Laurel is a Maryland, U.S. city located midway between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore with many of its residents commuting by rail to jobs in Washington or Baltimore and is traversed from north to south by U.S. Route 1, which links Key West, Florida with the Canadian border in Maine. The census in 2000 has Laurel's population at 19,960 and the official population estimate in 2006 for Laurel city was 21,945. Laurel is in close proximity to Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, the Fort Meade Army base, and the National Security Agency (NSA). It is close to Laurel Park Racecourse, a horse racetrack in Anne Arundel County. Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport are both within about 25 miles of Laurel and two MARC train stations on the Camden Line to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. are located in Laurel.

REAL ESTATE
The Laurel real estate market, like other areas across the country, is currently a a buyers market with great listings and selling well. With the anticipated BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure process or military restructuring) within the next couple of years, housing in Laurel will be in big demand. Click here to view Laurel MD real estate listings.

EDUCATION
Prince George's County Public Schools serves Laurel's residents with several elementary and middle school within Laurel's city limits. Two public middle schools in the Laurel area, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Martin Luther King Jr. Middle Schools in Prince George's County, serve the actual city of Laurel. Areas outside Laurel city limits are included in either Prince George's County, Anne Arundel County or Howard County Public Schools. There is also an alternative middle and high school near Laurel called Oak Hill Academy. Post-secondary is minutes away to several universities including Georgetown University, George Washington University, and the University of Maryland-College Park.

SHOPPING AND RECREATION
Within city limits, Laurel has eleven city parks, three athletic fields, and three community centers, as well as a municipal swimming pool and tennis courts. Southwest of the city limits, is The Fairland Sports and Athletic Complex on the grounds of the Fairland Regional Park, offering a broad variety of activities including swimming, gymnastics, tennis, racquetball, weight training, child sitting, and massage therapy. Fairland Regional Park also includes The Gardens Ice House skating facility which offers public skating, figure skating, hockey, speed skating, and curling, basketball and lacrosse. North of the city limits has the Laurel Roller Skating Center.