Best PlacesDudley, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dudley, 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.
Dudley ranks 11,894th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dudley
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.
Dudley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dudley ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
Where Dudley ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,648 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 25% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dudley
A household needs to earn about $105,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dudley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $85,364, 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 Dudley's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Dudley
Dudley's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dudley.
Who works in Dudley, and how
Work in Dudley centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Dudley
Dudley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Dudley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dudley, month by month
Dudley sees roughly 78 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 Dudley
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 40 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dudley
Schools across Dudley average a C+, better than 53% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Heritage SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Dudley ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Park Avenue ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Charlton Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Dudley Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Webster Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Shepherd Hill Regional HighA− · 60% proficient
- Bartlett High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Southbridge High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dudley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dudley 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 Dudley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dudley
Is Dudley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dudley ranks 11,894th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, low crime, and big-city access, 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 Dudley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $395,246. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $85,364 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Dudley safe?
Yes, Dudley is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $156 per resident a year.
Compare Dudley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dudley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dudley 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.
Dudley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dudley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dudley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dudley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dudley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dudley 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.