Best PlacesRockville, RI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rockville, 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.
Rockville ranks 9,515th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rockville
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.
Rockville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rockville ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
Where Rockville ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,325 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rockville
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rockville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $101,795, 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 Rockville's effective rate of 1.35%, 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 Rockville
Rockville 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 Rockville.
Who works in Rockville, and how
Work in Rockville centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Rockville
The coast is about 29 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Rockville, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rockville, month by month
Rockville sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 68° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Rockville
The nearest airport, Westerly State, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rockville
Schools across Rockville average a B+, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Voluntown Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chariho Regional Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Chariho High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Exeter-west Greenwich RegionalC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rockville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rockville 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 Rockville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rockville
Is Rockville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rockville ranks 9,515th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, health care access, and tree cover, 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 Rockville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $417,542. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $101,795 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Rockville safe?
Yes, Rockville is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $125 per resident a year.
Compare Rockville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rockville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rockville 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.
Rockville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rockville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rockville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rockville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rockville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rockville 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.