Best PlacesFenwick, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fenwick, 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.
Fenwick ranks 1,345th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fenwick
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.
Fenwick's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fenwick ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$182,448 median, better than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 97% of towns
Where Fenwick ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,583 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fenwick
A household needs to earn about $180,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fenwick home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $182,448, 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 Fenwick's effective rate of 0.93%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Fenwick
Fenwick 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 Fenwick.
Who works in Fenwick, and how
Work in Fenwick centers on health care & social and admin & support services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 41%
- Work from home 55%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Fenwick
The coast is about 0 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Fenwick, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fenwick, month by month
Fenwick sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 59° | 50° | 42° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Fenwick
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 49 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fenwick
Schools across Fenwick average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kathleen E. Goodwin SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Old Saybrook Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Old Saybrook Senior High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fenwick school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fenwick 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 Fenwick against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fenwick
Is Fenwick a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fenwick ranks 1,345th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fenwick expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $676,500. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $182,448 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Fenwick safe?
Fenwick is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $233 per resident a year.
Compare Fenwick with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fenwick. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fenwick 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.
Fenwick detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fenwick: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fenwick: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fenwick: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fenwick: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fenwick 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.