Best PlacesBarre, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Barre, 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.
Barre ranks 14,441st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Barre
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.
Barre's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barre ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
- Household income$98,269 median, better than 84% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 78% of towns
Where Barre ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,648 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Short commute36.6 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 23% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Barre
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barre home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $98,269, 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 Barre's effective rate of 1.18%, 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 Barre
Barre runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Barre.
Who works in Barre, and how
Work in Barre centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Barre
Barre has more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Barre and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Barre, month by month
Barre sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 17° |
| April | 61° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 87° | 73° | 60° |
| October | 66° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Barre
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 44 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barre
Schools across Barre average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hubbardston CenterB · 50% proficient
- Ruggles LaneB− · 40% proficient
- Oakham CenterC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Quabbin Regional Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Quabbin Regional High SchoolA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barre school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barre 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 Barre against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Barre
Is Barre a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barre ranks 14,441st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, heat safety, and clean air, and lowest on childcare costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Barre expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $409,464. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $98,269 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Barre safe?
Yes, Barre is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $278 per resident a year.
Compare Barre with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barre. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barre 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.
Barre detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barre: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barre: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barre: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barre: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barre 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.