Best PlacesNewtown, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Newtown, 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.
Newtown ranks 1,082nd 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 Newtown
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.
Newtown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Newtown ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$169,593 median, better than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
Where Newtown ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,858 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Newtown
A household needs to earn about $170,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Newtown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $169,593; 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 Newtown's effective rate of 1.73%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Newtown
Newtown runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Newtown.
Who works in Newtown, and how
Work in Newtown centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Newtown
Newtown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 27 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Newtown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Newtown, month by month
Newtown sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 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° | 31° | 21° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 68° | 55° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Newtown
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Newtown
Schools across Newtown average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Head O'meadow Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Hawley Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Middle Gate Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Reed Intermediate SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Newtown Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Whisconier Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Newtown High SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Brookfield High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Newtown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Newtown 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 Newtown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Newtown
Is Newtown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Newtown ranks 1,082nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, high incomes, and population health, 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 Newtown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $578,016. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $169,593 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Newtown safe?
Yes, Newtown is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $165 per resident a year.
Compare Newtown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Newtown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Newtown 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.
Newtown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Newtown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Newtown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Newtown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Newtown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Newtown 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.