Don't tell the people living west of East-West Highway, but folks to the east are paying hundreds less per month in rent. And east of Fenton Street? Prices go down even more. 

This is all according to the American Community Survey, a yearly product of the Census Bureau that helps local governments know key demographic information about residents. A website, www.richblockspoorblocks.com, plugged in the rental price numbers for 2007-2011 and created color-coded maps that show where people are paying the most to live. 

For downtown Silver Spring, the money district is a small, oddly shaped swath running to the east of 16th Street and Eastern Avenue, bounded by Newell Street to the South, East-West Highway to the east and the Metro tracks to the northeast. In this census tract (named 7026.01), the median rental price is $1,588.00, give or take about $58. (This census tract also include the Silver Spring Metro station and housing in the immediate vicinity.) 

That's about $300 more than the area to the east of the highway, where the median price for rent is $1,290. 

Frankly, though, everyone in downtown Silver Spring is paying a lot more than the state mid-range, said to be $877 to $1,072. 

Check out the maps, attached to this article, which show the census tracts colored in shades ranging from yellow to deep red. The darker the color, the more money paid in rent. Head to RichBlocksPoorBlocks.com to fool around with their widget and find out what our neighbors in other parts of the county pay. Not suprisingly, the areas super-close to Metrorail trains in all parts of the county were the most expensive. 

Here's a chart of the census tracts in the immediate downtown area, their corresponding boundaries and the median rent:

What do you think? Is that about on-par with what you pay?