Best PlacesProvidence, RI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Providence metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Macaolards, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Providence ranks 125th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 26 minutes away. Its strengths are walkability and big-city access. The cost shows up in state finances, an overheated housing market, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in the Providence 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.
The best areas in Providence
The towns and districts of the Providence metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Jamestown, Narragansett & Saunderstown
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and schools score higher.
Taunton, Attleboro & Norton
Tree cover is thicker, though streets are more car-dependent.
Westerly, East Greenwich & North Kingstown
More homes sit empty and fewer households have young kids.
Fall River, Somerset & Swansea
Crime runs lower.
West Warwick & Coventry
Woonsocket, North Providence & Johnston
New Bedford & Newport
Local pay stretches less far.
Downtown Providence
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Warwick, Cranston & East Providence
Biking is better and transit reaches more jobs.
Providence shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Providence's strengths and weaknesses
Providence lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Walkability, big-city access, and transit carry most of that.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. An overheated housing market and childcare costs 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 Providence ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than 85% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of metro areas
Where Providence ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,390 a month, better than only 10% of metro areas
- Short commute26.6 minutes each way, better than only 16% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Providence
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Providence home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $96,654, 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 Providence's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 Providence
Providence'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 Providence.
Who works in Providence, and how
Work in Providence centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Providence
Providence has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 73% of metro areas. The coast is about 26 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Providence and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Providence growing, and who is moving in?
Providence has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Boston, MA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Providence go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Providence, month by month
Providence sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Providence
The nearest airport, Rhode Island Tf Green International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 43 miles away.
The best schools in and around Providence
Schools across Providence average a C, better than 22% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Kingston Hill AcademyA+ · 80% proficient
- Deans Mill SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- Ashton SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Cumberland MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- Old HammondtownA · 67% proficient
- Jamestown School-lawnA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Dighton-rehoboth Regional High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Mansfield HighA · 72% proficient
- Oliver Ames HighA · 71% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Providence school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Providence 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 Providence against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Providence suits
Families
Schools land around the 22nd percentile and crime safety beats 85%.
Common questions about living in Providence
Is Providence a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Providence ranks 125th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on walkability, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on state finances and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Providence expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $446,501. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $96,654 median income, cost of living beats 61% of metro areas.
Is Providence safe?
Yes, Providence is safer than 85% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $204 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Providence?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 21. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 29% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Providence?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Jamestown, Narragansett & Saunderstown, Taunton, Attleboro & Norton, and Westerly, East Greenwich & North Kingstown. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Providence good for families?
Schools beat 22% of metro areas, crime safety beats 85%, and childcare runs $1,390 a month.
Is Providence good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 61% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 20% of metro areas. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Providence with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Providence. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Providence 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.
Providence detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Providence: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Providence: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Providence: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Providence: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Providence 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.