Best PlacesBerkley, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Berkley, 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.
Berkley ranks 1,780th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Berkley
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.
Berkley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Berkley ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$145,621 median, better than 97% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
Where Berkley ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,514 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Berkley
A household needs to earn about $141,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Berkley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $145,621, 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 Berkley's effective rate of 1.02%, 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 Berkley
Berkley runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Berkley.
Who works in Berkley, and how
Work in Berkley centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Berkley
The coast is about 28 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Berkley, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Berkley, month by month
Berkley sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 31° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Berkley
The nearest airport, Rhode Island Tf Green International, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 37 miles away.
The best schools in and around Berkley
Schools across Berkley average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- George R Austin Intermediate SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Berkley Community SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Dighton ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Freetown-lakeville Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Berkley Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Dighton Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Dighton-rehoboth Regional High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Apponequet Regional HighA · 70% proficient
- Somerset Berkley Regional High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Berkley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Berkley 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 Berkley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Berkley
Is Berkley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Berkley ranks 1,780th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, high incomes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on childcare costs and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Berkley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $523,298. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $145,621 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Berkley safe?
Yes, Berkley is safer than 98% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $129 per resident a year.
Compare Berkley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Berkley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Berkley 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.
Berkley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Berkley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Berkley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Berkley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Berkley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Berkley 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.