Settlement in the Pikesville community began in 1770 before the American Revolutionary War. At the recommendation of Dr. James Smith of Sudbrook Park, the town was named after the famous Western explorer, General Zebulon Pike.

After the Civil War, Pikesville began to develop as a resort community. This resort atmosphere prevailed until the 1930’s when the Pikesville community was more fully developed as a predominately Christian community. Gradually, the Jewish population from East Baltimore migrated to the northwest area of Baltimore City just south of Pikesville. Pikesville High School resides three blocks north of the city/county line. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, the Pikesville community continued to attract Jewish families to the area.

Thus, at this time, the Pikesville community has a predominately Jewish population that has remained relatively stable over the last thirty-six years. When Pikesville opened in 1964, the student body was ninety-two percent Jewish and eight percent non-Jewish. In the 670 member student population of 1964, there were five African-Americans.

Although the predominately Jewish population remains in 2005, significant aspects of the over-all student population have changed in the last ten years. As of August 2005, approximately seventy percent of the student body is Jewish. There has been an increase in the number of non-Jewish students. The remaining thirty percent is represented by African-Americans, Asians, Hispanic, and other minorities.

There were 12,747 households out of which 24.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.9% were married couples living together, 7.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.1% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.81.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 19.7% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 24.4% from 25 to 44, 27.0% from 45 to 64, and 23.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 86.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.0 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $58,598, and the median income for a family was $78,002. Males had a median income of $52,079 versus $37,179 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $41,035. About 5.0% of families and 6.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.4% of those under age 18 and 11.5% of those age 65 or over.

In 2000, 19.3% of Pikesville residents identified as being of Russian heritage. This was the highest percentage of Russian Americans of any place in the United States.