Best PlacesWanamassa, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wanamassa, 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.
Wanamassa ranks 3,746th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wanamassa
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.
Wanamassa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wanamassa ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
Where Wanamassa ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,493 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wanamassa
A household needs to earn about $177,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wanamassa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $143,814, 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 Wanamassa's effective rate of 1.68%, 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 Wanamassa
Wanamassa's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wanamassa.
Who works in Wanamassa, and how
Work in Wanamassa centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Wanamassa
Wanamassa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 5 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Wanamassa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wanamassa, month by month
Wanamassa sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 64° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Wanamassa
John F Kennedy International sits about 31 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 31.0 million passengers in 2025, with 249 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Wanamassa
Schools across Wanamassa average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wanamassa Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Township Of Ocean Intermediate SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Ocean Township High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wanamassa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wanamassa 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 Wanamassa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wanamassa
Is Wanamassa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wanamassa ranks 3,746th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, fast internet, and walkability, 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 Wanamassa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $604,393. The overall cost of living runs about 34% above the national average. Set against a $143,814 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Wanamassa safe?
Wanamassa is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $227 per resident a year.
Compare Wanamassa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wanamassa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wanamassa 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.
Wanamassa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wanamassa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wanamassa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wanamassa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wanamassa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wanamassa 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.