Best PlacesGardner, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gardner, 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.
Gardner ranks 23,138th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gardner
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.
Gardner's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gardner ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
Where Gardner ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,648 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 11% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gardner
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gardner home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,655, 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 Gardner's effective rate of 1.28%, 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 Gardner
Gardner 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 Gardner.
Who works in Gardner, and how
Work in Gardner centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Gardner
Gardner has more parkland per resident than 81% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Gardner and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gardner, month by month
Gardner sees roughly 66 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 Gardner
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gardner
Schools across Gardner average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Thomas PrinceA · 66% proficient
- Davis Hill ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Glenwood Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Tree MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Overlook Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Murdock Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Wachusett Regional HighA · 79% proficient
- Oakmont Regional High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Narragansett Regional HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gardner school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gardner 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 Gardner against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Gardner suits
Families
Schools land around the 12th percentile and crime safety beats 91%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Gardner
Is Gardner a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gardner ranks 23,138th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and biking, 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 Gardner expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $303,986. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $71,655 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Gardner safe?
Yes, Gardner is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $175 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gardner?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 19. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of towns.
Is Gardner good for families?
Schools beat 12% of towns, crime safety beats 91%, and childcare runs $1,648 a month.
Compare Gardner with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gardner. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gardner 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.
Gardner detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gardner: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gardner: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gardner: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gardner: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gardner 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.