Best PlacesMargate City, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Margate City, 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.
Margate City ranks 12,794th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Margate City
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.
Margate City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Margate City ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
Where Margate City ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,355 a month, better than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Margate City
A household needs to earn about $208,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Margate City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $143,657, 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 Margate City's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 Margate City
Margate City 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 Margate City.
Who works in Margate City, and how
Work in Margate City centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Margate City
Margate City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns. The coast is about 1 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Margate City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Margate City, month by month
Margate City sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 42° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Margate City
The nearest airport, Atlantic City International, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Margate City
Schools across Margate City average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- William H. Ross Iii SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Seaview Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Eugene A. Tighe Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Fernwood Avenue Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Mainland Regional High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Atlantic City High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Margate City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Margate City 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 Margate City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Margate City
Is Margate City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Margate City ranks 12,794th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, cell coverage, 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 Margate City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $785,575. The overall cost of living runs about 40% above the national average. Set against a $143,657 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Margate City safe?
Margate City is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $253 per resident a year.
Compare Margate City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Margate City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Margate City 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.
Margate City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Margate City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Margate City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Margate City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Margate City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Margate City 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.