Best PlacesMarlborough, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Marlborough, 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.
Marlborough ranks 2,146th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Marlborough
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.
Marlborough's strengths and weaknesses
Where Marlborough ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$138,198 median, better than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
Where Marlborough ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,463 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- Short commute34.1 minutes each way, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Marlborough
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Marlborough home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $138,198, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Marlborough's effective rate of 1.59%, 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 Marlborough
Marlborough runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Marlborough.
Who works in Marlborough, and how
Work in Marlborough centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Marlborough
Marlborough has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns. The coast is about 37 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Marlborough and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Marlborough, month by month
Marlborough sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Marlborough
Bradley International sits about 24 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.3 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Marlborough
Schools across Marlborough average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hopewell SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Hebron Elementary SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Elmer Thienes-mary Hall Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gideon Welles SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Rham Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- East Hampton Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Rham High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- East Hampton High SchoolB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Marlborough school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Marlborough 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 Marlborough against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Marlborough
Is Marlborough a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Marlborough ranks 2,146th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and what local pay buys, and lowest on childcare costs and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Marlborough expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $379,735. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $138,198 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Marlborough safe?
Yes, Marlborough is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $172 per resident a year.
Compare Marlborough with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Marlborough. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Marlborough 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.
Marlborough detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Marlborough: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Marlborough: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Marlborough: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Marlborough: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Marlborough 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.