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Cost & Benefits

Most affordable towns in Rhode Island, 2026

Cumberland Hill is the most affordable ranked town in Rhode Island. Rent, the regional price level, taxes, and electricity are 22.5% each. Gasoline is 10%. A lower score is more affordable.

Summary

15
Towns ranked in Rhode Island.
Cumberland Hill
Number 1 in Rhode Island. Rent is 12.0% of income. National rank 3495.
18.4%
Median rent share among ranked towns in Rhode Island.
0
Ranked Rhode Island towns in the national top 100.
Central Falls
Least affordable ranked town in Rhode Island. Rent is 29.2% of income. National rank 5713.

Gasoline

$4.433

per gallon. EIA does not publish a Rhode Island price. This is the New England (PADD 1A) price for the week of October 12, 2026. At 12,000 miles a year and 25 mpg, that is $2,127.84 a year for every ranked town in Rhode Island.

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Cost & Benefits. "2026 Most Affordable Towns Index: Rhode Island." October 16, 2026. https://costandbenefits.com/reports/most-affordable-towns-2026/rhode-island

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Benefits and taxes in Rhode Island

Top 25

Rhode Island has 15 ranked towns, so this is the full list.

  1. #1 in Rhode Island · National #3495

    Cumberland Hill

    Rent share 12.0% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.477

    Median rent is $1,310 a month and median income is $130,506, so rent is 12.0% of income, under the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  2. #2 in Rhode Island · National #3877

    Wakefield-Peace Dale

    Rent share 14.2% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.510

    Median rent is $1,258 a month and median income is $106,551, so rent is 14.2% of income, under the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  3. #3 in Rhode Island · National #4022

    Greenville

    Rent share 15.6% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.521

    Median rent is $1,264 a month and median income is $97,234, so rent is 15.6% of income, under the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  4. #4 in Rhode Island · National #4064

    Tiverton

    Rent share 16.2% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.525

    Median rent is $1,342 a month and median income is $99,158, so rent is 16.2% of income, under the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  5. #5 in Rhode Island · National #4081

    Westerly

    Rent share 15.9% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.526

    Median rent is $1,260 a month and median income is $95,207, so rent is 15.9% of income, under the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  6. #6 in Rhode Island · National #4289

    Valley Falls

    Rent share 17.6% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.546

    Median rent is $1,362 a month and median income is $92,901, so rent is 17.6% of income, under the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  7. #7 in Rhode Island · National #4473

    Warwick

    Rent share 18.4% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.559

    Median rent is $1,363 a month and median income is $88,708, so rent is 18.4% of income, even with the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  8. #8 in Rhode Island · National #4488

    Cranston

    Rent share 18.3% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.560

    Median rent is $1,375 a month and median income is $90,206, so rent is 18.3% of income, under the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  9. #9 in Rhode Island · National #4987

    East Providence

    Rent share 20.4% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.600

    Median rent is $1,288 a month and median income is $75,912, so rent is 20.4% of income, over the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  10. #10 in Rhode Island · National #5100

    Pawtucket

    Rent share 21.2% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.613

    Median rent is $1,208 a month and median income is $68,310, so rent is 21.2% of income, over the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  11. #11 in Rhode Island · National #5310

    Woonsocket

    Rent share 22.8% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.639

    Median rent is $1,161 a month and median income is $61,059, so rent is 22.8% of income, over the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  12. #12 in Rhode Island · National #5494

    Newport

    Rent share 23.6% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.669

    Median rent is $1,698 a month and median income is $86,313, so rent is 23.6% of income, over the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  13. #13 in Rhode Island · National #5498

    Providence

    Rent share 24.8% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.669

    Median rent is $1,408 a month and median income is $68,119, so rent is 24.8% of income, over the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  14. #14 in Rhode Island · National #5585

    Newport East

    Rent share 25.3% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.681

    Median rent is $1,876 a month and median income is $89,028, so rent is 25.3% of income, over the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is rent share.

  15. #15 in Rhode Island · National #5713

    Central Falls

    Rent share 29.2% · Price level 101.8 · Score 0.703

    Median rent is $1,200 a month and median income is $49,285, so rent is 29.2% of income, over the 18.4% median for ranked towns in Rhode Island. The Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro price level is 101.8 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 28.29 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is rent share.

Least affordable 10

Every ranked town in Rhode Island is already in the list above.

The formula

A lower score is more affordable. Rent share, the regional price level, taxes, and electricity each count 22.5%. Gasoline counts 10%. Those weights are our choice. Gasoline stays at 10% because the miles figure is one national standard, not a measured town commute. This is not a government standard.

A percentile is the share of ranked towns with a strictly lower number, divided by the number of ranked towns minus one. The lowest number scores 0. Tied numbers share a percentile.

  1. Rent share = (median monthly rent × 12) / median household income. Both figures are the Census 2020–2024 medians for that place.
  2. RPP-adjusted cost is the BEA 2024 all-items regional price parity. A basket priced at 100 for the U.S. average costs this many dollars in the town's area. We use the metro index when the county is in a metro BEA publishes. Otherwise we use the state index and say so. This index includes housing, so housing also shows up in the rent share.
  3. Tax burden is the average of three percentiles. Income-tax share is state income tax plus the stored 2023 local AGI add-on, divided by the town's median household income, on a joint return. Property share is the state's median effective property-tax rate times the town's median home value, divided by income. Sales rate is the combined state and average local sales-tax rate. We do not turn the sales rate into dollars, because that would require a shopping basket we do not have.
  4. Electricity is the state residential price in cents per kilowatt-hour. Every town in a state shares it. We do not guess how many kilowatt-hours a home uses.
  5. Gasoline is the EIA retail price for all grades and all formulations, in dollars per gallon. Where EIA publishes a state series, we use that state. Every other state uses the PADD region EIA assigns to it. Census does not publish commuting miles for these towns, so annual gas spend is 12,000 miles a year divided by 25 miles per gallon, times the price. That is 480 gallons, the same for every town. Those miles are our standard, not an ACS figure and not a government mileage rule. Because the gallons do not change, the gas percentile is the percentile of the price.

    Weekly prices are for the week of October 12, 2026, from the EIA workbook released October 14, 2026. File: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/xls/pswrgvwall.xls. Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and Oregon use West Coast (PADD 5) Except California. That series is not in the weekly workbook, so those five use the monthly price dated September 15, 2026. File: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_gnd_a_epm0_pte_dpgal_m.htm.

    • State series, week of October 12, 2026: California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Texas, Washington.
    • Central Atlantic (PADD 1B), week of October 12, 2026: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania.
    • Gulf Coast (PADD 3), week of October 12, 2026: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico.
    • Lower Atlantic (PADD 1C), week of October 12, 2026: Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia.
    • Midwest (PADD 2), week of October 12, 2026: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin.
    • New England (PADD 1A), week of October 12, 2026: Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont.
    • Rocky Mountain (PADD 4), week of October 12, 2026: Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming.
    • West Coast (PADD 5) Except California, September 15, 2026: Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon.

Score = 0.225 × rent percentile + 0.225 × price-level percentile + 0.225 × tax score + 0.225 × electricity percentile + 0.10 × gasoline percentile. Rank 1 is the lowest score. If scores tie, the lower rent share wins, then the lower price level, then the place slug in A-to-Z order.

Questions

What is the most affordable town in Rhode Island in this index?

Cumberland Hill is number 1 of 15 ranked towns in Rhode Island. Median rent is 12.0% of median income. Its national rank is 3495.

How many towns in Rhode Island were ranked?

15 towns in Rhode Island have at least 5,000 people and published Census rent, income, and home value. Places missing one of those figures are left out.

Does this ranking approve benefits in Rhode Island?

No. Cost & Benefits does not approve or deny benefits. The score is a cost comparison only.