Best PlacesLake Como, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake Como, 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.
Lake Como ranks 15,560th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lake Como
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.
Lake Como's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake Como ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
Where Lake Como ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,493 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Como
A household needs to earn about $185,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Como home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $90,973, 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 Lake Como's effective rate of 1.28%, 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 Lake Como
Lake Como 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 Lake Como.
Who works in Lake Como, and how
Work in Lake Como centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Lake Como
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Lake Como, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lake Como, month by month
Lake Como sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 64° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Lake Como
John F Kennedy International sits about 35 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 31.0 million passengers in 2025, with 249 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Lake Como
Schools across Lake Como average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- H W Mountz Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- West Belmar Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Belmar ElementaryC− · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Wall High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Academy Charter High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake Como school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake Como 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 Lake Como against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake Como
Is Lake Como a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Como ranks 15,560th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, biking, and walkability, and lowest on an overheated housing market and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake Como expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $664,397. The overall cost of living runs about 31% above the national average. Set against a $90,973 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Lake Como safe?
Yes, Lake Como is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $175 per resident a year.
Compare Lake Como with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Como. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Como 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.
Lake Como detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Como: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Como: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Como: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Como: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Como 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.