Best PlacesRiverside, RI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Riverside, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Riverside ranks 14,081st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Riverside
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.
Riverside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Riverside ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of towns
Where Riverside ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,309 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Riverside
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Riverside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $79,459, 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 Riverside's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 Riverside
Riverside 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 Riverside.
Who works in Riverside, and how
Work in Riverside centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Riverside
Riverside has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns and more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. The coast is about 31 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Riverside and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Riverside, month by month
Riverside sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Riverside
The nearest airport, Rhode Island Tf Green International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 44 miles away.
The best schools in and around Riverside
Schools across Riverside average a C, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- George R MartinB+ · 54% proficient
- Edward S. Rhodes SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Silver Spring SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Barrington Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Riverside Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Edward Martin MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Barrington High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Pilgrim High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- East Providence HighC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Riverside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Riverside 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 Riverside against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Riverside
Is Riverside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Riverside ranks 14,081st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and big-city access, 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 Riverside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $354,491. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $79,459 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Riverside safe?
Yes, Riverside is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $175 per resident a year.
Compare Riverside with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Riverside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Riverside 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.
Riverside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Riverside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Riverside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Riverside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Riverside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Riverside 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.