Best PlacesWoonsocket, RI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Woonsocket, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Woonsocket ranks 1,794th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Woonsocket
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.
The best areas in Woonsocket
The parts of Woonsocket, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Social
Globe
Bernon Heights
Hamlet
Scores across Woonsocket run from about the 6th to the 70th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Woonsocket's strengths and weaknesses
Where Woonsocket ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 82% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 71% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 70% of cities
Where Woonsocket ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 3% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Woonsocket
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Woonsocket home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $63,251, 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 Woonsocket's effective rate of 1.18%, 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 Woonsocket
Woonsocket runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Woonsocket.
Who works in Woonsocket, and how
Work in Woonsocket centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Woonsocket
Woonsocket has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. The coast is about 46 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Woonsocket and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Woonsocket, month by month
Woonsocket sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Woonsocket
The nearest airport, Rhode Island Tf Green International, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 36 miles away.
The best schools in and around Woonsocket
Schools across Woonsocket average a D, better than 3% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Leo A. Savoie SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Harris SchoolD− · 11% proficient
- Kevin K. Coleman SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Smithfield MsB · 47% proficient
- Frederick W. Hartnett Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Founders AcademyD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- North Smitfield HsB · 50% proficient
- Blackstone Millville RhsB · 48% proficient
- Beacon Charter SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Woonsocket school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Woonsocket 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 Woonsocket against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Woonsocket suits
Families
Schools land around the 3rd percentile and crime safety beats 57%.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Woonsocket
Is Woonsocket a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Woonsocket ranks 1,794th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on walkability, clean air, and cell coverage, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Woonsocket expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $308,656. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $63,251 median income, cost of living beats 8% of cities.
Is Woonsocket safe?
Yes, Woonsocket is safer than 57% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $216 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Woonsocket?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 21. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Woonsocket?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Social, Globe, and Bernon Heights. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Woonsocket with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Woonsocket. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Woonsocket 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.
Woonsocket detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Woonsocket: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Woonsocket: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Woonsocket: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Woonsocket: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Woonsocket 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.