Best PlacesLong Branch, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Long Branch, 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.
Long Branch ranks 1,743rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Long Branch
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.
Long Branch's strengths and weaknesses
Where Long Branch ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of cities
- BikingBetter than 77% of cities
- TransitBetter than 68% of cities
Where Long Branch ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Long Branch
A household needs to earn about $186,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Long Branch home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,241, 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 Long Branch's effective rate of 1.27%, 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 Long Branch
Long Branch's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Long Branch.
Who works in Long Branch, and how
Work in Long Branch centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Long Branch
Long Branch has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 2 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Long Branch and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Long Branch, month by month
Long Branch 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 Long Branch
John F Kennedy International sits about 26 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 Long Branch
Schools across Long Branch average a D, better than 6% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Monmouth Beach Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Ocean Township Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Deal Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Maple Place Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Frank Antonides SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Township Of Ocean Intermediate SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Shore Regional High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Ocean Township High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Long Branch High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Long Branch school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Long Branch 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 Long Branch against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Long Branch suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Long Branch
Is Long Branch a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Long Branch ranks 1,743rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and big-city access, 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 Long Branch expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $670,062. The overall cost of living runs about 49% above the national average. Set against a $89,241 median income, cost of living beats 3% of cities.
Is Long Branch safe?
Long Branch is safer than 43% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $245 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Long Branch?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 26. That works out to about 60 pleasant days a year, more than 8% of cities.
Is Long Branch good for families?
Schools beat 6% of cities, crime safety beats 43%, and childcare runs $1,493 a month.
Compare Long Branch with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Long Branch. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Long Branch 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.
Long Branch detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Long Branch: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Long Branch: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Long Branch: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Long Branch: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Long Branch 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.