These Are The 10 Worst Providence Suburbs


We used science and data to determine which Providence suburbs are the real pits.

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This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.

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Providence conjures up images of tons of things to do, quality people, and a bustling economy. The region consistently ranks as one of the best places to live across the country.

But not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Providence.

So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?

Today, we’ll use science and data to determine which Providence ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Providence area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the suburbs to live up to Providence proper, although Kingston certainly tries.

We examined the 23 biggest suburbs of Providence to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t find them on the worst places to live in Rhode Island, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Providence in terms of quality of life:

  1. Pascoag
  2. Fall River
  3. Pawtucket
  4. Central Falls
  5. Woonsocket
  6. East Providence
  7. Cranston
  8. Warwick
  9. North Seekonk
  10. Newport East

Read on to see how we determined the places around Providence that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger. And once you’re done, you can look at the bottom of the story for a complete chart of worst to best.

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How we determined the worst Providence ‘burbs

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things. We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the Census’s most recent 2010-2014 American Community Survey, this is the criteria we used:

  • Low unemployment (Less jobs)
  • Low median income (Less pay)
  • Low population density (No things to do)
  • Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)
  • High number of high school drop outs

Then, we ranked each place that have over 5,000 people around Providence for each of these criteria from worst to best.

The place with the lowest average rankings for these criteria ranks as the worst suburb of Providence.

Read on below to learn more about these terrible places around Providence to live. Or skip to the end to see the list of all 23 suburbs ranked from worst to best.

This list is a scientific analysis based on real data and is completely unbiased. Snarkiness incorporated for entertainment purposes only. Hold on to your pants.

1. Pascoag

Pascoag, RI

Source: Google Maps

Population: 4,310
Median Income: $48,688
Median Home Value: $197,900

2. Fall River

Fall River, MA

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 88,756
Median Income: $33,763
Median Home Value: $234,500

3. Pawtucket

Pawtucket, RI

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 71,313
Median Income: $40,578
Median Home Value: $174,100

4. Central Falls

Central Falls, RI

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 19,406
Median Income: $28,842
Median Home Value: $160,500

5. Woonsocket

Woonsocket, RI

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 41,136
Median Income: $35,216
Median Home Value: $168,200

6. East Providence

East Providence, RI

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 47,166
Median Income: $51,077
Median Home Value: $216,000

7. Cranston

Cranston, RI

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 80,680
Median Income: $58,684
Median Home Value: $217,100

8. Warwick

Warwick, RI

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 82,065
Median Income: $62,803
Median Home Value: $198,200

9. North Seekonk

North Seekonk, MA

Source: Google Maps

Population: 2,660
Median Income: $63,267
Median Home Value: $251,600

10. Newport East

Newport East, RI

Source: Google Maps

Population: 10,953
Median Income: $64,012
Median Home Value: $304,000

The areas around Providence that you probably don’t want to live in

Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Providence with Pascoag landing ahead of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Providence aren’t all bad. Kingston takes the cake as the best place to live around Providence.

For the chart below, these are ranked from worst to best.
For more ri reading , check out:

Detailed List Of Providence Suburbs

Place Rank Population Median Income Median Home Value
Pascoag 1 4,310 $48,688 $197,900
Fall River 2 88,756 $33,763 $234,500
Pawtucket 3 71,313 $40,578 $174,100
Central Falls 4 19,406 $28,842 $160,500
Woonsocket 5 41,136 $35,216 $168,200
East Providence 6 47,166 $51,077 $216,000
Cranston 7 80,680 $58,684 $217,100
Warwick 8 82,065 $62,803 $198,200
North Seekonk 9 2,660 $63,267 $251,600
Newport East 10 10,953 $64,012 $304,000
Tiverton 11 7,300 $69,232 $246,500
Valley Falls 12 12,108 $59,878 $224,700
Attleboro 13 43,774 $65,141 $273,600
Ocean Grove 14 2,674 $67,926 $231,800
North Westport 15 4,540 $77,259 $293,500
Bellingham 16 5,055 $73,768 $247,700
Newport 17 24,599 $61,320 $383,200
Somerset 18 18,262 $72,558 $278,400
Greenville 19 8,596 $72,936 $265,200
Wakefield-Peacedale 20 8,911 $64,969 $299,000
Narragansett Pier 21 3,749 $61,795 $443,400
Cumberland Hill 22 8,194 $75,996 $243,200
Kingston 23 7,136 $71,813 $336,700

About Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson earned his masters in Business Administration from the Drucker School At Claremont Graduate University. He has written for 39 publications across the country and ran the media relations department at Movoto, a real estate portal based in San Francisco. He has been featured in over 500 publications as an expert in real estate and as an authority on real estate trends.

Nick's the creator of the HomeSnacks YouTube channel that now has over 260,000 subscribers and is an excellent source to learn about different parts of the country.