Best PlacesSouth Lyme, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around South Lyme, 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 Lyme ranks 2,059th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in South Lyme
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 Lyme's strengths and weaknesses
Where South Lyme ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$142,171 median, better than 96% of towns
Where South Lyme ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,310 a month, better than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in South Lyme
A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South Lyme home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $142,171; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Lyme's effective rate of 1.22%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in South Lyme
South Lyme 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 Lyme.
Who works in South Lyme, and how
Work in South Lyme centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in South Lyme
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across South Lyme, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in South Lyme, month by month
South Lyme sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 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 | 83° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of South Lyme
The nearest airport, Westerly State, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around South Lyme
Schools across South Lyme average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mile Creek SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Lillie B. Haynes SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lyme-old Lyme Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- East Lyme Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Lyme-old Lyme High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- East Lyme High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every South Lyme school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
South Lyme 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 Lyme against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in South Lyme
Is South Lyme a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South Lyme ranks 2,059th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is South Lyme expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $530,700. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $142,171 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is South Lyme safe?
Yes, South Lyme is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $127 per resident a year.
Compare South Lyme with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South Lyme. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South Lyme 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 Lyme detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for South Lyme: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in South Lyme: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of South Lyme: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in South Lyme: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
South Lyme 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.