Best PlacesExchange Place, Waterbury, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Exchange Place, Waterbury, 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.
Exchange Place, Waterbury ranks 5,489th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Exchange Place, Waterbury
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.
Exchange Place, Waterbury's strengths and weaknesses
Where Exchange Place, Waterbury ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than 78% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 75% of neighborhoods
Where Exchange Place, Waterbury ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of neighborhoods
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Exchange Place, Waterbury
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Exchange Place, Waterbury home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $26,598, 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 Exchange Place, Waterbury's effective rate of 1.89%, 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 Exchange Place, Waterbury
Exchange Place, Waterbury 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 Exchange Place, Waterbury.
Who works in Exchange Place, Waterbury, and how
Work in Exchange Place, Waterbury centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 50%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 40%
Life in Exchange Place, Waterbury
The coast is about 31 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Exchange Place, Waterbury, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Exchange Place, Waterbury, month by month
Exchange Place, Waterbury sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Exchange Place, Waterbury
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 32 miles away.
The best schools in and around Exchange Place, Waterbury
Schools across Exchange Place, Waterbury average a D, better than 11% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Wendell L. Cross SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
- H. S. Chase SchoolD · 20% proficient
- F. J. Kingsbury SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Michael F. Wallace Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- West Side Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
- North End Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Waterbury Arts Magnet SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- John F. Kennedy High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Wilby High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Exchange Place, Waterbury school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Exchange Place, Waterbury 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 Exchange Place, Waterbury against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Exchange Place, Waterbury
Is Exchange Place, Waterbury a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Exchange Place, Waterbury ranks 5,489th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on civic engagement, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on an overheated housing market and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Exchange Place, Waterbury expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $222,756. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $26,598 median income, cost of living beats 6% of neighborhoods.
Is Exchange Place, Waterbury safe?
Exchange Place, Waterbury is safer than 26% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $508 per resident a year.
Compare Exchange Place, Waterbury with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Exchange Place, Waterbury. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Exchange Place, Waterbury 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.
Exchange Place, Waterbury detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Exchange Place, Waterbury: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Exchange Place, Waterbury: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Exchange Place, Waterbury: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Exchange Place, Waterbury: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Exchange Place, Waterbury 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.