Best PlacesPort Monmouth, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Monmouth, 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.
Port Monmouth ranks 7,070th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Port Monmouth
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.
Port Monmouth's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Monmouth ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
Where Port Monmouth ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,493 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Port Monmouth
A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Monmouth home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $121,591, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Port Monmouth's effective rate of 1.57%, 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 Port Monmouth
Port Monmouth runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Port Monmouth.
Who works in Port Monmouth, and how
Work in Port Monmouth centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Port Monmouth
The coast is about 2 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Port Monmouth, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Port Monmouth, month by month
Port Monmouth sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 35° | 29° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 78° | 71° |
| October | 68° | 59° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Port Monmouth
Newark Liberty International sits about 18 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 23.5 million passengers in 2025, with 242 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Port Monmouth
Schools across Port Monmouth average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Monmouth Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Harmony Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Bayview Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thorne Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Joseph R. Bolger Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Middletown High School NorthC · 33% proficient
- Keansburg High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Port Monmouth school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Port Monmouth 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 Port Monmouth against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Port Monmouth
Is Port Monmouth a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Monmouth ranks 7,070th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, cell coverage, and civic engagement, and lowest on state finances and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Port Monmouth expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $510,113. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $121,591 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Port Monmouth safe?
Yes, Port Monmouth is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $147 per resident a year.
Compare Port Monmouth with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Monmouth. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Monmouth 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.
Port Monmouth detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Monmouth: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Monmouth: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Monmouth: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Monmouth: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Monmouth 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.