Best PlacesCranston, RI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cranston, 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.
Cranston ranks 1,122nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. State finances pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Cranston
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 Cranston
The parts of Cranston, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Oaklawn
Wayland & Meshanticut
Thornton
Auburn, Bellefonte & Edgewood
Reservoir
Garden City
Knightsville
Scores across Cranston run from about the 17th to the 93rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Cranston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cranston ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 83% of cities
- TransitBetter than 80% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 75% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 75% of cities
Where Cranston ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 16% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Cranston
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cranston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $96,813; 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 Cranston's effective rate of 1.29%, 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 Cranston
Cranston's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cranston.
Who works in Cranston, and how
Work in Cranston centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cranston
Cranston has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. The coast is about 30 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cranston and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cranston, month by month
Cranston sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Cranston
The nearest airport, Rhode Island Tf Green International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 47 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cranston
Schools across Cranston average a D, better than 6% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Oak Lawn SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Stone Hill SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Edward S. Rhodes SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hope Highlands Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Scituate Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Western Hills Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Cranston High School WestB− · 43% proficient
- Toll Gate High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Scituate High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cranston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cranston 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 Cranston against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Cranston suits
Families
Schools land around the 6th percentile and crime safety beats 65%.
Common questions about living in Cranston
Is Cranston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cranston ranks 1,122nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on walkability, clean air, and transit, and lowest on state finances and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cranston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $385,819. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $96,813 median income, cost of living beats 52% of cities.
Is Cranston safe?
Yes, Cranston is safer than 65% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $203 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cranston?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 23. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cranston?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Oaklawn, Wayland & Meshanticut, and Thornton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Cranston with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cranston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cranston 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.
Cranston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cranston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cranston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cranston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cranston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cranston 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.