Best PlacesAcushnet, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Acushnet, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Acushnet ranks 7,321st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Acushnet
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.
Acushnet's strengths and weaknesses
Where Acushnet ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
Where Acushnet ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,514 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 25% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Acushnet
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Acushnet home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $91,047, 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 Acushnet's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 Acushnet
Acushnet runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Acushnet.
Who works in Acushnet, and how
Work in Acushnet centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Acushnet
Acushnet has more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. The coast is about 9 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Acushnet and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Acushnet, month by month
Acushnet sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 23° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Acushnet
The nearest airport, Martha's Vineyard, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Acushnet
Schools across Acushnet average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Acushnet Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Abraham LincolnC− · 30% proficient
- Jireh SwiftC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Albert F Ford Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Hastings MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
- Normandin Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Apponequet Regional HighA · 70% proficient
- Fairhaven HighB+ · 55% proficient
- New Bedford HighD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Acushnet school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Acushnet 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 Acushnet against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Acushnet
Is Acushnet a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Acushnet ranks 7,321st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, low crime, and transit, 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 Acushnet expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $466,289. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $91,047 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Acushnet safe?
Yes, Acushnet is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $167 per resident a year.
Compare Acushnet with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Acushnet. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Acushnet 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.
Acushnet detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Acushnet: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Acushnet: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Acushnet: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Acushnet: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Acushnet 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.