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Welcome to the Neighborhood

Dog-owning nature lovers, culture-seeking urban aficionados, surfboard-toting lobstermen and suburban commuters with incomes in the stratosphere can all find the ideal ’hood in tiny, diverse Rhodie. With property prices at their lowest in years, it’s a good time to look around and wonder whether you, too, are in your perfect neighborhood.

Photography Nat Rea

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Ever notice how people don’t say they’re from Cranston or Warwick, they say they’re from Pawtuxet Village?

That is the hallmark of a really good neighborhood—it commands fealty. It also has its own look and feel and sense of community, its own shops and restaurants (mostly) and its own real estate trends.

Neighborhood living isn’t for everyone. Some people would rather live far from the nearest store or house. We have thoughts on that; and on places to look if you’re willing to take a gamble on an up-and-coming ’hood, or long to be close to the coolest streets. 

We’ve done our research—on typical rental and purchase options, school performance, amenities and more—to bring you some of the friendliest, prettiest, most convenient, affordable or family-centric nabes in Rhode Island. Some of them you’ll probably have heard of; others may be unfamiliar. Live there or not, these are places to feel proud of.

PRIME WALKABILITY (but not much yard)

Downcity Providence
Rent: 1-bed loft with city view, $1,700/month*
Buy: 2-bed, 2-bath, 1,740 square-foot condo, $486,000 
Schools: Carl G. Lauro Elementary School (31%, 21%)**
Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program (13%, 7%)
Central High School (13.9%, 9%)
Classical High School (77%, 69%)
At home: Singles, power couples with no kids
Downtown Providence’s much-touted renaissance really has translated into a viable place to call home. A dearth of decent lower public schools keeps middle-class families away, but hip young things, culture-seeking empty nesters and top-earning professionals (a beach house makes a great complement!) doth still a neighborhood make. Who can argue with instant access to museums, libraries, restaurants from the cool and grungy (Taqueria Pacifica) to the decidedly grown-up (Gracie’s) and, of course, Westminster Street shopping, the Riverwalk and WaterFire?
There’s still no grocery store or pharmacy, but Peapod and farmers’ markets help fill the gap. The I-195 relocation will free up land for open space and reunite the Jewelry District with neighboring Downcity, which is why Coldwell Banker Realtor Gemma Fabris pegs Jewelry District condos as the city’s primo investment (although you’ll need plenty of dinero; lenders are wary of big loans on mixed-use developments these days). And while it may not feel like a small neighborhood, you can walk to National Grid to pay your utility bills in person. 

College Hill Providence
Rent: 1-bed apartment off Benefit, $1,000/month
Buy: 5-bed, 2.5-bath, 3,660-square-foot townhouse, $549,000
Schools: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary (48%, 41%)
Esek Hopkins Middle School (24%, 14%)
Hope Arts School (20%, 11%)
At home: Students, well-heeled professionals, literary types
Walk to the best of what central Providence has to offer, from downtown museums and rail to East Side restaurants, while living in an eclectic, historic neighborhood with great architecture and the vibrancy of university life all around (and it doesn’t hurt that the universities here are top-ranked Brown and RISD). This is one of the most well-established areas of Providence, and house prices reflect it—as do taxes. But it’s as safe an investment for your hard-earned dollars as you’ll find in the state. A preservation hotspot, College Hill boasts narrow, winding streets and brightly colored and restored eighteenth- and nineteenth-century homes. Walk down historic Benefit Street, and if you squint your eyes, you might think it’s 1808, not 2008—until you round the corner onto bustling student Mecca Thayer Street, that
is (Hope and South Main streets offer less alternative shopping options). Newer condos and townhouses are part of the housing mix along with slum rentals aimed at undergrads, so it’s easy to find somewhere to live if you don’t mind dodging proximity to hard-partying students. Public schools are not exactly the pride of the state, but surrounded by top-notch private schools such as Lincoln, Moses Brown and Wheeler, you can still walk your kids to school in the morning—provided you can pony up tuition.

Pawtuxet Village Cranston/Warwick
Rent: 2-bed apartment in 3-decker, $900/month
Buy: 3-bed, 2-bath, 2,360 square-foot colonial, $335,000 
Schools: Edward S. Rhodes (67%, 49%) [Cranston] 
Park View Middle School (58%, 43%) [Cranston]
Cranston High School East (44%, 34%) [Cranston]
Wyman School (79%, 69%) [Warwick]
Aldrich Junior High (61%, 56%) [Warwick]
Pilgrim High School (50%, 47%) [Warwick]
At home: Boaters, young families
This pocket-sized historic enclave, with its shops, restaurants, bridge and marina, is an East Side alternative for professional singles and families who want to be in easy reach of the city. Real estate comes up rarely and can be pricey (but makes a solid investment). Cranston’s neighboring Edgewood, however—even closer to downtown and nicknamed “The Republic of Edgewood” by liberal residents—has plenty of single-family homes in the $200,000 range and a couple of big-box stores. Pawtuxet Park and Stillhouse Cove Park make this a great neighborhood for strolling, while Roger Williams Park is nearby. Dogs are plentiful. Boaters enjoy the small marina and presence of Rhode Island Yacht Club. There’s not one, but two Thai restaurants, laid-back neighborhood eatery L’Attitudes, small grocery and liquor stores, and even fireworks and burning-ship re-enactments during the annual Gaspee Day Celebrations in June. The presence of the Rhodes on the Pawtuxet banquet facility means plenty of space for neighborhood functions and farmers’ markets in a lovely village that, while increasingly trendy, is still a world unto itself.