Best PlacesStamford, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stamford, 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.
Stamford ranks 83rd of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $120,298, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are state finances, childcare costs, and cell coverage.
The best neighborhoods in Stamford
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.
Stamford's strengths and weaknesses
Stamford ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Civic engagement is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Fast internet and heat safety follow.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. Childcare costs and cell coverage also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Stamford ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of cities
Where Stamford ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,858 a month, better than only 5% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Stamford
A household needs to earn about $176,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stamford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $120,298, 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 Stamford's effective rate of 1.45%, 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 Stamford
Stamford's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Stamford.
Who works in Stamford, and how
Work in Stamford centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Stamford
Stamford has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Stamford and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Stamford, month by month
Stamford sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 24° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Stamford
The nearest airport, Westchester County, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 27 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stamford
Schools across Stamford average a C+, better than 40% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Old Greenwich SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Stamford Charter School For ExcellenceA · 70% proficient
- Strawberry Hill An Ext. Of Rogers InternationalA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Scofield Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Dolan SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Turn Of River SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Greenwich High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- The Academy Of Information Technology & EngineeringB+ · 53% proficient
- Stamford High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stamford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stamford 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 Stamford against the other 444 cities.
Who Stamford suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Stamford
Is Stamford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stamford ranks 83rd of 445 cities. It scores highest on civic engagement, fast internet, and heat safety, and lowest on state finances and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stamford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $617,224. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $120,298 median income, cost of living beats 81% of cities.
Is Stamford safe?
Stamford is safer than 47% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $295 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Stamford?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 24. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 14% of cities.
Is Stamford good for families?
Schools beat 40% of cities, crime safety beats 47%, and childcare runs $1,858 a month.
Is Stamford good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 98% of cities. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Stamford with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stamford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stamford 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.
Stamford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stamford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stamford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stamford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stamford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stamford 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.