Best PlacesWaterbury, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waterbury, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Waterbury ranks 18,800th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Waterbury
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.
Waterbury's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waterbury ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 78% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 72% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 70% of towns
Where Waterbury ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 13% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 21% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Waterbury
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waterbury home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,433, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Waterbury's effective rate of 1.15%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Waterbury
Waterbury runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Waterbury.
Who works in Waterbury, and how
Work in Waterbury centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Waterbury
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Waterbury.
What the weather is like in Waterbury, month by month
Waterbury sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 22° | 12° |
| April | 65° | 49° | 35° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 51° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Waterbury
The nearest airport, Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Field, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waterbury
Schools across Waterbury average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Emerson-hubbard Elementary SchA · 65% proficient
- Ponca Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Allen Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Ponca High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
- Allen High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Emerson-hubbard High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waterbury school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waterbury 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 Waterbury against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Waterbury
Is Waterbury a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waterbury ranks 18,800th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, state infrastructure, and good schools, and lowest on tree cover and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waterbury expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,220. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $77,433 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Waterbury safe?
Waterbury is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $343 per resident a year.
Compare Waterbury with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waterbury. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waterbury 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.
Waterbury detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waterbury: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waterbury: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waterbury: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waterbury: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waterbury 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.