Best PlacesEastham, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Eastham, 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.
Eastham ranks 8,566th 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 Eastham
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.
Eastham's strengths and weaknesses
Where Eastham ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
Where Eastham 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
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Eastham
A household needs to earn about $198,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Eastham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,280, 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 Eastham's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Eastham
Eastham 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 Eastham.
Who works in Eastham, and how
Work in Eastham centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Eastham
Eastham has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns. The coast is about 3 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Eastham and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Eastham, month by month
Eastham sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 56° | 47° | 39° |
| July | 82° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 58° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Eastham
The nearest airport, Cape Cod Gateway, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 64 miles away.
The best schools in and around Eastham
Schools across Eastham average a B+, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Orleans ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Eastham ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Wellfleet ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nauset Regional MiddleB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Nauset Regional HighA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Eastham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Eastham 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 Eastham against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Eastham
Is Eastham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Eastham ranks 8,566th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, low crime, and an educated workforce, 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 Eastham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $775,574. The overall cost of living runs about 18% above the national average. Set against a $74,280 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Eastham safe?
Yes, Eastham is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $135 per resident a year.
Compare Eastham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Eastham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Eastham 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.
Eastham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Eastham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Eastham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Eastham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Eastham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Eastham 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.