Best PlacesBrookfield, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brookfield, 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.
Brookfield ranks 6,435th 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 Brookfield
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.
Brookfield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brookfield ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 85% of towns
Where Brookfield ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,644 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Short commute32.5 minutes each way, better than only 22% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brookfield
A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brookfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,867, 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 Brookfield's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 Brookfield
Brookfield 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 Brookfield.
Who works in Brookfield, and how
Work in Brookfield 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 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Brookfield
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Brookfield.
What the weather is like in Brookfield, month by month
Brookfield sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 19° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Brookfield
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 34 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brookfield
Schools across Brookfield average an A−, better than 85% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Brimfield ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Brookfield ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- North Brookfield ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tantasqua Regional Jr HighB+ · 50% proficient
- Quaboag Regional Middle Innovation SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Tantasqua Regional Sr HighA+ · 80% proficient
- Quaboag Regional HighA− · 63% proficient
- North Brookfield HighD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brookfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brookfield 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 Brookfield against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brookfield
Is Brookfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brookfield ranks 6,435th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, tree cover, and transit, and lowest on childcare costs 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 Brookfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $322,279. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $96,867 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Brookfield safe?
Yes, Brookfield is safer than 99% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $119 per resident a year.
Compare Brookfield with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brookfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brookfield 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.
Brookfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brookfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brookfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brookfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brookfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brookfield 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.