Best Places01253, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 01253, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
01253 ranks 5,989th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 01253
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.
01253's strengths and weaknesses
Where 01253 ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of zip codes
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of zip codes
- Household income$127,319 median, better than 92% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of zip codes
Where 01253 ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of zip codes
- BikingBetter than only 5% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 10% of zip codes
- WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 01253
A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 01253 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $127,319, 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 01253's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 01253
01253 runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 01253.
Who works in 01253, and how
Work in 01253 centers on retail trade and real estate. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in 01253
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 01253.
What the weather is like in 01253, month by month
01253 sees roughly 68 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 01253
Bradley International sits about 28 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 01253
Schools across 01253 average a C+, better than 41% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Live Oaks SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Calf Pen Meadow SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Farmington River ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harborside Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- East Shore Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Gateway Regional Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Joseph A. Foran High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Gateway Regional HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Jonathan Law High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 01253 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
01253 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 01253 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 01253
Is 01253 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 01253 ranks 5,989th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on tree cover, low crime, and health care access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 01253 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $391,037. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $127,319 median income, cost of living beats 88% of zip codes.
Is 01253 safe?
Yes, 01253 is safer than 96% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $148 per resident a year.
Compare 01253 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 01253. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 01253 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.
01253 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 01253: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 01253: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 01253: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 01253: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
01253 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.