The Real Cost of Owning Property in Scarborough, Jerusalem, and Galilee
Scarborough, Jerusalem, and Galilee are not their own town -- they are villages inside the Town of Narragansett, Rhode Island, clustered around Point Judith and the working waterfront at the Port of Galilee. That matters directly for cost of ownership: Narragansett's confirmed FY2026 residential mill rate of $6.79 per $1,000 of assessed value applies here exactly as it does everywhere else in town, and this site's Narragansett pages already document that rate, plus the town-wide Redfin snapshot and Census figures, in depth -- this page will not re-derive any of that. What this page does instead is go one level deeper than a town-wide average can: a commercial data source, NeighborhoodScout, publishes a neighborhood profile specifically for "Galilee & Jerusalem" that is genuinely distinct from Narragansett's own town-wide numbers -- a median home price of $1,091,913, an average rental price of $3,012 a month, and a striking 43.4% vacancy rate tied to how much of this housing stock sits seasonally occupied. Layer on a real governmental quirk -- Jerusalem's fire and police service comes from South Kingstown, not Narragansett, even though Jerusalem is legally part of Narragansett -- and the real cost picture here has a few genuinely local wrinkles that a town-wide average would never surface. Every figure below is labeled by source, and every gap is disclosed rather than guessed at.
A Village-Level Price Source: NeighborhoodScout on Galilee & Jerusalem
Narragansett's own hub pages had to rely entirely on town-wide Redfin and Census data, because that is what exists at the town level. For these specific villages, a different, commercial source fills part of that gap: NeighborhoodScout's own "Galilee & Jerusalem" neighborhood profile reports a median home price of $1,091,913 -- which NeighborhoodScout itself describes as 95.2% more expensive than the median for Rhode Island neighborhoods generally. That is a striking premium, and it is worth naming clearly where it comes from: NeighborhoodScout is a commercial, largely algorithmic real-estate-and-demographic data aggregator, not a government statistical agency, and its neighborhood boundaries and derived comparison statistics should be read as a real, named, citable estimate rather than as Census-grade fact.
This figure should not be blended with Narragansett's own town-wide Redfin snapshot already covered on this site's Narragansett real-cost page (median sale price $659,000, down 17.9% year over year, per that separate February 2025 pull) -- these are two different data sources describing two different geographies: one a town-wide median across all of Narragansett, the other a smaller, village-specific estimate covering just Galilee and Jerusalem. The gap between $659,000 town-wide and $1,091,913 for this specific waterfront corner is itself a meaningful data point about how much of Narragansett's value concentrates right here, but treat both numbers as what they are -- separately sourced, separately dated, not directly comparable line items -- rather than reconciling them into one figure.
Renting Here: Price, and a Vacancy Rate That Tells Its Own Story
The same NeighborhoodScout profile reports an average rental price of $3,012 a month for Galilee & Jerusalem -- about 85% higher than the Rhode Island average, per that source. Paired with that rent figure is a vacancy rate of 43.4%, which NeighborhoodScout describes as 98.2% higher than the U.S. average, and a related figure showing 39.6% of housing in the area seasonally occupied. Read together, those numbers are not a sign of a struggling rental market -- they are a fairly direct statistical fingerprint of a fishing-village-and-vacation-corner economy, where a large share of housing sits empty for much of the year because it is a second home, a summer rental, or tied to seasonal fishing-industry work rather than occupied as someone's sole, year-round residence.
For anyone evaluating a purchase here as a rental or seasonal property, that vacancy/seasonal-occupancy pairing is arguably the single most useful "real cost" data point on this page: it is a quantified, named-source confirmation that this market runs on a seasonal cycle, which should shape expectations around off-season rental income, property management, and winterization costs -- none of which this research independently priced out, so confirm actual rental-income projections and off-season carrying costs with a local property manager or real estate agent before budgeting around them.
What Is Actually Built Here: An Older, Small-to-Medium Housing Stock
Per the same NeighborhoodScout profile, the housing stock in Galilee & Jerusalem skews toward small-to-medium single-family homes -- described by the source as ranging from studio-to-two-bedroom up to three-or-four-bedroom homes -- plus a meaningful share of mobile homes, with much of that stock built between 1940 and 1969, and further construction in the 1970-1999 window. That age profile matters for a real-cost picture in ways a median price alone does not capture: homes built in that mid-20th-century window, in a coastal, flood-exposed fishing village, are more likely to carry age-related costs -- electrical and plumbing updates, flood-zone insurance requirements, and general waterfront-exposure maintenance -- than a comparably priced newer build elsewhere in town.
This research did not independently confirm specific insurance premiums, flood-zone designations, or renovation-cost figures for individual properties in Galilee or Jerusalem -- those vary property by property based on exact location, elevation, and construction history, and should be confirmed directly with a licensed Rhode Island insurance agent and a local inspector or contractor rather than assumed from a neighborhood-level housing-age statistic.
Jerusalem’s Governance Quirk: Fire and Police From South Kingstown, Taxes From Narragansett
Here is a genuine local wrinkle relevant to municipal-service costs and expectations, not just history: per Wikipedia's dedicated entry on Jerusalem, Rhode Island, the village is legally part of the Town of Narragansett, but it is not connected by land to any other part of Narragansett -- its only land border is with the Matunuck section of the neighboring town of South Kingstown. As a direct consequence, fire and police service in Jerusalem is provided by South Kingstown, not by Narragansett, even though Jerusalem residents are Narragansett taxpayers. That is an unusual arrangement worth knowing before assuming that a Narragansett address means Narragansett first responders show up.
To be clear about what does and does not change because of that arrangement: Jerusalem's property taxes still follow Narragansett's own confirmed FY2026 mill rate of $6.79 per $1,000 of assessed value -- the same rate this site's Narragansett pages document in depth -- because Jerusalem remains legally part of Narragansett for taxation and assessment purposes. It is specifically emergency-service delivery, not tax jurisdiction, that crosses the town line. Anyone evaluating a property in Jerusalem specifically should confirm current fire and police service arrangements directly with South Kingstown and Narragansett town offices, since service agreements between towns can be updated over time and this research reflects a single point-in-time confirmation via Wikipedia's sourced entry.
What This Page Can't Tell You
A few real numbers were not confirmable this round, and this page says so directly. No specific, current insurance premiums, utility costs, or HOA or association fees for individual Galilee or Jerusalem properties were confirmed in this research -- those vary by exact property and should be confirmed with a licensed Rhode Island insurance agent, the relevant utility provider, and any applicable association. NeighborhoodScout's demographic figures for this neighborhood (ancestry mix, commute patterns, retiree favorability) were not repeated in depth here because they are less directly tied to ownership cost, but they come from the same source and carry the same commercial-data-source caveat as the price, rent, and vacancy figures above.
This page is independent research, not financial, tax, legal, or insurance advice. Before buying, financing, or budgeting around any figure here -- home price, rental income, or municipal-service arrangements -- confirm current numbers directly with the Narragansett Tax Assessor's office, South Kingstown and Narragansett town offices regarding Jerusalem's fire and police service, a licensed Rhode Island real estate agent working the Point Judith/Galilee market specifically, and a qualified financial or tax advisor.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data sourced from: NeighborhoodScout's own "Galilee & Jerusalem" neighborhood profile for Narragansett, RI (median home price $1,091,913, described by that source as 95.2% more expensive than the typical Rhode Island neighborhood; average rental price $3,012/month, about 85% above the Rhode Island average; vacancy rate 43.4%, described as 98.2% higher than the U.S. average; 39.6% of housing seasonally occupied; housing stock described as mostly small-to-medium single-family homes and mobile homes, largely built 1940-1969 plus 1970-1999) -- a commercial, largely algorithmic data source distinct from government Census or Redfin figures, labeled as such throughout. Wikipedia's dedicated entry on Jerusalem, Rhode Island, confirming that Jerusalem's only land border is with South Kingstown's Matunuck section and that fire and police service there is provided by South Kingstown rather than Narragansett. Narragansett's own confirmed FY2026 residential mill rate of $6.79 per $1,000 of assessed value, per the Rhode Island Division of Municipal Finance's official FY2026 Tax Rates document, and Narragansett's own town-wide Redfin snapshot, both already documented in depth on this site's Narragansett real-cost page and cross-referenced rather than re-derived here. This page could not confirm current insurance premiums, utility costs, HOA/association fees, or flood-zone-specific costs for individual Galilee or Jerusalem properties -- each gap is disclosed above rather than filled in with an invented number. Confirm all current figures directly with the Narragansett Tax Assessor's office, South Kingstown and Narragansett town offices, a licensed Rhode Island real estate agent, and a live Zillow or Redfin pull before making any financial decision. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, insurance, or financial advice.