Best PlacesEast Dennis, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Dennis, 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.
East Dennis ranks 6,093rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in East Dennis
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.
East Dennis' strengths and weaknesses
Where East Dennis ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
Where East Dennis ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,514 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in East Dennis
A household needs to earn about $181,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Dennis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $108,813, 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 East Dennis' effective rate of 0.54%, 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 East Dennis
East Dennis 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 East Dennis.
Who works in East Dennis, and how
Work in East Dennis centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in East Dennis
The coast is about 3 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across East Dennis, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Dennis, month by month
East Dennis sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 57° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 82° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of East Dennis
The nearest airport, Cape Cod Gateway, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Dennis
Schools across East Dennis average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eddy ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Station Avenue ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Barnstable United Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dennis-yarmouth Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Monomoy Regional High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Dennis-yarmouth Regional HighB · 45% proficient
- Barnstable HighC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Dennis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Dennis 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 East Dennis against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in East Dennis
Is East Dennis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Dennis ranks 6,093rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, low crime, and civic engagement, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Dennis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $718,593. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $108,813 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is East Dennis safe?
Yes, East Dennis is safer than 99% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $126 per resident a year.
Compare East Dennis with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Dennis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Dennis 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.
East Dennis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Dennis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Dennis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Dennis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Dennis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Dennis 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.