Best PlacesDevens, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Devens, 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.
Devens ranks 5,049th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Devens
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.
Devens' strengths and weaknesses
Where Devens ranks high
- Household income$194,523 median, better than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of towns
Where Devens ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,681 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Devens
A household needs to earn about $159,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Devens home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $194,523, 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 Devens' effective rate of 1.16%, 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 Devens
Devens runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Devens.
Who works in Devens, and how
Work in Devens centers on professional & technical and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Devens
The coast is about 46 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Devens, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Devens, month by month
Devens sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Devens
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 33 miles away.
The best schools in and around Devens
Schools across Devens average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hildreth Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Page Hilltop Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Lura A. White Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ayer Shirley Regional Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- BromfieldA · 70% proficient
- Ayer Shirley Regional High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Francis W. Parker Charter Essential SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Devens school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Devens 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 Devens against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Devens
Is Devens a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Devens ranks 5,049th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, what local pay buys, and biking, 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 Devens expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $580,182. The overall cost of living runs about 16% above the national average. Set against a $194,523 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Devens safe?
Devens is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $301 per resident a year.
Compare Devens with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Devens. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Devens 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.
Devens detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Devens: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Devens: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Devens: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Devens: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Devens 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.