Best PlacesAtlantic City, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Atlantic City metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Atlantic City ranks 284th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and clean air. The cost shows up in state finances, an overheated housing market, and empty homes.
The best neighborhoods in the Atlantic City metro
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.
The best areas in Atlantic City
The towns and districts of the Atlantic City metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Ocean View, Marmora & Sea Isle City
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
Egg Harbor Township & Somers Point
Crime runs lower and more households have young kids.
Mays Landing & Egg Harbor City
Fewer homes sit empty and tree cover is thicker.
Absecon, Pomona & Smithville
Streets are more car-dependent and it is noisier.
Hammonton
Disaster risk is lower, though biking is worse.
Cape May Court House, Cape May & Villas
Commutes are shorter, though prices have run up more.
Downtown Atlantic City
Local pay stretches less far and health care is harder to reach.
Atlantic City shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 7%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Atlantic City's strengths and weaknesses
Atlantic City lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access, clean air, and walkability carry most of that.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. An overheated housing market and empty homes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Atlantic City ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 86% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 80% of metro areas
Where Atlantic City ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Atlantic City
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Atlantic City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $88,745, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Atlantic City's effective rate of 1.82%, 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.
Who lives in Atlantic City
Atlantic City runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Atlantic City.
Who works in Atlantic City, and how
Work in Atlantic City centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Atlantic City
Atlantic City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Atlantic City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Atlantic City growing, and who is moving in?
Atlantic City has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Philadelphia, PA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Atlantic City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Atlantic City, month by month
Atlantic City sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 42° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Atlantic City
The nearest airport, Atlantic City International, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Atlantic City
Schools across Atlantic City average a D+, better than 7% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Arthur Rann Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Smithville Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Richmond Avenue SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Galloway Township Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Absegami High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Atlantic City High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Atlantic City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Atlantic City 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 Atlantic City against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Atlantic City suits
Families
Schools land around the 7th percentile and crime safety beats 57%.
Common questions about living in Atlantic City
Is Atlantic City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Atlantic City ranks 284th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on big-city access, clean air, and walkability, and lowest on state finances and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Atlantic City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $362,258. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $88,745 median income, cost of living beats 49% of metro areas.
Is Atlantic City safe?
Yes, Atlantic City is safer than 57% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $230 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Atlantic City?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 26. That works out to about 60 pleasant days a year, more than 4% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Atlantic City?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Ocean View, Marmora & Sea Isle City, Egg Harbor Township & Somers Point, and Mays Landing & Egg Harbor City. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Atlantic City good for families?
Schools beat 7% of metro areas, crime safety beats 57%, and childcare runs $1,356 a month.
Is Atlantic City good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 49% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 18% of metro areas. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Atlantic City with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Atlantic City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Atlantic City 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.
Atlantic City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Atlantic City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Atlantic City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Atlantic City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Atlantic City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Atlantic City detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.