Best PlacesKent, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kent, 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.
Kent ranks 6,043rd of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 Kent
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.
Kent's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kent ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
Where Kent ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,407 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kent
A household needs to earn about $133,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kent home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $104,264, 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 Kent's effective rate of 1.21%, 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 Kent
Kent 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 Kent.
Who works in Kent, and how
Work in Kent centers on education and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 57%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 22%
Life in Kent
Kent has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Kent and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kent, month by month
Kent sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Kent
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 42 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kent
Schools across Kent average an A−, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kent Center SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Warren Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Cornwall Consolidated SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Dover High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Shepaug Valley SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Wamogo Regional High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kent school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kent 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 Kent against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kent
Is Kent a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kent ranks 6,043rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, an educated workforce, and health care access, 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 Kent expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $482,135. The overall cost of living runs about 18% above the national average. Set against a $104,264 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Kent safe?
Kent is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
Compare Kent with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kent. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kent 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.
Kent detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kent: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kent: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kent: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kent: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kent 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.