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Ranked · Franchise expansion · Maryland

Best cities to expand a franchise in Maryland

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Franchise expansion” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on businesses per 1k residents, median household income, avg. weekly wage, crime index. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

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Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Waldorf, MD83k residents

    82/100

    population: 83k · median household income: $116,089 · crime index: 52/100

  2. 2.Bowie, MD58k residents

    69/100

    population: 58k · median household income: $141,995 · crime index: 52/100

  3. 3.Fort Washington, MD25k residents

    69/100

    population: 25k · median household income: $143,333 · crime index: 52/100

  4. 4.Clinton, MD38k residents

    67/100

    population: 38k · median household income: $124,803 · crime index: 52/100

  5. 5.Hagerstown, MD44k residents

    64/100

    population: 44k · median household income: $52,221 · crime index: 52/100

  6. 6.Salisbury, MD33k residents

    64/100

    population: 33k · median household income: $58,576 · crime index: 52/100

  7. 7.Laurel, MD30k residents

    64/100

    population: 30k · median household income: $100,504 · crime index: 52/100

  8. 8.Frederick, MD83k residents

    61/100

    population: 83k · median household income: $97,069 · crime index: 52/100

  9. 9.College Park, MD35k residents

    61/100

    population: 35k · median household income: $69,721 · crime index: 52/100

  10. 10.Ilchester, MD28k residents

    61/100

    population: 28k · median household income: $152,103 · crime index: 52/100

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best to expand a franchise in Maryland?
Waldorf, MD ranks first with a fit score of 82/100, followed by Bowie (69) and Fort Washington (69), using the "Franchise expansion" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on businesses per 1k residents, median household income, avg. weekly wage, crime index, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.