Best PlacesOrange, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Orange, 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.
Orange ranks 1,077th 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 Orange
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.
Orange's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orange ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$152,052 median, better than 97% of towns
Where Orange ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,583 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Orange
A household needs to earn about $151,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orange home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $152,052, 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 Orange'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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Orange
Orange runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Orange.
Who works in Orange, and how
Work in Orange centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Orange
Orange has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. The coast is about 8 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Orange and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Orange, month by month
Orange sees roughly 69 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 Orange
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 49 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orange
Schools across Orange average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Beecher Road SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Turkey Hill SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Peck Place SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Amity Middle School: OrangeA · 64% proficient
- Amity Middle School: BethanyA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Amity Regional High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orange school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orange 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 Orange against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Orange
Is Orange a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orange ranks 1,077th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and fast internet, 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 Orange expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $512,339. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $152,052 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Orange safe?
Orange is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $280 per resident a year.
Compare Orange with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orange. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orange 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.
Orange detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orange: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orange: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orange: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orange: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orange 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.