Best PlacesBarnstable Town, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Barnstable Town, 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.
Barnstable Town ranks 22,734th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Barnstable Town
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.
Barnstable Town's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barnstable Town ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
Where Barnstable Town ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,514 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Barnstable Town
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barnstable Town home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,978, 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 Barnstable Town's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Barnstable Town
Barnstable Town 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 Barnstable Town.
Who works in Barnstable Town, and how
Work in Barnstable Town centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Barnstable Town
Barnstable Town has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. The coast is about 4 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Barnstable Town and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Barnstable Town, month by month
Barnstable Town sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 57° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 82° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Barnstable Town
The nearest airport, Cape Cod Gateway, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 61 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barnstable Town
Schools across Barnstable Town average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Villages Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Centerville ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Barnstable Community Innovation SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Barnstable Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Sturgis Charter Public SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
- Barnstable HighC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barnstable Town school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barnstable Town 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 Barnstable Town against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Barnstable Town
Is Barnstable Town a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barnstable Town ranks 22,734th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, biking, and walkability, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Barnstable Town expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $452,287. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $60,978 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Barnstable Town safe?
Yes, Barnstable Town is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
Compare Barnstable Town with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barnstable Town. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barnstable Town 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.
Barnstable Town detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barnstable Town: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barnstable Town: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barnstable Town: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barnstable Town: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barnstable Town 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.