Best PlacesBethany, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bethany, 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.
Bethany ranks 629th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bethany
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.
Bethany's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bethany ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$163,503 median, better than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
Where Bethany ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,583 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bethany
A household needs to earn about $129,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bethany home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $163,503, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Bethany's effective rate of 1.93%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Bethany
Bethany runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bethany.
Who works in Bethany, and how
Work in Bethany centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Bethany
The coast is about 20 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Bethany, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bethany, month by month
Bethany sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Bethany
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 39 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bethany
Schools across Bethany average an A, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Beecher Road SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Bethany Community SchoolA · 67% proficient
- West Woods SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Amity Middle School: BethanyA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Amity Regional High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Cheshire High SchoolA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bethany school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bethany 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 Bethany against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bethany
Is Bethany a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bethany ranks 629th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bethany expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $426,832. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $163,503 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Bethany safe?
Yes, Bethany is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $174 per resident a year.
Compare Bethany with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bethany. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bethany 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.
Bethany detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bethany: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bethany: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bethany: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bethany: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bethany 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.