Best PlacesAshley Falls, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ashley Falls, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ashley Falls ranks 24,275th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ashley Falls
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.
Ashley Falls' strengths and weaknesses
Where Ashley Falls ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 89% of towns
Where Ashley Falls ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ashley Falls
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ashley Falls home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,008, 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 Ashley Falls' effective rate of 1.13%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ashley Falls
Ashley Falls runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ashley Falls.
Who works in Ashley Falls, and how
Work in Ashley Falls centers on construction and finance & insurance. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Ashley Falls
Ashley Falls has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Ashley Falls and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ashley Falls, month by month
Ashley Falls sees roughly 75 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 Ashley Falls
Bradley International sits about 34 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 Ashley Falls
Schools across Ashley Falls average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Canaan Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- UndermountainC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Mt Everett RegionalC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ashley Falls school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ashley Falls 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 Ashley Falls against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ashley Falls
Is Ashley Falls a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ashley Falls ranks 24,275th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and big-city access, and lowest on a weak job market 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 Ashley Falls expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $365,915. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $81,008 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Ashley Falls safe?
Ashley Falls is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $287 per resident a year.
Compare Ashley Falls with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ashley Falls. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ashley Falls 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.
Ashley Falls detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ashley Falls: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ashley Falls: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ashley Falls: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ashley Falls: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ashley Falls 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.