Best PlacesCenterbrook, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Centerbrook, 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.
Centerbrook ranks 2,283rd 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 Centerbrook
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.
Centerbrook's strengths and weaknesses
Where Centerbrook ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of towns
Where Centerbrook ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,583 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Centerbrook
A household needs to earn about $124,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Centerbrook home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $111,181; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Centerbrook's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 Centerbrook
Centerbrook 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 Centerbrook.
Who works in Centerbrook, and how
Work in Centerbrook centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Centerbrook
The coast is about 8 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Centerbrook, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Centerbrook, month by month
Centerbrook sees roughly 80 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.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 59° | 50° | 42° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Centerbrook
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 44 miles away.
The best schools in and around Centerbrook
Schools across Centerbrook average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Essex Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Kathleen E. Goodwin SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Old Saybrook Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- John Winthrop Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Valley Regional High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Old Saybrook Senior High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Centerbrook school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Centerbrook 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 Centerbrook against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Centerbrook
Is Centerbrook a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Centerbrook ranks 2,283rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Centerbrook expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $458,544. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $111,181 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Centerbrook safe?
Yes, Centerbrook is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $141 per resident a year.
Compare Centerbrook with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Centerbrook. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Centerbrook 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.
Centerbrook detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Centerbrook: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Centerbrook: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Centerbrook: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Centerbrook: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Centerbrook 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.