Best PlacesManchester-By-The-Sea, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Manchester-By-The-Sea, 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.
Manchester-By-The-Sea ranks 1,503rd 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 Manchester-By-The-Sea
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.
Manchester-By-The-Sea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Manchester-By-The-Sea ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$176,797 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
Where Manchester-By-The-Sea ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Manchester-By-The-Sea
A household needs to earn about $269,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Manchester-By-The-Sea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $176,797, 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 Manchester-By-The-Sea's effective rate of 0.98%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Manchester-By-The-Sea
Manchester-By-The-Sea runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Manchester-By-The-Sea.
Who works in Manchester-By-The-Sea, and how
Work in Manchester-By-The-Sea centers on finance & insurance and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 56%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Manchester-By-The-Sea
The coast is about 4 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Manchester-By-The-Sea, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Manchester-By-The-Sea, month by month
Manchester-By-The-Sea sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Manchester-By-The-Sea
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 18 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 21.1 million passengers in 2025, with 199 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Manchester-By-The-Sea
Schools across Manchester-By-The-Sea average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Manchester Memorial ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Centerville ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Witchcraft HeightsC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manchester Essex Regional Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Collins MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Manchester Essex Regional High SchoolA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Manchester-By-The-Sea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Manchester-By-The-Sea 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 Manchester-By-The-Sea against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Manchester-By-The-Sea
Is Manchester-By-The-Sea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Manchester-By-The-Sea ranks 1,503rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Manchester-By-The-Sea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,004,166. The overall cost of living runs about 41% above the national average. Set against a $176,797 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Manchester-By-The-Sea safe?
Yes, Manchester-By-The-Sea is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $177 per resident a year.
Compare Manchester-By-The-Sea with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Manchester-By-The-Sea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Manchester-By-The-Sea 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.
Manchester-By-The-Sea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Manchester-By-The-Sea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Manchester-By-The-Sea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Manchester-By-The-Sea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Manchester-By-The-Sea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Manchester-By-The-Sea 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.