Best PlacesSwansea, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Swansea, 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.
Swansea ranks 4,143rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Swansea
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.
Swansea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Swansea ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
Where Swansea ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,514 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Swansea
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Swansea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $113,000; 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 Swansea's effective rate of 1.14%, 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 Swansea
Swansea runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Swansea.
Who works in Swansea, and how
Work in Swansea centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Swansea
Swansea has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Swansea and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Swansea, month by month
Swansea sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Swansea
The nearest airport, Rhode Island Tf Green International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 44 miles away.
The best schools in and around Swansea
Schools across Swansea average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Elizabeth S BrownB+ · 53% proficient
- Joseph G LutherB · 50% proficient
- North ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Joseph Case Jr HighB− · 42% proficient
- Dorothy L BeckwithB− · 39% proficient
- Somerset Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Dighton-rehoboth Regional High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Somerset Berkley Regional High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Barrington High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Swansea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Swansea 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 Swansea against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Swansea
Is Swansea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Swansea ranks 4,143rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, low crime, and big-city access, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Swansea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $446,378. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $113,000 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Swansea safe?
Yes, Swansea is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $172 per resident a year.
Compare Swansea with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Swansea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Swansea 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.
Swansea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Swansea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Swansea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Swansea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Swansea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Swansea 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.