Best PlacesNorwich, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Norwich 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 Bobphoenix, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Norwich ranks 110th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $97,734, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are state finances, cell coverage, and property taxes.
The best neighborhoods in the Norwich 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.
Norwich's strengths and weaknesses
Norwich lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Civic engagement is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Tree cover and fast internet follow.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. Cell coverage and property taxes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Norwich ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of metro areas
Where Norwich ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,310 a month, better than only 14% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Norwich
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Norwich home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $97,734; 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 Norwich's effective rate of 1.62%, 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 Norwich
Norwich 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 Norwich.
Who works in Norwich, and how
Work in Norwich centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Norwich
Norwich has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 70% of metro areas. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Norwich and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Norwich growing, and who is moving in?
Norwich has grown about 2% over the last decade.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Norwich go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Norwich, month by month
Norwich sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 83° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Norwich
The nearest airport, Westerly State, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 42 miles away.
The best schools in and around Norwich
Schools across Norwich average a B−, better than 63% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Preston Veterans' Memorial SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Lisbon Central SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Thomas W. Mahan SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Preston Plains SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Ledyard Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Kelly Steam Magnet Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Ledyard High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Three Rivers Middle College Magnet SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Griswold High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Norwich school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Norwich 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 Norwich against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Norwich suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Norwich
Is Norwich a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Norwich ranks 110th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on civic engagement, tree cover, and fast internet, and lowest on state finances and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Norwich expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $338,673. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $97,734 median income, cost of living beats 86% of metro areas.
Is Norwich safe?
Yes, Norwich is safer than 67% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $231 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Norwich?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 24. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of metro areas.
Is Norwich good for families?
Schools beat 63% of metro areas, crime safety beats 67%, and childcare runs $1,310 a month.
Is Norwich good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 96% of metro areas. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Norwich with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Norwich. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Norwich 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.
Norwich detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Norwich: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Norwich: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Norwich: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Norwich: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Norwich 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.