Best PlacesBrockton, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brockton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Brockton ranks 320th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 27 minutes away. Its strengths are tree cover and clean air. The cost shows up in the weather, a weak job market, and health outcomes.
The best neighborhoods in Brockton
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.
The best areas in Brockton
The parts of Brockton, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Burrage
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
Campello
Crime runs lower, though commutes are longer.
Montello
Streets are more car-dependent and fewer households have young kids.
Scores across Brockton run from about the 9th to the 80th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Brockton's strengths and weaknesses
Brockton lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Tree cover, clean air, and low crime carry most of that.
The one real hole is the weather, near the bottom of the country. A weak job market and health outcomes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Brockton ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 90% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of cities
- TransitBetter than 81% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of cities
Where Brockton ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 7% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 10% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Brockton
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brockton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $88,878, 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 Brockton's effective rate of 1.03%, 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 Brockton
Brockton runs younger 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 Brockton.
Who works in Brockton, and how
Work in Brockton centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Brockton
Brockton has more parkland per resident than 87% of cities and less late-night activity than most cities. The coast is about 27 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brockton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brockton, month by month
Brockton sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 62° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Brockton
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 19 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 21.1 million passengers in 2025, with 199 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Brockton
Schools across Brockton average a D, better than 10% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Richardson Olmsted SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Louis F Angelo ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Mary E. Baker SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Easton Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Whitman MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Plouffe Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Oliver Ames HighA · 71% proficient
- Abington HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Brockton HighC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brockton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brockton 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 Brockton against the other 444 cities.
Who Brockton suits
Families
Schools land around the 10th percentile and crime safety beats 84%.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Brockton
Is Brockton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brockton ranks 320th of 445 cities. It scores highest on tree cover, clean air, and low crime, and lowest on the weather and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brockton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $434,175. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $88,878 median income, cost of living beats 16% of cities.
Is Brockton safe?
Yes, Brockton is safer than 84% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $271 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brockton?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 22. That works out to about 60 pleasant days a year, more than 5% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Brockton?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Burrage, Campello, and Montello. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Brockton good for families?
Schools beat 10% of cities, crime safety beats 84%, and childcare runs $1,514 a month.
Is Brockton good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 16% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 7% of cities. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Brockton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brockton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brockton 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.
Brockton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brockton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brockton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brockton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brockton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brockton 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.