Metro Environmental Index · MD
What federal data says about air, drinking water, flood, wildfire and earthquake risk across 7 counties. Edition MEI-2026, data as of December 2025, methodology v1.6.
Overall index
One number from 0 to 100 across the domains below. A higher score means lower measured environmental risk. On this measure it sits #57 of 97 among scored metros. It describes the whole metro, not any one home, and it is not a verdict on whether to live here.
How often air monitors in the metro's counties record levels above EPA's health-based standards.
Source: EPA AirData (annual AQI by CBSA; annual concentrations by monitor) (EPA), 2026-07-13.
Health-based violations by the metro's public water systems, against EPA's federal limits. This is system-wide, not what comes out of your tap.
Source: EPA SDWIS (ECHO SDWA bulk: systems, violations, lead 90th percentile) (EPA), 2026-10-14; EPA UCMR 5 (PFAS) (EPA), 2026-10-14.
FEMA's National Risk Index flood measures for the metro's counties.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) (FEMA), 2025-12-16.
FEMA's National Risk Index wildfire measures for the metro's counties.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) (FEMA), 2025-12-16.
FEMA's National Risk Index measures for earthquake, landslide and volcanic activity.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) (FEMA), 2025-12-16.
Scores run 0 to 100, higher meaning lower risk. A domain with too little source data shows a dash. We never estimate one.
How much source data we had for this metro: high. Source coverage: 94% of the metro's population has usable data in the least-covered domain.
A metro score is a starting point
Pipe age, elevation and wildfire exposure can differ a lot within one metro. Enter a ZIP in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson for the same checks at the home level. We only ask for the ZIP.
Compiled by HomeDoc from EPA air and drinking-water data and FEMA’s National Risk Index, scored the same way for every metro and refreshed once a year. Percentiles compare this metro with the other scored metros, and with metros of similar size.
