Best PlacesCow Yard, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cow Yard, 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.
Cow Yard ranks 1,773rd 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 Cow Yard
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.
Cow Yard's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cow Yard ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$118,942 median, better than 93% of towns
Where Cow Yard ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,514 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 25% of towns
- Short commute30.8 minutes each way, better than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cow Yard
A household needs to earn about $162,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cow Yard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $118,942, 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 Cow Yard's effective rate of 0.79%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Cow Yard
Cow Yard 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 Cow Yard.
Who works in Cow Yard, and how
Work in Cow Yard centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cow Yard
The coast is about 4 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Cow Yard, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cow Yard, month by month
Cow Yard sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 23° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Cow Yard
The nearest airport, Martha's Vineyard, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cow Yard
Schools across Cow Yard average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- William H TaylorB− · 42% proficient
- Wilbur And Mcmahon SchoolsB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dartmouth MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Roosevelt Middle SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Dartmouth HighA · 68% proficient
- New Bedford HighD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cow Yard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cow Yard 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 Cow Yard against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cow Yard
Is Cow Yard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cow Yard ranks 1,773rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, health care access, and few empty homes, 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 Cow Yard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $620,600. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $118,942 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Cow Yard safe?
Yes, Cow Yard is safer than 99% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $118 per resident a year.
Compare Cow Yard with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cow Yard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cow Yard 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.
Cow Yard detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cow Yard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cow Yard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cow Yard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cow Yard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cow Yard 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.