Best PlacesEast Haven, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Haven, 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 Haven ranks 1,324th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in East Haven
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 Haven's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Haven ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of cities
- TransitBetter than 81% of cities
Where East Haven ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 9% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,583 a month, better than only 10% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- School gradeC, better than only 23% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in East Haven
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Haven home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,022, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Haven's effective rate of 1.97%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in East Haven
East Haven 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 Haven.
Who works in East Haven, and how
Work in East Haven centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in East Haven
East Haven has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of cities and more parkland per resident than 89% of cities. The coast is about 3 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of East Haven and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Haven, month by month
East Haven sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of East Haven
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 47 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Haven
Schools across East Haven average a C, better than 23% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mary T. Murphy SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Carbone School/east Haven AcademyB · 46% proficient
- John B. Sliney SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Francis Walsh Intermediate SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Harry M. Bailey Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Joseph Melillo Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Branford High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- West Haven High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- East Haven High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Haven school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Haven 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 Haven against the other 2,097 cities.
Who East Haven suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in East Haven
Is East Haven a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Haven ranks 1,324th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on civic engagement, fast internet, and tree cover, and lowest on property taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Haven expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $277,657. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $92,022 median income, cost of living beats 46% of cities.
Is East Haven safe?
East Haven is safer than 32% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in East Haven?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 25. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 26% of cities.
Is East Haven good for families?
Schools beat 23% of cities, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $1,583 a month.
Compare East Haven with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Haven. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Haven 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 Haven detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Haven: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Haven: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Haven: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Haven: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Haven 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.