Best PlacesEast Lyme, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Lyme, 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.
East Lyme ranks 1,630th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in East Lyme
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 Lyme's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Lyme ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
Where East Lyme ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,310 a month, better than only 9% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in East Lyme
A household needs to earn about $126,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Lyme home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $123,767; 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 East Lyme's effective rate of 1.48%, 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 Lyme
East Lyme runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for East Lyme.
Who works in East Lyme, and how
Work in East Lyme centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in East Lyme
East Lyme has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. The coast is about 8 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of East Lyme and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Lyme, month by month
East Lyme sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 83° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of East Lyme
The nearest airport, Westerly State, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Lyme
Schools across East Lyme average an A, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lyme Consolidated SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Mile Creek SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Salem Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lyme-old Lyme Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- East Lyme Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Clark Lane Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Lyme-old Lyme High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- East Lyme High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Waterford High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Lyme school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Lyme 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 Lyme against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in East Lyme
Is East Lyme a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Lyme ranks 1,630th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, an educated workforce, and health care access, and lowest on state finances 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 Lyme expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $440,619. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $123,767 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is East Lyme safe?
Yes, East Lyme is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $133 per resident a year.
Compare East Lyme with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Lyme. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Lyme 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 Lyme detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Lyme: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Lyme: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Lyme: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Lyme: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Lyme 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.