Crofton Town Hall is the kind of place where visitors knock before entering -- it's a little white-shingled house on a residential street, and the receptionist hollers a greeting from the top of the stairs.
It's just around the corner from the school and playground where the annual Easter egg hunt is held.
Not far is the Crofton Country Club, where hundreds flock at Christmastime to welcome Santa riding on a fire truck.
"If you're in the family business, you can really settle down and enjoy it here," said Stephen Donnelly, president of the Walden Community Association.
Money magazine agrees, ranking the community 72nd on its 20th annual "Best Places to Live" list last week, noting its proximity to Baltimore and Washington, affordable housing, successful schools and open space, with a number of walking paths and country clubs at residents' disposal.
It was one of only five Maryland communities named to the list, winnowed down from nearly 3,000 towns across America with populations between 7,500 and 50,000 -- Crofton has about 20,000. The others in the state were 17th-ranked Olney, 42nd-ranked Elkridge, 49th-ranked Catonsville and 56th-ranked Eldersburg.
Money's editors and reporters whittled down the list based on job availability, average income and cost-of-living data, housing affordability, quality of schools, art and leisure, public safety, health care access and racial and ethnic diversity. Only one town per county made it to the final list, said Jennifer Merritt, special projects editor for Money.
According to Money's findings, Crofton's median yearly family income is $102,237 and the median home price is $391,760.
Because of the resources and amenities available, town leaders said Crofton has dodged the slowdown in the real estate market. It continues to bring in young families, filling -- often past capacity -- the three elementary schools, one middle school and two high schools that serve its children.
Maggie Schubert, whose sons will enter the second and fifth grades at Crofton Elementary in the fall, attributes the success of Crofton schools to parents' participation and the outstanding faculty.
"The level of parental involvement is what really sets our schools apart," said Schubert, the school's PTA president. "Even though the class sizes may be big, there is a lot of individual attention. They really work hard to get to know the kids."
The central part of Crofton, which started as a gated community in 1964, functions as a kind of "quasi-government" run by the Crofton Civic Association, said Town Manager Larry Schweinsburg. Residents in the Crofton "triangle," a designated area between Route 3, Route 450 and Davidsonville Road, pay special Crofton taxes to fund the Town Hall, which employs five administrative staffers and a six-person police department.
Schweinsburg served as the Crofton police chief for eight years before being appointed town manager this year, and said the department mainly deals with smaller crimes and speed enforcement.
"There is almost no violent crime in Crofton," Schweinsburg said.
Schubert said the area is a mixed community filled with young families and empty nesters.
"Inside the triangle, the original owners of houses [are now selling to] families with young children," she said. To her, Crofton is still a small town where her two sons can play basketball, baseball, football and soccer in between their time in Cub Scout troops. It's a convenient location for her husband, as well, who commutes to his job in Arlington, Va.
"I just love living here," said resident Melinda Grimaud. "It's peaceful, and people are always pleasant. You feel like your neighbors are watching out for you."
When she learned that her town had been ranked by Money, she immediately called her brother in Lake Oswego, Ore., to brag.
"Then he told me he was ranked No. 32," Grimaud said.
rochelle.mcconkie@baltsun.com