Best PlacesBrainards, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brainards, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Brainards ranks 27,414th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Brainards
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.
Brainards' strengths and weaknesses
Where Brainards ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 86% of towns
Where Brainards ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,353 a month, better than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brainards
A household needs to earn about $105,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brainards home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,278, 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 Brainards' effective rate of 1.75%, 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 Brainards
Brainards runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Brainards.
Who works in Brainards, and how
Work in Brainards centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Brainards
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Brainards.
What the weather is like in Brainards, month by month
Brainards sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 40° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Brainards
The nearest airport, Lehigh Valley International, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brainards
Schools across Brainards average a C, better than 29% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Harmony Township SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Phillipsburg High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brainards school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brainards 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 Brainards against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brainards
Is Brainards a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brainards ranks 27,414th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, few empty homes, and big-city access, and lowest on state finances and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brainards expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $355,776. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $78,278 median income, cost of living beats 49% of towns.
Is Brainards safe?
Yes, Brainards is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $172 per resident a year.
Compare Brainards with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brainards. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brainards 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.
Brainards detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brainards: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brainards: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brainards: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brainards: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brainards 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.