Best Places06456, CT Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 06456, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

06456 ranks 3,389th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.

#3,389
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 06456

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 06456 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.

06456's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Civic engagement
Top 3%Few empty homes
Top 3%Tree cover
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 06456 with other zip codes.

Where 06456 ranks high

  • Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of zip codes

Where 06456 ranks low

  • Cheap childcare$1,583 a month, better than only 4% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than only 4% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 06456

A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 06456 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $124,583, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$107,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,502
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $357,400 home

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,822
Property tax$560
Homeowners insurance$119

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 06456's effective rate of 1.88%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.


Who lives in 06456

06456 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
54
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
22%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 189%
18 to 3422%
35 to 4924%
50 to 6424%
65 and older22%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 06456.


Who works in 06456, and how

Work in 06456 centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
23%
above the national average
Unemployment
17.7%
above the national average
Job growth
+20.6%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social26%
Education19%
Finance & insurance12%
Construction9%
Manufacturing8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 73%
  • Work from home 23%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in 06456

The coast is about 35 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 06456, which the map shows.

To the coast
35 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 06456, month by month

06456 sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 26. 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
January40°32°26°
April59°50°42°
July85°75°67°
October66°57°49°

Flying in and out of 06456

The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 27 miles away.

Nearest airport
HVN
Tweed/New Haven, about 27 miles
Airport size
Small hub
122nd-busiest in the US, 41 nonstop destinations
Average drive
38 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 06456

Schools across 06456 average a B+, better than 76% 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 06456 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


06456 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 06456 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 06456

Is 06456 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 06456 ranks 3,389th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on civic engagement, few empty homes, and tree cover, and lowest on childcare costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 06456 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $357,400. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $124,583 median income, cost of living beats 94% of zip codes.

Is 06456 safe?

Yes, 06456 is safer than 86% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $150 per resident a year.


Compare 06456 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 06456. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 06456 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.

06456 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 06456: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 06456: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 06456: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 06456: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

06456 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.