Best PlacesNew Haven, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the New Haven metro, 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.
Photo by Charles Barneby / Cbarneby at en.wikipedia, via commons
New Haven ranks 137th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $98,244, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are property taxes, state finances, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in the New Haven metro
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.
New Haven's strengths and weaknesses
New Haven lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Civic engagement is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Fast internet and big-city access follow.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. State finances and childcare costs also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of New Haven to another than it does between New Haven and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where New Haven ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 91% of metro areas
Where New Haven ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,583 a month, better than only 4% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in New Haven
A household needs to earn about $104,000 a year to comfortably buy the median New Haven home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $98,244; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 New Haven's effective rate of 1.97%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in New Haven
New Haven'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 New Haven.
Who works in New Haven, and how
Work in New Haven centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in New Haven
New Haven has more parkland per resident than 71% of metro areas. The coast is about 16 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of New Haven and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is New Haven growing, and who is moving in?
New Haven has grown about 2% over the last decade.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving New Haven go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in New Haven, month by month
New Haven sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of New Haven
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 45 miles away.
The best schools in and around New Haven
Schools across New Haven average a C+, better than 40% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Highland SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Norton SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Beecher Road SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
Top middle schools
- Walter C. Polson Middle SchoolA+ · 71% proficient
- E. C. Adams Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Dodd Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Daniel Hand High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Guilford High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Coginchaug Regional High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every New Haven school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
New Haven 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 New Haven against the other 386 metro areas.
Who New Haven suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 79% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in New Haven
Is New Haven a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, New Haven ranks 137th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on civic engagement, fast internet, and big-city access, and lowest on property taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is New Haven expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $341,820. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $98,244 median income, cost of living beats 79% of metro areas.
Is New Haven safe?
New Haven is safer than 43% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in New Haven?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 25. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 23% of metro areas.
Is New Haven good for families?
Schools beat 40% of metro areas, crime safety beats 43%, and childcare runs $1,583 a month.
Is New Haven good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 79% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 97% of metro areas. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare New Haven with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to New Haven. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in New Haven 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.
New Haven detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for New Haven: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in New Haven: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of New Haven: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in New Haven: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
New Haven 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.