Best PlacesSouth Kingstown, RI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around South Kingstown, 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.
South Kingstown ranks 6,651st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in South Kingstown
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.
South Kingstown's strengths and weaknesses
Where South Kingstown ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
Where South Kingstown ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,325 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in South Kingstown
A household needs to earn about $167,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South Kingstown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $111,965, 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 South Kingstown's effective rate of 0.86%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in South Kingstown
South Kingstown 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 South Kingstown.
Who works in South Kingstown, and how
Work in South Kingstown centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in South Kingstown
The coast is about 8 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across South Kingstown, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in South Kingstown, month by month
South Kingstown sees roughly 102 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 31° | 22° |
| April | 57° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of South Kingstown
The nearest airport, Westerly State, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 68 miles away.
The best schools in and around South Kingstown
Schools across South Kingstown average a B+, better than 77% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Curtis Corner Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Narragansett Pier SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- South Kingstown HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Narragansett High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every South Kingstown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
South Kingstown 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 South Kingstown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in South Kingstown
Is South Kingstown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South Kingstown ranks 6,651st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and low crime, 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 South Kingstown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $631,845. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $111,965 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is South Kingstown safe?
Yes, South Kingstown is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $111 per resident a year.
Compare South Kingstown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South Kingstown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South Kingstown 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.
South Kingstown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for South Kingstown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in South Kingstown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of South Kingstown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in South Kingstown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
South Kingstown 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.