Best PlacesAvalon, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Avalon, 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.
Avalon ranks 15,007th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Avalon
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.
Avalon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Avalon ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
Where Avalon ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,358 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Avalon
A household needs to earn about $445,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Avalon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $140,512, 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 Avalon's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Avalon
Avalon runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Avalon.
Who works in Avalon, and how
Work in Avalon centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 58%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Avalon
Avalon has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. The coast is about 2 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Avalon and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Avalon, month by month
Avalon sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 37° | 29° |
| April | 65° | 54° | 45° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 61° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Avalon
The nearest airport, Atlantic City International, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around Avalon
Schools across Avalon average a C, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stone Harbor Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Avalon Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Dennis Township Elementary/middle SchoolsC− · 29% proficient
- Middle Township Elementary #4D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Middle Township High SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Avalon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Avalon 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 Avalon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Avalon
Is Avalon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Avalon ranks 15,007th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, biking, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Avalon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,781,628. The overall cost of living runs about 77% above the national average. Set against a $140,512 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Avalon safe?
Avalon is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $403 per resident a year.
Compare Avalon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Avalon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Avalon 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.
Avalon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Avalon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Avalon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Avalon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Avalon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Avalon 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.
- 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.