Best Places01027, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 01027, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
01027 ranks 9,444th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on low crime, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 01027
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
01027's strengths and weaknesses
Where 01027 ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than 86% of zip codes
- BikingBetter than 85% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of zip codes
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of zip codes
Where 01027 ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 10% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of zip codes
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of zip codes
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 01027
A household needs to earn about $109,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 01027 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $83,886, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 01027's effective rate of 1.36%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 01027
01027 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 01027.
Who works in 01027, and how
Work in 01027 centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in 01027
01027 has more parkland per resident than 78% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 01027 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 01027, month by month
01027 sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 28° | 18° |
| April | 63° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 88° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of 01027
Bradley International sits about 23 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.3 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 01027
Schools across 01027 average a B−, better than 55% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Westhampton Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- William E NorrisB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Michael E. Smith Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Easthampton HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Hampshire Regional HighB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 01027 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
01027 measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 01027 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 01027
Is 01027 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 01027 ranks 9,444th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on low crime, health care access, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 01027 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $387,882. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $83,886 median income, cost of living beats 39% of zip codes.
Is 01027 safe?
Yes, 01027 is safer than 89% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $194 per resident a year.
Compare 01027 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 01027. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 01027 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
01027 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 01027: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 01027: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 01027: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 01027: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
01027 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.