Best PlacesRockfall, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rockfall, 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.
Rockfall ranks 6,955th 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 Rockfall
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.
Rockfall's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rockfall ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
Where Rockfall ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,583 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rockfall
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rockfall home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $94,183, 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 Rockfall's effective rate of 1.84%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rockfall
Rockfall 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 Rockfall.
Who works in Rockfall, and how
Work in Rockfall centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Rockfall
The coast is about 28 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Rockfall, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rockfall, month by month
Rockfall sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 31° | 21° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 69° | 55° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Rockfall
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 28 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rockfall
Schools across Rockfall average a B−, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- John Lyman SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Moody SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Middlefield Memorial SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frank Ward Strong SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Beman Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Coginchaug Regional High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Middletown High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Francis T. Maloney High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rockfall school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rockfall 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 Rockfall against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rockfall
Is Rockfall a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rockfall ranks 6,955th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and fast internet, and lowest on childcare costs 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 Rockfall expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $368,559. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $94,183 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Rockfall safe?
Yes, Rockfall is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $158 per resident a year.
Compare Rockfall with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rockfall. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rockfall 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.
Rockfall detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rockfall: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rockfall: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rockfall: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rockfall: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rockfall 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.