Best PlacesGloucester, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gloucester, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Gloucester ranks 1,150th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gloucester
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.
Gloucester's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gloucester ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 97% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 83% of cities
Where Gloucester ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 4% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Gloucester
A household needs to earn about $158,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gloucester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $90,781, 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 Gloucester's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 Gloucester
Gloucester 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 Gloucester.
Who works in Gloucester, and how
Work in Gloucester centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Gloucester
Gloucester has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of cities and more parkland per resident than 97% of cities. The coast is about 3 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Gloucester and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gloucester, month by month
Gloucester sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Gloucester
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 25 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 21.1 million passengers in 2025, with 199 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Gloucester
Schools across Gloucester average a B−, better than 56% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Manchester Memorial ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Plum Cove SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- East Gloucester ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ralph B O'maley MiddleC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Gloucester HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gloucester school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gloucester 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 Gloucester against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Gloucester suits
Common questions about living in Gloucester
Is Gloucester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gloucester ranks 1,150th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on tree cover, clean air, and health care access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gloucester expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $587,030. The overall cost of living runs about 33% above the national average. Set against a $90,781 median income, cost of living beats 13% of cities.
Is Gloucester safe?
Yes, Gloucester is safer than 83% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $212 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gloucester?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 21. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 38% of cities.
Is Gloucester good for families?
Schools beat 56% of cities, crime safety beats 83%, and childcare runs $1,897 a month.
Compare Gloucester with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gloucester. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gloucester 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.
Gloucester detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gloucester: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gloucester: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gloucester: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gloucester: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gloucester 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.