Best Places02720, MA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 02720, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

02720 ranks 17,162nd of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.

#17,162
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 02720

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 02720 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

02720's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Walkability
Top 10%Transit
Top 10%Cell coverage
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 02720 with other zip codes.

Where 02720 ranks high

  • WalkabilityBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • TransitBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • Cell coverageBetter than 91% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than 89% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 88% of zip codes

Where 02720 ranks low

  • Cheap childcare$1,514 a month, better than only 5% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 8% of zip codes
  • School gradeD, better than only 8% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 17% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 02720

A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 02720 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $70,495, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$106,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,476
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $397,370 home
Median rent
$1,332
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,026
Property tax$318
Homeowners insurance$132

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 02720's effective rate of 0.96%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 02720

02720's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
42
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
18%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.1
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1816%
18 to 3424%
35 to 4921%
50 to 6420%
65 and older18%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 02720.


Who works in 02720, and how

Work in 02720 centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
7%
below the national average
Unemployment
7.6%
above the national average
Job growth
−0.1%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social20%
Manufacturing13%
Retail trade12%
Construction8%
Other services7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 87%
  • Work from home 7%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 6%

Life in 02720

02720 has more parkland per resident than 86% of zip codes. The coast is about 17 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of 02720 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
103
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 34.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 50% of zip codes
Coffee shops
12
about 4.0 per 10,000 residents, more than 60% of zip codes
Parkland
254 acres
about 8.4 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 86% of zip codes
To the coast
17 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 02720, month by month

02720 sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January43°33°23°
April60°48°37°
July86°74°63°
October68°56°45°

Flying in and out of 02720

The nearest airport, Rhode Island Tf Green International, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 45 miles away.

Nearest airport
PVD
Rhode Island Tf Green International, about 15 miles
Airport size
Small hub
72nd-busiest in the US, 55 nonstop destinations
Average drive
21 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 02720

Schools across 02720 average a D, better than 8% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 02720 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


02720 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 02720 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 02720 suits

Families

Schools land around the 8th percentile and crime safety beats 67%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

7% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 02720

Is 02720 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 02720 ranks 17,162nd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and cell coverage, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 02720 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $397,370. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $70,495 median income, cost of living beats 28% of zip codes.

Is 02720 safe?

Yes, 02720 is safer than 67% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 02720?

July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 23. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 41% of zip codes.

Is 02720 good for families?

Schools beat 8% of zip codes, crime safety beats 67%, and childcare runs $1,514 a month.


Compare 02720 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 02720. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 02720 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

02720 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 02720: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 02720: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 02720: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 02720: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

02720 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.