Best Places01238, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 01238, 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.
01238 ranks 11,060th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 01238
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.
01238's strengths and weaknesses
Where 01238 ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of zip codes
- Tree shadeBetter than 93% of zip codes
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of zip codes
- Short commute18.9 minutes each way, better than 89% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of zip codes
Where 01238 ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than only 9% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 10% of zip codes
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of zip codes
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 28% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 01238
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 01238 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,760, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 01238's effective rate of 1.06%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 01238
01238 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 01238.
Who works in 01238, and how
Work in 01238 centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in 01238
01238 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 95% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 01238 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 01238, month by month
01238 sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of 01238
Bradley International sits about 38 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 01238
Schools across 01238 average a C+, better than 43% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Becket Washington SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- MorrisB · 50% proficient
- Lee ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Lenox Memorial HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Lee Middle/high SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 01238 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
01238 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 01238 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 01238
Is 01238 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 01238 ranks 11,060th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on health care access, tree cover, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 01238 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $355,090. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $96,760 median income, cost of living beats 65% of zip codes.
Is 01238 safe?
01238 is safer than 54% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $336 per resident a year.
Compare 01238 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 01238. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 01238 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.
01238 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 01238: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 01238: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 01238: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 01238: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
01238 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.