Greenbelt

About Greenbelt

Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,921.

Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental New Deal Greenbelt Towns, the others being Greenhills, Ohio, and Greendale, Wisconsin. Greenbelt was planned and built by the federal government as an all-White town. The cooperative community was conceived in 1935 by Undersecretary of Agriculture Rexford Tugwell, whose perceived collectivist ideology attracted opposition to the Greenbelt Towns project throughout its short duration. The project came into legal existence on April 8, 1935, when Congress passed the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935. Under the authority granted to him by this legislation, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order, on May 1, 1935, establishing the United States Resettlement Administration (RA/RRA).

First called Maryland Special Project No. 1, the project was officially named Greenbelt when the Division of Suburban Resettlement of the Resettlement Administration began construction, on January 13, 1936, about eight miles north of Washington. The complete Greenbelt plans were reviewed at the White House by President Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on April 30, 1936. The first tenants, after selection in a stringent application process, moved in to the town on September 30, 1937. The construction consisted of structures built in the Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, and Bauhaus architectural styles.

Greenbelt is credited as a historic milestone in urban development because it was the initial model for the privately constructed suburban Washington, D.C., planned cities of Reston, Virginia, and Columbia, Maryland.

The original federally-built core of the city, known locally as Old Greenbelt, was recognized as the Greenbelt Historic District by the Maryland Historical Trust, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark District.

Greenbelt's population, which includes residents of privately built dwellings dating from after the end of the federal government's ownership of the city, was recorded as 23,068 at the 2010 U.S. census and 24,921 at the 2020 census.

Text: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Greenbelt weather: 7-day forecast

Source: National Weather Service (NOAA).

Live webcams in Greenbelt

Webcams: Windy.com

Living in Greenbelt

Median household income

$85,997

Median home value

$255,400

Median rent

$1,848/mo

Median age

34.6

Map of Greenbelt

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Greenbelt Street View

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Greenbelt, MD population

Greenbelt had 24,921 residents in the 2020 Census.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Decennial Census.

Greenbelt at a glance

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (Gazetteer, ZCTA), USGS GNIS, Wikidata.

Towns near Greenbelt

• Berwyn Heights1.5 mi W
• New Carrollton2.1 mi S
• Seabrook2.1 mi SE
• College Park2.7 mi W
• East Riverdale2.8 mi SW
• Riverdale Park3.0 mi SW
• Woodlawn3.2 mi S
• Lanham3.3 mi SE
• University Park3.5 mi SW
• Landover Hills3.6 mi S
• Beltsville3.6 mi NW
• Edmonston3.9 mi SW

Straight-line distance between town centers.

Frequently asked questions about Greenbelt