Best PlacesByfield, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Byfield, 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.
Byfield ranks 1,218th 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 Byfield
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.
Byfield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Byfield ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$170,029 median, better than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
Where Byfield ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Byfield
A household needs to earn about $196,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Byfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $170,029, 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 Byfield's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 Byfield
Byfield runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Byfield.
Who works in Byfield, and how
Work in Byfield centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Byfield
Byfield has more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. The coast is about 12 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Byfield and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Byfield, month by month
Byfield sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Byfield
The nearest airport, Portsmouth International at Pease, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 28 miles away.
The best schools in and around Byfield
Schools across Byfield average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dr John C Page SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Edward G. Molin Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Newbury ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rupert A Nock MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Triton Regional Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Pentucket Regional MiddleB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Newburyport HighA+ · 80% proficient
- Triton Regional High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Byfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Byfield 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 Byfield against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Byfield
Is Byfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Byfield ranks 1,218th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, health care access, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Byfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $745,771. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $170,029 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Byfield safe?
Yes, Byfield is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $109 per resident a year.
Compare Byfield with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Byfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Byfield 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.
Byfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Byfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Byfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Byfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Byfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Byfield 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.