Best PlacesWillimantic, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Willimantic, 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.
Willimantic ranks 34,009th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Willimantic
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.
Willimantic's strengths and weaknesses
Where Willimantic ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
Where Willimantic ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,310 a month, better than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Willimantic
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Willimantic home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $52,609, 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 Willimantic's effective rate of 2.46%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Willimantic
Willimantic runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Willimantic.
Who works in Willimantic, and how
Work in Willimantic centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Willimantic
Willimantic has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns and more parkland per resident than 89% of towns. The coast is about 36 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Willimantic and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Willimantic, month by month
Willimantic sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 30° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Willimantic
Bradley International sits about 29 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.3 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Willimantic
Schools across Willimantic average a C−, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- George Hersey Robertson SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Lebanon Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Mansfield Elementary At VintonA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mansfield Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Capt. Nathan Hale SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Lebanon Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- E. O. Smith High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Arts At The Capitol Theater Magnet School (act)A− · 60% proficient
- Coventry High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Willimantic school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Willimantic 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 Willimantic against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Willimantic
Is Willimantic a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Willimantic ranks 34,009th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and transit, and lowest on property taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Willimantic expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $193,223. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $52,609 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Willimantic safe?
Willimantic is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $310 per resident a year.
Compare Willimantic with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Willimantic. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Willimantic 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.
Willimantic detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Willimantic: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Willimantic: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Willimantic: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Willimantic: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Willimantic 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.