Best PlacesDupont Circle, Washington, DC Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Dupont Circle, Washington, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Dupont Circle, Washington ranks 1,014th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.

#1,014
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
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The best neighborhoods in Dupont Circle, Washington

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Dupont Circle, Washington area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
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National median
Worse match Better match
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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.

Dupont Circle, Washington's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%State infrastructure
Top 1%Population health
Top 3%Cell coverage
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Dupont Circle, Washington with other neighborhoods.

Where Dupont Circle, Washington ranks high

  • State infrastructureBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
  • Health outlookBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
  • Cell coverageBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
  • Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
  • WalkabilityBetter than 98% of neighborhoods

Where Dupont Circle, Washington ranks low

  • Cheap childcare$2,143 a month, better than only 3% of neighborhoods
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of neighborhoods
  • Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of neighborhoods
  • Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of neighborhoods
  • QuietBetter than only 21% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Dupont Circle, Washington

A household needs to earn about $149,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dupont Circle, Washington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $123,734, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$149,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,474
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $584,702 home
Median rent
$2,372
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,981
Property tax$298
Homeowners insurance$195

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 Dupont Circle, Washington's effective rate of 0.61%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Dupont Circle, Washington

Dupont Circle, Washington runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
35
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
13%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
1.5
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 184%
18 to 3444%
35 to 4926%
50 to 6414%
65 and older13%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dupont Circle, Washington.


Who works in Dupont Circle, Washington, and how

Work in Dupont Circle, Washington centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
36%
above the national average
Unemployment
2.1%
below the national average
Job growth
−2.9%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical33%
Public administration19%
Other services10%
Education8%
Finance & insurance5%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 10%
  • Work from home 36%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 54%

Life in Dupont Circle, Washington

Dupont Circle, Washington has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of neighborhoods and more late-night spots per resident than 89% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 24 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Dupont Circle, Washington and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
283
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 182.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 89% of neighborhoods
Coffee shops
38
about 24.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 90% of neighborhoods
Open past 10pm
~107
food and drink venues open late, about 69.0 per 10,000 residents, more than 89% of neighborhoods
To the coast
24 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in Dupont Circle, Washington, month by month

Dupont Circle, Washington sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January49°38°30°
April72°59°48°
July92°81°73°
October74°63°53°

Flying in and out of Dupont Circle, Washington

Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 4 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.0 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
DCA
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl, about 4 miles
Airport size
Large hub
28th-busiest in the US, 128 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

Dupont Circle, Washington 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 Dupont Circle, Washington against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in Dupont Circle, Washington

Is Dupont Circle, Washington a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dupont Circle, Washington ranks 1,014th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on state infrastructure, population health, and cell coverage, and lowest on childcare costs and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Dupont Circle, Washington expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $584,702. The overall cost of living runs about 60% above the national average. Set against a $123,734 median income, cost of living beats 61% of neighborhoods.

Is Dupont Circle, Washington safe?

Dupont Circle, Washington is safer than 16% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,142 per resident a year.


Compare Dupont Circle, Washington with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dupont Circle, Washington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dupont Circle, Washington 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.

Dupont Circle, Washington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Dupont Circle, Washington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Dupont Circle, Washington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Dupont Circle, Washington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Dupont Circle, Washington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Dupont Circle, Washington detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.