The 10 Best Places To Buy A House In Rhode Island For 2024


The best places to buy a house in Rhode Island are Hope Valley and Narragansett Pier for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Editor’s Note: This is not investment advice, and we are not financial advisers.

Suppose real estate is the most significant investment a majority of people make in their lifetime. In that case, it’s best to understand the places in Rhode Island with best potential return on investment.

After working in real estate adjacent roles for over a decade, I had the hypothesis that the best place to buy for a return on investment would be up-and-coming cities. Smaller cities where crime might be high now, but people still move to.

To test my hypothesis, we are going to look at places in Rhode Island that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average, and crime rates are higher than average.

In everyday terms, these might be “deals”. The best deal in Rhode Island at the moment according to Saturday Night Science? That would be Hope Valley.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Best Places To Buy A Home In Rhode Island For 2024

  1. Hope Valley
  2. Narragansett Pier
  3. Pascoag
  4. Kingston
  5. Tiverton
  6. Cumberland Hill
  7. Greenville
  8. Newport East
  9. Valley Falls
  10. Westerly

Best Places To Buy A House In Rhode Island Map

The methodology that wen’t into this can be a bit complicated, so we’ll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below.

For more Rhode Island reading:

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In Rhode Island For 2024

1. Hope Valley

Hope Valley, RI

Source: Wikipedia User John Phelan | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 2,209
Median Home Price: $546,063
Population Change: 28.7%
Home Price Change: 19.2%
More on Hope Valley: Real Estate

Narragansett Pier, RI

Source: Wikipedia User | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 2,805
Median Home Price: $868,841
Population Change: -14.1%
Home Price Change: 8.8%
More on Narragansett Pier: Data | Real Estate

Pascoag, RI

Source: Wikipedia User | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 4,527
Median Home Price: $374,050
Population Change: 1.3%
Home Price Change: 3.4%
More on Pascoag: Data | Real Estate

Kingston, RI

Source: Wikipedia User | CC BY 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 6,560
Median Home Price: $570,961
Population Change: 1.0%
Home Price Change: 7.9%
More on Kingston: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Tiverton, RI

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 8,101
Median Home Price: $477,304
Population Change: -1.7%
Home Price Change: 4.7%
More on Tiverton: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Cumberland Hill, RI

Source: Wikipedia User John Phelan | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 8,866
Median Home Price: $436,265
Population Change: -0.7%
Home Price Change: 1.9%
More on Cumberland Hill: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Greenville, RI

Source: Wikipedia User Swampyank | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 8,777
Median Home Price: $445,455
Population Change: -2.0%
Home Price Change: 5.8%
More on Greenville: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Newport East, RI

Source: Wikipedia User John Phelan | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 11,644
Median Home Price: $565,274
Population Change: -2.2%
Home Price Change: 5.8%
More on Newport East: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Valley Falls, RI

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 12,072
Median Home Price: $410,692
Population Change: 0.1%
Home Price Change: 4.5%
More on Valley Falls: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Westerly, RI

Source: Wikipedia User Daniel Case | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 18,272
Median Home Price: $529,378
Population Change: 0.2%
Home Price Change: 6.0%
More on Westerly: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Rhode Island for 2024?

We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for another 9. Suffice it to say we’ve put a lot of thought into finding an excellent place to buy a home.

So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we’d approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Rhode Island. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Rhode Island with undervalued homes relative to pent-up demand using Saturday Night Science.

To do that, we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2018-2022 and compared it to the previous vintage. Specifically, we used the following criteria:

  • Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
  • Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
  • Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It’s still kinda cheap)

We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still “cheap” for Rhode Island with the following caveats:

So of the 0 cities and towns in Rhode Island, only 18 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.

We then ranked each place from 1 to 18 for the above criteria, with 1 being the best. We averaged the rankings to create a “best place to buy” index, with the place having the lowest index being the best.

Turns out that Hope Valley is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Ocean State.

Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Rhode Island for 2024

There’s our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Rhode Island. And, to be clear, we aren’t necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.

In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 0 places in the state.

The best cities to buy a house in Rhode Island are Hope Valley, Narragansett Pier, Pascoag, Kingston, Tiverton, Cumberland Hill, Greenville, Newport East, Valley Falls, and Westerly.

So if we’d could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy.

For more Rhode Island reading, check out:

Best Places To Buy A Home In Rhode Island

Rank City Population Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
1 Hope Valley 2,209 $546,063 28.7% 19.2%
2 Narragansett Pier 2,805 $868,841 -14.1% 8.8%
3 Pascoag 4,527 $374,050 1.3% 3.4%
4 Kingston 6,560 $570,961 1.0% 7.9%
5 Tiverton 8,101 $477,304 -1.7% 4.7%
6 Cumberland Hill 8,866 $436,265 -0.7% 1.9%
7 Greenville 8,777 $445,455 -2.0% 5.8%
8 Newport East 11,644 $565,274 -2.2% 5.8%
9 Valley Falls 12,072 $410,692 0.1% 4.5%
10 Westerly 18,272 $529,378 0.2% 6.0%
11 Central Falls 22,359 $313,807 0.8% 6.2%
12 Newport 25,087 $827,429 -0.9% 4.4%
13 Woonsocket 43,029 $338,485 -0.0% 7.6%
14 East Providence 47,012 $381,790 -0.3% 8.0%
15 Pawtucket 75,176 $343,911 -0.0% 7.3%
16 Warwick 82,783 $364,360 0.1% 7.4%
17 Cranston 82,691 $392,034 0.0% 6.1%
18 Providence 189,715 $365,946 0.5% 6.7%
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.