Ocean City

In West Ocean City, locals can see high-rise condo complexes, Ferris wheels and fishing piers across the Sinepuxent Bay at the Ocean City Beach and Boardwalk. Though the vacation destination is a 2-mile drive over Ocean Gateway’s bridge, Coldwell Banker real estate agent and Ocean City local Jaime Caine says that distance is part of the neighborhood’s appeal. “There are some vacation rentals here, but nowhere near as many as Ocean City Beach. This is where most full-time residents live. You’re near the beach without dealing with the same amount of tourist stuff.” Pocket parks and marinas filled with yachts and center console boats surround the neighborhood’s eastern shore. Locals can shop from 30 nationally known retailers at Outlets Ocean City or grab a bite to eat at a seafood restaurant overlooking the bay. Nearby Assateague State Park has over 850 acres of beaches, sand dunes and salt marsh terrain. Most single-family houses and condo complexes in West Ocean City were built between the 1990s and 2020s. Flowering redbud and pin oak trees shade inland New Traditional homes on quarter-acre lots. Concrete driveways stretch alongside five-bedroom ranch styles lining cul-de-sacs. Wooden fishing piers, boat slips and private swimming pools sit behind waterfront contemporary styles, often painted in shades of yellow and blue. Since 2020, all new construction homes must have a 2-to-3-foot elevation as West Ocean City is in a flood zone. Caine says owners of homes built before 2020 have also added elevation. “After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, most people raised their houses with stilts or concrete. It’s rare to see a house without one of those precautions nowadays.” Inland single families typically cost between $500,000 and $800,000, while waterfront homes sell in the $1 million to $3 million range. There are beige and white mid-rise condo complexes near the water, with two-bedroom units starting at $600,000 and four-bedroom options reaching $1 million. Every summer, multi-color umbrellas and beach chairs fill Ocean City Beach’s 10 miles of sandy shoreline. Visitors spend their days boogie-boarding across waves, building sandcastles and walking along the boardwalk, lined with ice cream parlors, pizzerias and souvenir shops. At night, neon lights from the boardwalk’s several amusement parks make the skyline glow. Screams fill the air as visitors loop around steel rollercoasters at Trimper Rides and play carnival games at Jolly Roger. While Caine says locals occasionally visit Ocean City Beach, Assateague State Park is where they go for a quieter experience. “Locals will go to Ocean City Beach for the amusement parks and restaurants a couple of times during the season, but that’s about it. There isn’t any commercial aspect at Assateague, so we typically prefer that as a less crowded option.” Wild horses graze on American beachgrass surrounding Assateague State Park’s shoreline, a little over 9 miles south of the neighborhood. Great egrets and clapper rails are often seen soaring above the park’s marshland terrain, traversed by a half-mile-long boardwalk hiking trail. Aside from beach proximity, West Ocean City has plenty of its own recreational hubs. For instance, fallen loblolly pine needles cover the nearly mile-long asphalt trail at Herring Creek Nature Park. Bald cypress trees and wax myrtle shrubs surround the nature preserves marshland section, which empties into its namesake creek. Still dubbed “Stinky Beach,” Homer Gudelsky Park was once where commercial fisherman cleaned their catch in the early 1900s. Today, the 1-acre stretch of sand and rock shoreline is no longer known for a foul odor, but it is popular for dog walking and fly fishing with views of the Ocean City Beach skyline. Those without waterfront property will find several places to store a boat, like the Sunset Marina, where slips cost about $6,000 annually. Locals can also race go-karts on Grand Prix’s seven tracks or play mini-golf on Baja Amusement’s 18-hole, safari-themed course. The beige, red and green storefronts of Outlets Ocean City take up nearly 9 acres off Ocean Gateway. The open-air shopping center has retailers like Nike, Old Navy and American Eagle Outfitters. While the same street has locally owned seafood spots and chain restaurants like Outback Steakhouse and Starbucks, Caine says locals and tourists alike go to waterside restaurants more often. “Restaurants on the water will always be the most popular places to eat here. Locals may avoid them during the summer because of tourists, but during the off-season, we’re going to all the same places they do.” Locals can dock their boat at Sunset Grille to sip frozen cocktails under the blue umbrella-shaded patio, where tribute bands and DJs perform every weekend. Rustic wood tables and string lights fill The Shark on the Harbor, a stilt-style restaurant known for its views of a commercial fishing marina and fresh seafood like lump crab cakes covered in lemon-caper aioli. Next door, little neck clams and whole flounder sit on ice at Sea Born Seafood, where locals have purchased fish since 1979. The Food Lion on Stephen Decatur Highway is the only grocery store in the neighborhood. Children here can attend Ocean City Elementary School, graded A by Niche, and Stephen Decatur Middle School, earning an A-minus. They may continue to A-minus-rated Stephen Decatur High School, where Advanced Placement classes include French, world history and drawing. The prekindergarten through 12th grade Seaside Christian Academy is also in the area, just off Ocean Gateway. Though residents may walk or ride bikes along West Ocean City’s wide asphalt roads, the neighborhood is convenient for several types of travel. Ocean Gateway spans the neighborhood’s core, making Annapolis, Baltimore and Washington D.C. less than 150 miles west. The West Ocean City Transit Station on Inlet Isle Lane is a park-and-ride bus station for those traveling to Ocean City Beach. Private planes fly out of Ocean City Municipal Airport, with all traffic patterns going westward. The Salisbury Regional Airport, 26 miles west, offers daily flights with American Airlines, and the closest hospital, Atlantic General Hospital, is 6 miles in the same direction.