12% above the $397,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $2,204 a month, 56.8% above the national figure, or roughly $26,448 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 19.1% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 3.2×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 87.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

A median age of 50 puts Shady Side CDP well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.