Best PlacesWestbrook, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Westbrook, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Westbrook ranks 7,125th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Westbrook
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.
Westbrook's strengths and weaknesses
Where Westbrook ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
Where Westbrook ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,583 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Westbrook
A household needs to earn about $119,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Westbrook home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $97,601, 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 Westbrook's effective rate of 1.22%, 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 Westbrook
Westbrook 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 Westbrook.
Who works in Westbrook, and how
Work in Westbrook centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Westbrook
Westbrook has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. The coast is about 2 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Westbrook and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Westbrook, month by month
Westbrook sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 59° | 50° | 42° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Westbrook
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Westbrook
Schools across Westbrook average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Daisy Ingraham SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Lewin G. Joel Jr. SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Westbrook Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Jared Eliot SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- The Morgan SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Westbrook High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Westbrook school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Westbrook 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 Westbrook against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Westbrook
Is Westbrook a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Westbrook ranks 7,125th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and fast internet, and lowest on childcare costs and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Westbrook expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $430,322. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $97,601 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Westbrook safe?
Yes, Westbrook is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $180 per resident a year.
Compare Westbrook with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Westbrook. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Westbrook 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.
Westbrook detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Westbrook: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Westbrook: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Westbrook: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Westbrook: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Westbrook 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.